THE CAT AND MOUSE VERSUS THE LION AND BEAR: Ghassan Kadi 25 July 2015

THE CAT AND MOUSE VERSUS THE LION AND BEAR:

Ghassan Kadi

25 July 2015


Ever since the battles of Jisr Al-Shoghour and Palmyra and their fall in the hands of Islamists, there has been a major series of turnarounds in Syria’s favour.

Soon after the above battles which was bolstered psychologically and militarily by the commencement of Saudi bombardment of Yemen, the “Anti-Syrian Cocktail” felt yet again that this time they were going to “get Assad”. Their pundits and dark prophets started to gamble on how many days does President Assad have left.


This was soon to be followed by an avalanche of events that redefined the balance of power on Syrian soil, namely and mainly:

1. Erdogan’s loss in the Turkish legislative elections.
2. Hezbollah’s advancements in the Qalamoun region of both Lebanon and Syria.
3. Failure of Operation “Southern Storm” to take Soweida and Daraa.
4. Advances of SAA and Hezbollah in the Zabadani region.
5. Advances of the SAA in the Idlib region.
6. Failure of Saudi Arabia to form an effective alliance against Yemen.
7. Failure of Saudi Arabia to score a clear win in Yemen.
8. The Iran nuclear deal, and much more.

Many Arabic articles have been published recently on different Arab media discussing and analysing the above event and their eventual positive repercussions on the flow of events in Syria. It was hard to pick which ones to translate and which to bypass. The Sputnik article below puts the whole picture in a very good perspective and from a highly reliable source. 

Dear friend and colleague Chris Assad has warned us just a few hours ago not to trust Turkey. I fully agree with him as I always did. For as long as Turkey occupies the provinces of Cilicia and Iskenderun, it will not be trusted. But Erdogan seems to have no choice but to change course. Not only he has lost the latest round of elections, but ISIS is already hitting home with recent clashes with the Turkish army and terrorist attacks within Turkey. Even his staunchest of supporters would turn against him if he does not turn against ISIS.

The Saudis and Israelis are feeling let down and isolated. Erdogan is possibly deciding to stay in the game for his own survival, but there seems to be little doubt that his wings have been clipped.

The war of cat and mouse is coming to its end. This is the era of the lion and the bear.

The tides are shifting, and Syria’s biggest trump is not just the recent development, but the resilience of her President, gallant army, and wonderful people.

(See article link below)

http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20150724/1025021499.html