{"id":65440,"date":"2015-10-26T12:00:15","date_gmt":"2015-10-26T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=65440"},"modified":"2015-10-20T23:56:09","modified_gmt":"2015-10-20T22:56:09","slug":"is-putin-irans-senior-partner-in-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/10\/is-putin-irans-senior-partner-in-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Putin Iran\u2019s \u201cSenior Partner\u201d in Syria?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Franklin<\/a>

Franklin Lamb<\/p><\/div>\n

Damascus, 19 Oct 2015<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u00a0first personally experienced the fast rising tide of \u201cSyria loves Putin\u201d sentiment in this country at Lebanon\u2019s Masnaa border crossing the other day.\u00a0 While waiting for my visa to be stamped in my passport I chatted about recent developments in Syria over tea in the commander\u2019s office with three Syrian immigration officials, who over the past few years have become valued friends.<\/p>\n

Colonel \u201cX\u201d jokingly explained that he had bad news for me since I am an American. As I was thinking to myself, \u201cNow what for Christ\u2019s sake!\u201d,\u00a0 <\/em>he reported that the cost of an American visa for Syria \u2014 if Americans can even get one these days \u2014 may be going up in price from the current outrageous $160 each entry to and hard to imagine $200 per entry! \u00a0My friends taunted me and howled with laughter as I complained and demanded to know, \u201cwhy do you people target us Americans and how about it, what do others pay to enter Syria?\u201d<\/p>\n

Since their unit collects the visa fees and knows who is charged how much, the gentlemen quickly listed some. A few examples: Russians are charged $14 for a visa, Chinese $ 15, Brits $ 25, French $23, Saudi Arabians $ 75 Japanese $ 24 and for some reason Turks don\u2019t pay anything at all.\u00a0 The visa fee may change regarding Turkey I was told, but so far their citizens benefit from a penumbra of the unique humanitarian policy of the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR) (the only Arab country with this policy) which since the Baathist revolution and until\u00a0 the current conflict did not even require a visa for any Arabs coming here. How times have quickly changed in this region.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the Turkish government is your enemy!\u201d I insisted.\u00a0 \u201cWhy do they come in free and they aren\u2019t even Arabs?\u201d I wailed to more guffaws. And then there is the case of the Iranians, what do they have to pay to enter Syria\u201d I demanded to know.\u00a0 The reply from the commanders, with a straight face, was: \u201cFor sure, Iranians would pay nothing<\/em> if they came here but we never see them?\u00a0 Do you Sayed Lamb?\u201d\u00a0 More hysterical laughter.\u00a0\u00a0 One immigration employee commented \u201cNow we do occasionally see some friends of the Islamic Republic \u00a0enter Syria from Lebanon in racing convoys of large black SUV\u2019s with blackened windows but they don\u2019t stop in for passport stamps. They simply honk and wave at our checkpoint soldiers as they speed along their way.\u201d<\/p>\n

I know that life is not always fair.<\/p>\n

The conversation returned to Russia\u2019s new \u2018vitality\u2019 in Syria. The commander explained: \u201cAll Syrians love Putin.\u00a0 He is known to us as \u2018Abu Ali Putin\u2019<\/em>\u201d And as my friends effusively recited praise for Valdmir Putin, I couldn\u2019t get a word in sideways, and was reminded of Elizabeth Barrett Bowning\u2019s poem, \u201cHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Without serious question, Syria and this region are witnessing the most significant shift in great-power relations since the collapse of the Soviet Union a quarter century ago. For many reasons Russia has deployed its forces far from home to quell a revolution, entrench its military, showcase its new weapons and support a friendly regime. The evidence here in Damascus is that they are deadly serious and mean to challenge US influence in this region and, along with their Iranian \u201cpartners\u201d, have no plans to leave anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Seeking to return as a major power in the Middle East, Russia\u2019s Putin is trying to justify his intervention in Syria as a practical move by a reliable partner to end the crisis while his aids make it plain that the US can\u2019t be relied upon. As John C. Hulsman Enterprises, a global political risk consulting firm in Rothenburg, Germany explained this week, \u201cPutin is a \u201cGaullist,\u201d meaning that that like Charles de Gaulle who maintained France a power punching above its weight after World War II partly offering France as an alternative to American arrogance.<\/p>\n

Russia may face a contest with Iran which has roughly the same plans according to some of the journalists I have\u00a0met with following the largest press conference I\u2019ve\u00a0ever attended in Syria. The packed media event was to hear an analysis by the Chairman of the Iranian parliament\u2019s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who was accompanied by a large delegation of Iranian lawmakers.\u00a0 Mr. Boroujerdin explained that Iran would consider sending fighters to Syria if Damascus requests them:\u00a0 \u201cIf Syria makes a request for Iranian forces, we will study the request and make a decision. What\u2019s important is that Iran is serious about the fight against terrorism,\u201d he added. \u201cWe have supplied aid and weapons and sent advisers to Syria and Iraq.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some journalists in Damascus report that over the past two weeks more the 1,500 Iranian troops have arrived with more on the way. When this observer asked one Syrian journalist how he assessed the timing of the visit of such a large high ranking Iranian delegation he smiled and replied: \u201cOh they have come to tell the Syrians and others during this Putin lovefest \u201cHey, what about us? Don\u2019t forget we have been helping Syria\u2019s war against the terrorists since 2012. These guy are newcomers.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Almost as if their feelings are hurt, Iran will partner closely with Russia and each country is focused on expelling \u201cTerrorists\u201d from certain areas of Northwestern Syria while entrenching themselves and fortifying preferred strategic real-estate. Russia closer to Tartous and Latakia and Iran and its Shia allies along the Lebanon-Syria border in order to maintain access and arms supply routes for Hezbollah. Meanwhile, they will join with the Russians to repel jihadist fighters from Hama, Homs, Aleppo, Idlib, and Damascus suburbs. Expectations here are that the Iran-Russia \u2018partnership\u2019 will achieve something dramatic in short order while exposing American timidity and unreliability to the region.<\/p>\n

Yet, Russia\u2019s dramatic and escalating intervention here may well complicate matters for Iran. Just like some condemn Washington for not acting sooner, some here suggest that if Tehran had gone all-in with large ground forces earlier in the war rather than relying on Lebanese, Iraqi, Yemeni and Afghan Shia militia, then Syria and the Assad\u00a0 government would not have needed Moscow\u2019s involvement. As it has turned out, Iran has pleaded with Russian since last July\u2019s visit to Moscow by Qasem Soleimani since 1998 commander of its Iran\u2019s Quds Force, to join them in defeating the \u201cterrorists and takfiris.\u201d \u00a0 Now, Iran is no longer Syria\u2019s sole patron and Putin\u2019s Russia will have a major- if not dominant- decision making role in how the conflict develops. Some Syrians, including a large percentage of Sunni, no doubt resent Shia Iran\u2019s role and would welcome the return of Russian influence at Tehran\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n

Until now Tehran and Moscow appear to be sharing the same short-term goals.<\/p>\n

There are rumors among journalists that Russian President, \u201cAbu Ali Putin\u201d will soon pay a dramatic visit to Damascus to discuss a \u201cpolitical solution\u201d and assure the region that his country is back and can be trusted to keep its word. This, as Washington and NATO are fascinated by the modernized Russian missiles and artillery they are closely scrutinizing while publicly posturing that \u201cPutin has made a big mistake and will soon learn the price he will be forced to pay.\u201d And just yesterday (10\/16\/2015) French President Francois Hollande assured the EU summit that Russian intervention won\u2019t save Syria\u2019s Assad.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the Syrian people are the ones who in the past, present and future pay the price and hope that the carnage will end soon and that perhaps Russia and Iran can achieve the peace settlement that the USA and its allies could not.<\/p>\n

____________________________________<\/p>\n

Franklin P. Lamb, LLB, LLM, PhD, Legal Adviser, The Sabra-Shatila Scholarship Program, Shatila Camp\u00a0 (SSSP-lb.com<\/a>).\u00a0 Volunteer with\u00a0 the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign, Beirut and Washington, DC committed to help achieving\u00a0 the Right To Work and the Right to Home Ownership for every Palestinian Refugee in Lebanon. Lamb\u2019s recent book, <\/em>Syria\u2019s Endangered Heritage, An international Responsibility to Protect and Preserve is in production by Orontes River Publishing House, Hama, Syrian Arab Republic. <\/em>Inquires c\/o <\/em>orontesriverpublishing@gmail.com<\/a><\/em>.<\/em> Reachable c\/o <\/em>fplamb@gmail.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The conversation returned to Russia\u2019s new \u2018vitality\u2019 in Syria. The commander explained: \u201cAll Syrians love Putin. He is known to us as \u2018Abu Ali Putin\u2019\u201d And as my friends effusively recited praise for Valdmir Putin, I couldn\u2019t get a word in sideways, and was reminded of Elizabeth Barrett Bowning\u2019s poem, \u201cHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-syria-in-context"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}