Iranian Oil Revenue Backing makes Russia Richer, Syria Stronger, and Iran Poorer!
January 22, 2007
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
With the promise of financial backing by Iranian oil revenues, Syria has loaded up on massive amounts of high tech weaponry purchases from Russia. With every passing month Syria is becoming militarily stronger and much better prepared to wage a successful war against Israel.
Russia is getting richer and Syria is getting stronger. Both are draining Iran of its revenues received by oil exports, primarily to China. When now-President Ahmadinejad was running for the office, he promised to lift
the economic status of the poor families in Iran. His economic plans have done quite the opposite, and Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is not at all pleased with the situation.
I have a strong suspicion the tremendous outflow of oil revenues from the Iranian economy, with no return, is going to stagger “the man in the street’s” lifestyle to no small degree.
As a result, I expect the head shed religious leaders of Iran, both moderate and conservative, to put a lid on the President’s fanatical war rhetoric and international threats, at least until some progress is made to improve the poor working man’s lot in the Iranian economy. The sanctions imposed by the international group of nations, as weak as they were, have damaged an economy already hit hard by oil profit revenue outflow, and this might lead Iran’s religious leaders to make the President allow some form of new international nuclear inspections.
Begin DEBKAfile Report
Syrian Armed Forces Revamped
January 15, 2007, 4:40 PM (GMT+02:00)
15 January: The Syrian army has begun striking out in new directions for the first time since Bashar Asad succeeded his father as president seven years ago, DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources reveal.
Two new mechanized divisions are under construction. When they are completed in the coming spring, the Syrian armed forces will consist of 12 divisions – five deployed opposite Israel on the Golan, of which 3 are in forward positions facing Israeli troops and tanks and 2 further back on call as reinforcements should war erupt.
Two armored divisions are stationed outside the Syrian towns of Homs and Der’a; the Republican Guard division 569 is permanently assigned to securing the ruling Asad family in Damascus; an infantry division is posted on the Syrian-Turkish border and ano
ther on the Syria-Iraq frontier.
Hafez Asad’s military doctrine was based on Syria being too poor in money and technology to maintain modern air and naval forces; it must therefore rely on a very strong anti-air defense system based on large quantities of medium range missiles, mostly Soviet Scuds-B, -C and –D, equipped with chemical and biological warheads.
These missiles are capable of reaching every densely-populated corner of Israel.
When Asad the younger assumed power in June 2000, he more or less adhered to his father’s military concept with two important exceptions:
He signed a mutual defense pact with Iran binding each country to come to the aid of the other against an external aggressor.
The pact covered a merger between the Syrian and Iranian military industries, including Syria’s missile factories (the biggest is an underground facility near the northern town of Homs). Syria thus procured advanced missile technology from Iran.
Asad’s second project was to develop commando units for penetrating Israel’ s home front in the even of a war with the Jewi
sh state. Ten of these battalions have been created.
But the Israel-Hizballah war of summer 2006 was the Syrian ruler’s real eye-opener.
He saw the legendary IDF fail to subdue the enemy; Hizballah pounding northern Israel’s towns and villages day after day and forcing one million Israelis
to abandon their homes. And he saw Hizballah using anti-tank rockets with devastating effect against advancing Israeli armored forces regardless of steady Israeli air bombardment.
The Syrian army has consequently undergone fundamental changes in weaponry and self-perception:
1. Its high command has been freed of its long sense of military inferiority to the IDF, despite Israel’s considerable strength.
2. There will therefore be far less inhibitions in the way of retaliating for Israeli military attacks, big or small, against Syrian territory. This freedom from restraint could also apply to Israeli spy planes penetrating Syrian air space.
3. Syria is preparing its army, especially the commando battalions, for such reprisals to take the form of cross-border operations.
4. S ince the second half of November, 2006, small special units of 10-12 men are
in training as terrorist teams for strikes inside Israel, starting with the Israeli Golan.
5. Anti-tank rockets have been introduced as standard equipment in all units down to company level.
6. In Moscow last month, the Syrian president signed a big arms deal with Russia.
7. He was taken round a base near Moscow for a display of the latest Russian anti-air missiles. In particular, he exam ined the S-300PMU2 FAVORIT system, which is designed to defend strategic facilities and armed forces aga
inst attack by modern aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles in heavy ECM environments.
This air defense system is equipped with 30N6E2 fire-control radar, a 96L6E target acquisition and designation radar, eight 5P85SE launchers and 48N6E2 missiles with a range of 200km against aircraft and 40 km against ballistic missiles.
The system can engage six targets simultaneously with 12 missiles.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military experts describe this as a highly sophisticated, extremely expensive piece of hardware. Each battery costs $600 million.
Our sources report that before he left, Assad clinched a deal with Moscow to purchase this system on credit from Iran as part of Tehran’s arms transactions with the Russians.
This is worrisome news indeed. It will place in the radical Asad regime’s hands a strategic weapon capable not only of downing Israeli planes while still in Israeli air space, but also US and European aircraft taking off from carriers in the eastern Mediterranean.
End DEBKAfile Report
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