Why is Russia in Syria now?

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News that the Kremlin is beginning to move military assets to Syria is now a foregone conclusion. The reasons why Moscow is sending advisors and equipment to Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad are multi-faceted. In the wake of the recent meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and three top Middle East leaders, and with the upcoming 70th U.N. General Assembly, the timing could not be better.

Moscow is already sending a wide array of equipment and personnel by ship to the Syrian port of Tartus. Russia has sent prefabricated housing units for hundreds of people to a Syrian airfield, as well as a portable air traffic control station. The housing will enable Moscow to use the airfield as a major hub for ferrying in military supplies to the Syrian government, or possibly as a launch pad for Russian airstrikes.

Moscow is also loading ships with equipment bound for Syria. The plan seems to be to deploy 2,000 – 3,000 Russian personnel, including advisors, instructors, logistics personnel, technical personnel, members of the aerial protection division, and pilots who will operate aircraft including over a dozen MiG-31s, according to a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) official.

http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/09/why-is-russia-in-syria-now/

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1. Sandstorm covers cities of Beirut and Damascus in yellow dust

An unseasonal sandstorm has swept across the Middle East covering Beirut and Damascus with a blanket of yellow dust.

Two women have died and hundreds more people were admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties, according to officials.

Reduced visibility prompted the Syrian government to call off airstrikes against rebel fighters in a central province, local media reported, and threatened a planned protest by Lebanese activists over the government’s inability to deal with the country’s rubbish crisis.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/sandstorm-covers-cities-of-beirut-and-damascus-in-yellow-dust-694866.html

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12. 'Unprecedented' Mideast Sandstorm Kills Two in Lebanon, Grounds Syrian Air Force

Israelis suffering from Tuesday's severe and unseasonal sandstorm were in good company.

In Lebanon, two people were said to have died from the effects of the blanket of yellow dust and hundreds were hospitalized, while in Syria it grounded the air force of the Assad regime.

The meteorological department at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport described the storm as being "unprecedented" in Lebanon's modern history, according to Al-Jazeera.

The Lebanese health ministry reported that two women had died and over 750 had been hospitalized with breathing problems or related issues. People in Beirut, especially those with health issues, were advised to stay indoors while many of those who ventured onto the streets wore surgical masks.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.675159

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2. UPDATE 1-Bulgaria refusing airspace access to Russian aid flights to Syria

(Reuters) - Bulgaria has serious doubts about the cargo on board planes that Russia says it will fly into Syria with aid, and has refused them access to its airspace, the foreign ministry in Sofia said on Tuesday.

The United States, deeply concerned by reports of a Russian military build-up in Syria, had earlier asked Greece to deny the same flights access to Greek airspace, an official in Athens said on Monday.

"We have enough information that makes us have serious doubts about the cargo of the planes, which is the reason for the refusal," a Bulgarian foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

The Russian foreign ministry declined immediate comment.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/08/mideast-crisis-greece-russia-idUSL5N11E2H620150908

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3. ‘Assad must go’ in fight against Islamic State: US adviser

It is “madness” for the US-led ­coalition to fight the Islamic State terror group in Syria without a strategy to also unseat the Assad regime, says former George W. Bush adviser Elliott Abrams.

Now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Mr Abrams told guests at a dinner hosted by the Australia-Israel and Jewish Affairs Council in Can­berra that President Bashar al-Assad had to be removed and Islamic State destroyed so moderates in Syria could be allowed to rebuild the country.

That would take years, he said. Mr Abrams, who met Tony Abbott on Monday on the eve of a decision by cabinet’s national security committee to extend RAAF airstrikes from Iraq into Syria, told an influential group of government officials and policymakers the US was urging its coalition partners to fight Islamic State but not the ­“vicious, murderous” Assad regime. “Well, this is madness at a time when the regime is killing tens of thousands of Sunni Syrians by, for example, dropping barrel bombs laced with chlorine,’’ Mr Abrams said.

“So the notion that you can ­defeat ISIS in league with Iran and ignoring the Assad regime I think is, let’s just say, illogical and won’t work. If we’re serious about defeating ISIS, we need to be serious about bringing the Assad regime, which is a recruiter for ISIS (through its behaviour) to an end.”

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/terror/assad-must-go-in-fight-against-islamic-state-us-adviser/story-fnpdbcmu-1227518496373?sv=c6407cf49b238a7c5047174c10ef1688

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6. Elliott Abrams is a subject matter expert on madness. Has been going back to the Reagan Admin.

Loved the part about blaming the Assad regime for ISIS because it's a recruiter for Sunni Jihadis. Like blaming a malaria victim for mosquitos.

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8. A fool and a tool.

But still well taken care of.

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10. Shiny coat. New collar. Full bowl of kibble.

Still well taken care of.

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11. And a seat on the Council on Foreign Relations.

Like he had a clue.

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13. Him and Cheney got the same talking points it looks like:

Dick Cheney on Iran deal: 'It is madness'

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141201719

Spengler at Asia Times went off the deep end over the refugees, too:

The price of Europe’s fecklessness

http://atimes.com/2015/09/the-price-of-europes-fecklessness/

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4. Kurdish Rebels Kill at Least 14 Police in Eastern Turkey

ISTANBUL—Kurdish rebels killed at least 14 policemen and Turkish warplanes and special-operations forces struck rebel targets in northern Iraq, as the long-running conflict between Ankara and the country’s armed Kurdish insurgency threatened Tuesday to enter a new era of bloodshed.

The deaths of the policemen occurred in two separate rebel attacks in the eastern provinces of Igdir and Tunceli, official media said, and occurred the same day Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was attending the funerals of 16 soldiers killed by a roadside bomb in Hakarri province on Sunday.

With public anger swelling over the latest bloodletting by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, Turkey’s military hit hard. Its aircraft carried out raids early Tuesday against Kurdish targets in Turkey and northern Iraq, killing 40 rebels, official media reported.

Two Turkish special-operations battalions also crossed into northern Iraq in pursuit of rebel forces in the Qandil mountains, it said. The claims couldn’t be independently confirmed.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/kurdish-insurgents-kill-at-least-12-police-in-eastern-turkey-1441705452

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5. Med port, last ally in the region, KSA/GCC funded the Mujahed in Afghanistan. Draw a line somewhere

After losing so much territory and allies in the Muslim south of the USSR -- and seeing those areas become springboards for Al-Qaeda/ISIS attacks on southern Russia, is it all surprising they would dig in here?

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9. The Alawite heartland can be defended, it is the right place to take a stand. nt

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7. Same reason we're in Iraq

To promote world peace and harmony. Comrade.

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14. Ally with Syria to defeat ISIS

n the wake of the much-ballyhooed “Arab Spring,” the Syrian government made multiple concessions to what shortly became terrorist groups under various names – the Free Syrian Army being the most prominently mentioned. In return for its willingness to engage in political dialogue, Syria saw a sharp uptick in terrorist activity, in terms of frequency and severity.

Now, a few years later, following exposure of the degree of collaboration between the Free Syrian Army and Al-Nusra (which, in turn, is closely affiliated with Al-Qaeda), one rarely hears the group name mentioned. Why? Perhaps because it has become a point of major political embarrassment to the United States and its Israeli and Saudi allies.

The current U.S. administration and its associated national security apparatus continue to refrain from calling the terrorist groups operating in Syria for what they are: terrorist groups. These are not “rebels,” they're not “opposition forces,” but terrorists, plain and simple. Indeed, in a recent interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by the Syrian state news agency, he made it painfully clear that the Syrian problems are largely driven by foreign forces, not any legitimate organic political force. Quoting from that article:

But in fact, for this political track to have an effect, it must be between Syrian independent political forces that belong to the Syrian people and have their roots in Syria and Syria alone, unlike what we see now in several of the forces we hold dialogue with that are bound financially and politically to foreign sides.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/homeland-security/252958-ally-with-syria-to-defeat-isis