{"id":29044,"date":"2016-08-17T06:42:24","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T10:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/?p=29044"},"modified":"2016-08-17T06:42:24","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T10:42:24","slug":"the-mess-in-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/?p=29044","title":{"rendered":"The Mess In The Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday the BBC<\/a> posted an article about the ongoing war in the Middle East<\/a>. I generally don’t trust the BBC as a source on the Middle East because I feel that they are biased against Israel, but in this case, the article provides a lot of good information.<\/p>\n

The article included a map showing where things currently stand:<\/p>\n

\"MiddleEast\"<\/a>As you can see, the situation is a mess. The article was not about the map; however, the article was about a shift in the execution of the war by the pro-Bashar al-Assad<\/a> forces in Russia<\/a> and Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The article states:<\/p>\n

Russia’s defence ministry says it has used a base in western Iran to carry out air strikes in Syria<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tupolev-22M3 long-range bombers and Sukhoi-34 strike fighters took off from Hamedan on Tuesday, a statement said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Targets were hit in Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al-Zour<\/a> provinces, it added. Local groups said 27 civilians had died.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is reportedly the first time Russia has struck targets inside Syria from a third country since it began a campaign to prop up Syria’s president last year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Iran is Bashar al-Assad’s main regional ally and has provided significant military and financial support since an uprising against him erupted in 2011.<\/strong><\/p>\n

…Russia has been operating jets and helicopters from bases in Syria for the past year, but this is the first time that Moscow<\/a> has deployed aircraft to a third country in the region.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reports indicate that up to six Tupolev Tu-22M3<\/a> bombers – known by the Nato codename of “Backfire” – are now operating from an air base in western Iran.<\/strong><\/p>\n

These planes – originally designed as a long-range strategic bomber – have already been engaged in the Syrian air campaign but operating from bases in southern Russia. Placing them in Iran dramatically reduces the duration of their missions. The Russian defence ministry<\/a> says that an unspecified number of Sukhoi-34 strike aircraft have also been sent to Iran.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Their deployment marks an intensification of the Russian air campaign – perhaps a reflection of the scale of the fighting in and around Aleppo – and it is a demonstration of the growing warmth in ties between Moscow and Tehran, the Syrian government’s two closest allies.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is not good news.<\/p>\n

The article concludes:<\/p>\n

Also on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch alleged<\/a> that Russian and Syrian government aircraft had been using incendiary weapons in civilian areas in violation of international law – something Moscow has denied.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A review of photographs and videos indicated there were at least 18 incendiary weapon attacks on rebel-held areas in Aleppo and Idlib between 5 June and 10 August, the US-based group said. Witnesses and emergency workers reported at least 12 civilians wounded in five of the attacks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Obama is in the process of forming an alliance with Russia to fight ISIS. That is a serious mistake. The only reason Russia is involved in this is to prop up Bashar al-Assad, to cement its relationship with Iran, and to regain the status it had as a world power before the Soviet Union dissolved. Vladimir Putin is not our friend and should be handled as carefully as a scorpion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday the BBC posted an article about the ongoing war in the Middle East. I generally don’t trust the BBC as a source on the Middle East because I feel that they are biased against Israel, but in this case, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5713,1348,302,246,7839,864,2925,9369,1083,91],"class_list":["post-29044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aleppo","tag-bashar-al-assad","tag-hezbollah","tag-iran","tag-islamic-state","tag-lebanon","tag-moscow","tag-president-of-syria","tag-russia","tag-syria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29046,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29044\/revisions\/29046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}