Regional war seems to be around the corner as the Assad regime will likely not go down without a fight to the end, causing as much widespread damage as possible everywhere in the region until his last grip on any sort of power/influence is lost. When the last bits of this power/influence are recognized to soon be lost, this is where the real trouble begins — especially so with Syria’s hatred of Israel. This fight to the end will very well include the use of WMDs such as chemical or biological weapons detailed within the article. Should they be used, all bets are off and one could expect a similar response in kind from Israel. Other countries within the region should be expected to retaliate as well, such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and even European countries. Whether by conventional force, or even by nuclear means, Damascus will more than likely be razed and never hold power again.
The boiling point is being reached and Assad shows no signs of letting up against opposition forces, resorting to increasingly heavy-handed tactics as time goes by. On a daily basis, the prodding of the Assad regime continues through rebels and in response they up the ante another notch — rinse and repeat. Soon enough, things will escalate enough to where the dicator will have no choice but to go all-out — and that’s when the boiling point boils over. Make no mistake, this was the plan. Syria is only one of seven to be changed in five years. Iran is the grand prize, but the most difficult to topple, henceforth it must be first significantly weakened by being detached from the rest of its allies.
Several high-placed generals bolted Bashar Assad’s inner circle Sunday, July 17, including such key figures as two security services chiefs who were operations commanders of the Alawite Shabiha militia plus the former head of Syria’s chemical and biological administration who took six other generals with him. They all fled to Turkey and defected. A fourth senior general from another security service was assassinated in Aleppo. This is reported exclusively by debkafile’s military sources.
The loss of the generals orchestrating the pro-Assad paramilitary Shabiha’s savage crackdown on the opposition has seriously weakened Assad’s protective circle of trusties and reduced his military and security options.
Also today, the Syrian ruler was given a “last warning” through intelligence channels in the West to leave the warheads and shells loaded with mustard gas, sarin and cyanide where they are. If he dared move them out of the northern and central locations where he deployed them last week, they would be destroyed from the air.
Full article: Assad receives last warning to stop moving his WMD: Top generals defect (DEBKAfile)
Global Geopolitics 