Syrian rebels with the Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) al-Tawheed Brigade have announced that they have fully conquered the Hanano Barracks, a key infantry base and school in the northern city of Aleppo.
The group’s victory came with considerable cost, however, as the Tawheed Brigade’s commander, Col. Youssef al-Jader, was reportedly killed in the Saturday offensive.
It is the second Aleppo base to fall to rebels in the past week, after the Islamist al-Nusra Front captured a base on the outskirts of the city at the start of the week. The loss of the bases has rebels saying they are gaining ground.
Yet the Assad government has been increasingly lax on defending bases it believes are not strategically important, letting the rebels take them over with little struggle in hopes of spreading them thin, while concentrating their forces in the south and near the capital city.
I thought Syria had a fairly large conventional army. Tank divisions and the like. I also read a few years back that after Hezbolla was so successful in defeating Israel in the southern Lebanon war that Syria disbanded some large infantry divisions and began to concentrate on recreating commando units and small highly trained infantry groups well equipped with the most modern infantry weapons. Training was in small unit and ambush tactics.
It seems to me that if Syria did possess these heavy forces and the newly built small combat units, highly trained and well equipped, that they should be able to nail down any rebel unit and smash them. Add in air support and I can't see how the rebels could even confront the regular Syrian army.
Someone better schooled in the military of Syria could maybe explain how rebels using light weapons and no air cover can even maintain their positions, let alone launch offensives. Is Syria holding back it's tank divisions and commando units for something else, like an potential Israeli attack in the Golan? In Libya, rebels were being crushed until NATO stepped in and launched a vast air campaign against the regular army units of Libya.
"Rebels?" What is this, Star Wars?
These same jihadis were "terrorists" accross the border in Iraq. Their ilk are also terrorists in Gaza, Afghanistan, and Lebanon.
Amazing what a change of location can do for one's image!
Real leaders lead their troops at the front, and sometimes get killed.
Pompous jerks lead their troops from an HQ far to the rear, and send 30,000 emails off to some chick they met in Tampa.