Syrian army and Hizballah capture Homs – opening way to Aleppo and decisive Assad victory
Syrian army and Hizballah capture Homs – opening way to Aleppo and decisive Assad victory.
Three months after winning the strategic town of Al Qusayr, the combined Syrian and Hizballah armies have captured the historic Muslim Brotherhood city of Homs, 162 kilometers northeast of the capital Damascus. debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report that Sunday, July 28, jeeps with recoilless guns, pick-up trucks with anti air guns – all loaded with defeated rebel Farouq Brigades fighters were to be seen fleeing the city. As they fled, Syrian and Hizballah army tanks facing no resistance rolled into the center of Homs, the old city and the Khladiyeh district and hoisted images of President Bashar Assad.
The fall of Homs, which the rebels designated from the start of the uprising “capital of the revolution,” opens the way for Syrian-Hizballah forces to move north on Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.
Aleppo’s capture would grant Assad a decisive victory in the civil war and confer on the Lebanese Shiite terrorist Hizballah for the first time the standing of an armed force with strategic capabilities, as well as giving the Iran-Syrian-Hizballah alliance a major boost.
Early Monday, Syrian ground-to-ground missiles were pounding rebel fortifications Aleppo to soften their resistance, while Syrian air force helicopters struck Kurdish PYG units ranged along the Syrian-Turkish border. Although the helicopters flew over the frontier, they did not run into any interference from the Turkish air force, its artillery emplacements or the NATO Patriot anti-missile batteries deployed there.
The Kurdish units were targeted to prevent them moving into Aleppo in defense of the city’s Kurdish quarters against the Syrian army-Hizballah advance.
After the fall of Homs and the fast approaching Syrian assault on Aleppo, Washington, Jerusalem and Ankara have run out of time for quibbling whether to step into the Syrian conflict. The critical decision facing them now is whether to save Aleppo from a savage Syrian army-Hizballah onslaught that will determine the final fate of the war, or continue to stand aside.
The various tactics outlined by top US soldier Gen. Martin Dempsey last week for US military intervention at a cost of $1 billion per day have been overtaken by events. The Obama administration must now decide very quickly whether Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers should be allowed to win the Syrian civil war or stopped at Aleppo.
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WarSclerotic 
July 29, 2013 at 12:44 PM
There is only one meaning, one immediate consequence to a decisive turn of the tide in Syria: The Israeli Defense Forces will act – or will have to – as soon as possible over Iran. The Israeli army cannot wait until Assad will finish licking his wounds and Hezbollah regrouping in Lebanon. I know I was wrong a couple of times in the past regarding this issue – and I’m always counting only my failures – but right now I’ll tell you this: the closer Assad is to win at home, the closer are the Iranians to a showdown with the Israelis.
Very soon the Aleppo offensive will begin: Assad and elite Hezbollah forces will take part in the action. Aleppo might be very important for the belligerents in Syria, but it will also trigger another, long expected event in our region, event that will change the face of the Middle East for many years to come.
July 29, 2013 at 12:54 PM
Dont give up yet there stuff going round here that its not over by a long way,there may be NATO action this week there’s only one party now undecided
July 29, 2013 at 1:48 PM
Betting your beard?
July 29, 2013 at 2:17 PM
With or without my beard, is clear that the military consolidation for the Assad – Shiite axis is bad news for Israel. If until now we understood why the Israeli Army has waited – the deepening of Hezbollah involvement – now, this recipient ( waiting ) is obviously wrong – I mean, we are not in the speculation realm here – and the more we wait, the difficult the situation become. So, yes, I’ll bet again on my beard -which is once again in place – and I’m sure there will remain (the beard, I mean).
July 29, 2013 at 2:35 PM
Double Louis’ bet for me.
He’ll shave and I’ll grow.
July 29, 2013 at 3:48 PM
Hehe, Joseph, you mean I’m going to lose my beard? Again? This mean that no Israeli action is to been expected any time soon.
July 29, 2013 at 4:54 PM
To the contrary. I bet that I would grow one if you had to cut yours.
We may both be wrong (again!) but I’m with you 100%.
No other explanation makes any sense at all, knowing Netanyahu.
July 29, 2013 at 8:24 PM
I don’t think anything will happen as long as John Kerry is flying around in your backyard trying to make nice with the PA. Beyond that, it’s anybody’s guess. As for me, my guess is the domestic and international politics for all the good guys is much too complicated and everyone is in a state of self-inflicted paralysis. Consequently, nothing will happen in the immediate future. My bet? OK, it’s tailored to fit the odds as I see it:
One week, nothing happens, $50
Six weeks, nothing happens, $20
Six months, nothing happens, $10
July 29, 2013 at 8:57 PM
LS….
ROFL…..
You make George Carlin proud !
July 29, 2013 at 9:06 PM
George Carlin…what a guy! Here’s one of his lines that fits the situation at hand:
“No one knows what’s next, but everybody does it.”
Typical Carlin.
July 29, 2013 at 9:12 PM
However, JW, Yogi Berra is my favorite. Example:
“Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.”
You gotta love it.
July 29, 2013 at 9:32 PM
LS….
“The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.”
– Robert Anton Wilson
July 29, 2013 at 9:28 PM
you know there really is a lot of war fog going round,today i have been told the syria strikes on the same people then told us it was off,theirs stuff going on here in the uk,then it was if assad uses nbcs again,then next no its not syria or iran its another state all in one day i posted some of what i was told under defenses post,different branches of different governments are saying conflicting things.anbd then thers the stuff on deka subscription,i am now totally perplexed this is where debka got it from
Analysis: Russia “Evacuates” Syria Naval Base
The Alex Jones Channel Alex Jones Show podcast Prison Planet TV Infowars.com Twitter Alex Jones’ Facebook Infowars store
syriareport.net
June 27, 2013
Reports from today indicate that Russia has recently pulled it’s personnel from Syria due to the security situation and for diplomatic reasons.
In an interview with the Al-Hayat newspaper, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said:
Presently, the Russian Defense Ministry has not a single person stationed in Syria. The base does not have any strategic military importance.
Additionally, Russia Today, in an article published recently, reports:
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister says all personnel had been evacuated from the navy resupply base in Tartus, Syria, adding that not a single Russian military serviceman remained in the country.
Social media is abuzz with the implications of such a move. The two primary opinions among commentators are that Russia has scrambled to abandon Syria and/or that [as a result], the green light has been given for possible intervention by other state actors, specifically America and it’s allies.
The use of the word “evacuate” in Russia Today’s article compounds the panicked response by readers, who assume Russia’s decision, whenever it was made, was in a scramble to abandon Syria in a surrender to international pressure. Additionally, the Western media promoted view of a Syrian government with it’s back against the wall, it’s days numbered and as a “sinking ship”, further solidifies the inappropriate perceptions and responses.
July 29, 2013 at 9:50 PM
“Everyone seems to be thinking about the unplannable while planning for the unthinkable.”
LS
July 29, 2013 at 10:07 PM
If you think you know what the hell is going on, you’re probably full of shit.
– Robert Anton Wilson
July 29, 2013 at 10:01 PM
i think the word paralysis,best sums it up,sense may even prevail
July 29, 2013 at 4:40 PM
If this is true your really in trouble,,if i was bibi i would stop fucking about like a half baked cake and act now,as syria Hezbollah and iran together will level israel the rules of numbers say that
July 29, 2013 at 6:06 PM
The US will deal with Iran, Israel will deal with Assad and Hezbollah and Egypt will deal with Hamas..
July 29, 2013 at 6:20 PM
Bullshit
July 29, 2013 at 6:22 PM
It is written…
July 29, 2013 at 7:26 PM
you need anti psychotics,its written ,what utter tosh we may start running NATO according to David Ike
July 29, 2013 at 6:23 PM
RAF jets are reportedly flying large number of missions over the electronic warfare zone in the north of England.
This happens all the time as part of counter measure, anti SAM training but its large scale right now. Possibly getting the squadrons ready for what may happen soon.
I’m still treating my anon email with suspicion but with all the military and political movements happening right now, who knows.
July 29, 2013 at 7:52 PM
I hear the whole thing may be now off unless Assad uses NBCs as some nato members are asking if its a lost cause and worth one billion dollars a day for the sake of removing assad,and The usa is going to pursue diplomacy for at least another 6 to 8 months as far as iran goes.the peace negotiation are also a poison chalice its a very clever ploy by the Obama admin,when they fail,there are going to be European sanctions on israel followed by UN ones
July 30, 2013 at 12:45 AM
“western media” SVR comedy unit
July 30, 2013 at 2:42 AM
Hi we just wanted to ask the readers here some questions, they might or might not be good questions, we are just curious.
1. Why is Russia helping Syria so much?
2. What do they have to gain?
3. Is there a financial incentive for Russia, why would they help for free?
4. We were thinking the financial incentive might be, that since Russia is very involved in Syria, and it has a lot of its ships, and other equipment, then if Asad wins, then maybe they will all turn on Israel, whether directly or indirectly with proxies, what do you guys think?
5. Could the Russians incentive be, and that them and their allies, and proxies plan will be to gain access or control over the oil and gas fields around Israel?
6. Russia and its allies seem very organised, how long can NATO and its allies wait to prevent things getting worse? It seems they keep waiting, maybe thinking they will get involved later, another day, another month, 6 months, year, etc.
7. If they gained access or control over the Israeli gas and oil fields, would that give Russia a great financial reward, oil, gas, monopoly over the oil, gas to Europe, and from that, maybe political power to manipulate Europe, and maybe other countries?
8. Why would Russia support Assad, Iran, Hezbollah, etc., if those powers are just as bad as the other terrorist organizations, and they will have nuclear weapons, doesn’t Russia think it will come back and terrorise them?
9. What about China? They are also supporting the Russian choices, and helping the same cause as Russia, Why wouldn’t China that this situation would come and terrorise them as well?
We are not as informed as the readers here, but if some of the readers have time, and maybe try to answer 1 or 2 or most of the questions, we would really appreciate it.
We have unfortunately seen readers say bad things to other writers, we hope that wont happen to us, but if some want to say bad things to us, well we are sorry if we provoked it.
We don’t mean to provoke, and we hope people don’t say bad things to us, but if some want to, say bad things to us, then its sad that they would do that. We are only trying to understand things and ask questions
Thank you.
July 30, 2013 at 8:46 AM
I’ll try to answer you a little later this day. I just only saw your comment. Talk with you later.
July 30, 2013 at 9:09 AM
Thank you Luis, we really appreciate it. If others could try to answer some of the questions also, we would appreciate everyone’s ideas. Thank you, Smiley.
July 30, 2013 at 1:19 PM
the truth is were having a hot cold war its very risky on the Russians part,the russians are following a long term strategy they started in the 70s,it is not about Israel or Syria they are just pawns,its about world domination lucky its gone badly wrong for Russia
July 31, 2013 at 2:36 AM
Thank you Justice for Israel, Smiley.
July 30, 2013 at 3:28 PM
I’ll be as brief as possible:
1. Money.
2. See above.
3. Future money.
4. More arms sales. Engaging Israel too expensive.
5. More royalty income.
6. To make them spend more money.
7. They didn’t count on fracking.
8. Financial dependency will prevent this.
9. No technology to copy. Will lose interest.
You see, it’s all about $$$. Russia is run like a huge crime syndicate and they are quickly going broke. China delved into capitalism, the Chinese people prospered like never before and will not tolerate an economic disaster.
Value of my opinion?…about 25 cents.
July 31, 2013 at 2:35 AM
Thank you Louisiana Steve, Smiley.
July 30, 2013 at 10:20 AM
To Smiley :
1. Russia is seeking constantly to improve its strategic positions.
If Israel is the USA ”outpost” in the region – we are talking about the Middle East – then Russia has to find some outposts of its own. In the past, the Russians were deep involved in Egypt – up to ’73, ’74 – but after the Israeli -Egyptian peace treaty, the USA took the parenthood over Egypt and the Russians were left only with Syria, as a vital ”avanpost” in the region.
2. Syria is another story, very different from Egypt. In the course of the time, this embattled country knew many wars, sectarian wars where men and women and children have been slaughtered – look at Hama event, 1982, for example. The modern rulers of Syria were Alawite – which is an offspring of the Shia. The majority of the Syrian population is Sunni and they are seeing the Alawites as ”infidels” and the same Sunnis are in a prolonged conflict with the Shiite faction of the same Islam, conflict which is longer than one thousand(1000) years – look at the Karbala battle, 680, Anno Domini(AD).
From then on, a sever rift was opened between Sunni and Shiite; Mohammad nephew was murdered there and the Shiites are blaming the Sunnis for that tragedy.
So Syria was never really quiet; there were ups and downs and conflicts; the situation in the country ” demanded ” foreign ” help ” and guess who was ” jumping” to help ? Who is the eager nation in the world ready to ”help” another people, is entering its house but forgot after that to leave ? If you named the Russians, then your guess was right.
The Russians started to help the Syrian regime – ’60ies, ’70ies, ’80ies, ’90ies up to now – economically and militarily.
It was safe to call Syria the ”little Russia” in a certain period of time.
So the Russians are very deep involved in Syria. For decades are they investing their efforts in this country. They – the Russians – know very well that in the very moment that Syria will fall in the hands of an Islamic regime, they will have to say good by to all their efforts, money and time they had invested there. They simply cannot afford do that. It will be considered a loss even greater than Afghanistan. But, in the end, that will happen. 3.The Syrian war has locked inside it the potential of a much greater conflagration with Iran, Lebanon, Syria against Israel while China will stay with Russia and USA with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States also to be involved against the Iranians. We are not there, yet.
But if this war is to be continued a couple of years more, than the previous nightmare scenario might become reality.
July 30, 2013 at 11:28 AM
Thank you Luis for taking your time to give an in depth and detailed answer, its really nice.
We understand that Russia has tried to do things that oppose the US and its allies, but isn’t there limits? We think someone in the Russian government should have an idea that helping Iran gain the knowledge, and ability to make many nuclear weapons of many variations will affect them when terrorists will smuggle them into Russia and use them.
We don’t understand how anybody could think that their country could fully monitor another countries nuclear weapons production or have any knowledge of all the secret facilities another country has. Also how could any country think they could monitor another country spreading that knowledge or giving nuclear weapons to terrorists.
Its sad to see all the terrorism in the world, why does Russian government think they will stop nuclear terrorism happening in their country. We have heard of people transporting tiny nuclear weapons in there body, and they got through many countries borders through illegal means.
And those tiny nuclear devices could destroy whole city blocks, or if the terrorists stand near a chemical or biological plant, then it could even be worse
——————
We understand that Russia has tried to do things that oppose the US and its allies, but besides doing things that oppose the US and allies there must be a financial and political gain for Russia,most cant afford to do things for free, we think Russia wouldn’t help for free either.
Russia maybe could have partnered with another Mid East country to have an outpost for a lot cheaper price then the price its paying for all the financial, and material help its giving to Syria. We heard that Syria’s oil reserve are very depleted, so there wouldn’t be much money from that for Russia.
So that’s why we were wondering what are the other financial incentives for Russia?
Could the Russians incentive be, and that them and their allies, and proxies plan will be to gain access or control over the oil and gas fields around Israel? Because there seems to be a lot of gas and oil there, and the plan was to send it to Europe.
So there would be a lot of money to be made, and Russia could control the gas and oil prices to Europe, since they would be a gas and oil monopoly to Europe With that they could manipulate the Europian countries politics one country at a time thru so called negotiations, so each country gets the price they want for the political actions they would do in their country for Russia.
If Russia and it allies gained access or control over the Israeli gas and oil fields, would that give Russia a great financial reward, oil, gas, monopoly over the oil, gas to Europe, and from that, maybe political power to manipulate Europe, and maybe other countries?
Russia and its allies seem very organised, how long can NATO and its allies wait to prevent things getting worse? It seems they keep waiting, maybe thinking they will get involved later, another day, another month, 6 months, year, etc.
Its sad to think that Russia and its allies are organized, Russia has its weapons there, for Syria and Iran, and it seems that NATO isn’t, again it seems that way, we don’t know.
——–
If Russia, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah will win in Syria, which it seems they are, and NATO seems to be quite out of the picture, compared to the other players, then it seems they will be a very strong combination for Israel to overcome to get most of Irans nuclear facilities.
We cant trust the US and NATO to do the job, Obama is always weaseling out of his promises to help Syria if there are chemical weapons.
Obama seems pro religious Muslim, he didn’t help in any shape or form, the Iranians get rid of the Mullahs when the people tried to overthrow them.
Obama was happy to help get rid of Mubarak, who didn’t seem as religious as the muslim brotherhood, and let the Jet Fighter contracts continue with the Brotherhood. But when the Egyptions wanted to get rid of the Religious Muslim Brotherhood, Obama was against it, and has withheld the fighter jets to Egypt.
So Israel cant rely on Obama.
We wish Israel could rely on NATO, but doesn’t Europe seem a bit fractured in its policies? Isnt Europe fractured in its financial collaboration, so wouldn’t they be also fractured in their foreign policies, so that by the time they debated a majority agreement on any issue, the delay would make the agreement irrelevant because the issue would have changed by the time they reached a consensus.
What do you think Luis? We are sorry to ask these questions, we know they are hard.
We also welcome everyone to tackle any of the questions if they want..
Thank you Luis, and also anyone else. Smiley
July 30, 2013 at 6:57 PM
In addition to the motivation by money it’s a question of national prestige for the Russians.
After the fall of the Soviet Union and the subsequent economic collapse the Russians lost not only their super power status but they were perceived as a paper tiger.
In terms of conventional military they were and still are no match for NATO.
At that time Russian president Boris Jelzin Russia was more drunk than sober and increasingly weak and corrupt and and became an embarassement for the Russians.
They became the laughing stock of the world.
The lowest point came when after the breakaway of several former Soviet republics the Russian army suffered a humiliating defeat by the rebels in Chechnya.
President Putin (much younger then) came to power by presenting himself as a strong leader who would restore Russias former strength and prestige.
He implemented a tough, brutal policy in chechnya where Russia’s army practically bombed the Chechens into submission, reducing their capital Grozny to rubble.
Since then Putin kept his grip on power helped by steadily rising energy prices which benefit Russia as one of the biggest energy producers in the world.
This is how Putin came to power and this is how Putin stays in power.
By opposing the West/the USA on every ppolitical forum and by supporting the West’s adversaries he presents himself as a strong leader and Russia as a big power who has to be respected on the world scene.
Of course there are many other factors driving Russian policy but this one should not be overlooked.
July 31, 2013 at 2:34 AM
Thank you Artaxes, Smiley.
July 30, 2013 at 3:02 PM
not even close when it comes to russia luis
July 30, 2013 at 3:05 PM
“Your comment is awaiting moderation” your your own worst enemy obamas right abut that,good buy you have just lost a supporter and i am British and 10s of millions of people listen to me
July 30, 2013 at 3:26 PM
Dude….
Relax will you. Had to reset permissions in order to remove some particularly offensive posters as per Luis’ request.
Save your paranoia for the Russians. You KNOW I’m your friend.
July 31, 2013 at 2:38 AM
Thank you Luis, Smiley.
July 30, 2013 at 7:59 PM
I thought I was blocked lol :O
July 31, 2013 at 11:23 AM
It seems Debka has deleted this article. I find his very interesting and potentially telling….
July 31, 2013 at 11:33 AM
Deleted? Just clicked on the link. No prob…
July 31, 2013 at 11:35 AM
Not working for me for some reason. Just goes to their main page…