By Gordon Duff and Nahed al Husaini in Damascus with Der Spiegel
The reports below are confirmed, to an extent anyway. Russia is, as we are all told, taken responsibility to moderate confrontations inside Syria between Israel and Iran, confrontations that have killed many Syrians and are pushing the world toward nuclear war.
This is how it plays out:
Heavy fighting in Syria – Assad’s allies go to each other
The insurgents in Syria are largely defeated, now the conflicts between the supporters of the Assad regime are revealed. Rival army units take each other under fire.
The voice of the soldier on the radio sounded upset: they had lost sight of the opposing convoy in the dark, he said. The vehicles had arrived in the village of Hwaiz, but had their headlights extinguished. Another explained that he would still shoot at her.
The radio footage from the evening of 19 January, which is available to SPIEGEL, document a new stage of escalation in the Syrian war . Last Saturday, Syrian units of the two major Assad allies – Russia and Iran – launched their assault on tanks, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns. Now that the insurgents have been largely defeated, the battle for prey is intensifying: Who controls Syria ?
In this specific case, who controls the strategically important plane of al-Ghab in the northwest of Hama province? The long valley lies between the home province of the Assad clan in the west and the province of Idlib in the east, the last stronghold of the rebels .
What Assad wants does not matter
Tehran wants to control the area and has fourth-division soldiers, officially commanded by presidential brother Maher al-Assad but de facto controlled by Iran, occupy several villages in the Ghab Valley in recent weeks.
Moscow also wants to control the terrain and sent massive reinforcements for the Russian-equipped and trained 5th Army Corps, commanded by Syrian Brigadier General Suhail al-Hassan to the city of Shatha on the western edge of the plain.
What dictator Bashar al-Assad wants in Damascus is unclear, but did not play a big role either.
On the morning of January 19, both sides opened the fire. The Russian-Syrian Corps quickly proved itself superior to the Iranian-Syrian division, intervening village by village, destroying an armored troop transport of the Fourth Division in the hamlet of Qaber Fidda and reaching the small town of Hwaiz on the eastern edge of the plain by evening. The place where the sparkling soldiers of the Fourth Division saw them still moving in the rapidly approaching darkness, but could no longer be attacked for lack of illumination. Since then, the situation has calmed down a bit. Sporadically continue to shoot each other, it is said, but only with light weapons.
How many men died on both sides is unclear. Estimates range from several dozen to 200. None of the parties involved has any interest in publicizing battles among allies. Only witnesses from the villages, relatives of fighters and the reconnaissance of the rebels from Idlib, which continue to listen to the radio traffic of the other side, have delivered the puzzle pieces to the overall picture in recent days.
Iran and Russia are losing the common enemy
The conflict between Russia and Iran in Syria is not new. On several occasions, the hired or taken over units of the two powers have clashed: in mid-October there were days of fighting between the Assad-loyal Sunni Mafia clan Berris, who wanted to establish themselves as new lords of East Aleppo after defeating the rebels, and Iranian-Syrian militia who had the same goal. Officially, the Russian military police moved here from East Aleppo, but at the same time the Berris are said to have received weapons, ammunition and logistical help from the Russians.
Already in June, the Russian military and the Lebanese Hezbollah were ready to fire when the Russians wanted to take over the Lebanese-Syrian border claimed by Hezbollah, Iran’s oldest and most important foreign militia.
The catalyst for such struggles among Assad’s allies is often the disputes of local militants over who can control and plunder which terrain. But the reasons for the Russian-Iranian dissent go deeper. Since almost all the major rebel areas have been reconquered – Aleppo, the suburbs of Damascus, the province of Dara in the south – the unequal ally of the common enemy has been lost.
Instead, the different goals are all the clearer: Moscow wants to bring Syria to rest, to score internationally with it and not to interfere in the highly explosive questions of faith. Iran, on the other hand, has far more ambitious goals and has been trying hard to turn the ruling Alawi minority into “right” Shiite Muslims. Following the example of Hezbollah in Lebanon, a Shiite state in the state should also control Syria in the future.
Nothing will change in Assad’s victory
Thus, the Iranians have made extremely unpopular even with Assad’s supporters. Damascus wants to control his vassals, play off against each other, and not be controlled by them in reverse. In addition, the Alawites, who have a lax relationship to Islamic alcohol prohibition and their wives are rarely veiled, do not like the imposition of Iranian abstinence and veil on them.
And as little as Iran’s power in Syria is appreciated, the verdict in Teheran is so harsh: “Assad and Putin will sacrifice us,” complained the deputy Behrouz Bonyadi in the Iranian parliament at the end of June. Despite what Iran has sacrificed in terms of money and people for Assad’s hold on power, the Russia-Damascus axis will soon abandon Tehran, in return for Israeli and American favors.
But it’s unlikely that anything will change in Syria’s power relations and Assad’s victory, predicts Mohanad Hage Ali of Beirut’s Carnegie Middle East Center. The longtime observer of the Russian-Iranian relationship in the neighboring country judges soberly: “Iran is particularly dependent on Russia in Syria, but both are interdependent there, and no side will allow the conflict to escalate.”
In short: in the Syrian province of Hama, dictator Bashar al-Assad’s rival allies have shot each other in the past few days: the Iran-controlled Fourth Army Division and the Russian-equipped Fifth Army Corps. Both sides argue about power, influence and who may plunder which area.
Video analysis: “Northern Syria is in limbo”
Media: a conflict is brewing between Russia and Iran in Syria
After the victory of the Damascus government forces over the rebels, there is a new escalation in the Syrian crisis, reported the German Spiegel Online on January 25 with reference to the intercepted radio communication dated January 19.
According to these records, units that are part of the corps of pro-Russian militants started an armed clash with the units of the pro-Iranian militants in the strategically important Al-Ghab Plain in the north-west of the Hama Governorate. Both sides reportedly used armored vehicles, grenade launchers and machine guns.
However, soon the Russian-Syrian forces overran the Iranian-Syrian forces. They took control of several villages and reached the small town of Hwaiz. According to the publication, the situation has since stabilized to some extent. Both Iran and Russia strive to control the Al-Ghab Plain.
There is no information on the losses since none of the sides wants to make the conflict between Assad’s allies public.
Meanwhile, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported that the S-300 Russian anti-aircraft missile system was not used to repel the Israeli air strike in Syria. Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said that if the Russian missile defense had fulfilled its functions, Israel would not have been able to carry out air raids on Syria so easily. He assumed that Israel coordinates air attacks with Russian troops in Syria.
After the victory of the Damascus government forces over the rebels, there is a new escalation in the Syrian crisis, reported the German Spiegel Online on January 25 with reference to the intercepted radio communication dated January 19.
According to these records, units that are part of the corps of pro-Russian militants started an armed clash with the units of the pro-Iranian militants in the strategically important Al-Ghab Plain in the north-west of the Hama Governorate. Both sides reportedly used armored vehicles, grenade launchers and machine guns.
However, soon the Russian-Syrian forces overran the Iranian-Syrian forces. They took control of several villages and reached the small town of Hwaiz. According to the publication, the situation has since stabilized to some extent. Both Iran and Russia strive to control the Al-Ghab Plain.
There is no information on the losses since none of the sides wants to make the conflict between Assad’s allies public.
Meanwhile, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported that the S-300 Russian anti-aircraft missile system was not used to repel the Israeli air strike in Syria. Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said that if the Russian missile defense had fulfilled its functions, Israel would not have been able to carry out air raids on Syria so easily. He assumed that Israel coordinates air attacks with Russian troops in Syria.
Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
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They are very god at it: “intercepted radio communication…”.
Where did I here this kind of hogwash last time? They are so lazy to place their stories right in front of you without any verification. After the “Relotius” debacle and the following coverup, the Spiegel is nothing more than a propaganda asset for globalist wet dreams. There is no investigation anymore, instead – see Relotius and others – they like selling fantasy and lies as truth, facts are out.
This obvious Hasbarah thing (in line with some Iranian traitors inside, mimicing as muslim fundamentalists) is a laugheable peace of propaganda. Please, wait for the real facts coming out of that region, not any “intercepted…”.
If these forces are looking for someone to fight in Syria, there are still terrorists in Idlib, US/US proxy forces in the al Tanf pocket and east of the Euphrates River, Turks/Turkish proxy forces in the north, and Israelis in the Golan.
Viva Russia, Viva Syria, Viva Iran. Together you defeated the monsters. Keep up the great works.
“What dictator Bashar al-Assad wants in Damascus is unclear”
Why is there such an Israeli spin to this story?
Christoph Reuter, if this is the same fellow that did the Rise of ISiS film, is an MSM Zionist tool!
Happens from time to time with Duff; the axis of evil wants to see every one divided and fighting; the only reliable news I have seen surrounding anything even remotely like this, was Iran slamming russia for not activating the s300 and shooting down the Zionist aircraft. Though they know well that Russia is still training the Syrians on the s300 Systems. https://russia-insider.com/en/senior-iranian-mp-slams-russia-keeping-syria-s-300s-air-defenses-inactive-during-israeli-strikes
Concur – stopped reading after “dictator Bashar al-Assad” – Reuter, he is Dr. Al Assad for you –
dictator? as dictator Putin,? Quaddafi ? and others – Reuter any relation to the late Paul Julius?
Reuter, are you presenting some wet dream of Bibi? Hmm – as Williamson would say “shut up
and go away”.
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