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Tuesday, February 13, 2018

The Next Step in Syria?

After three days of news about a confrontation of  Israeli vs Syria/Iran/Hezbollah forces, the news today is that US planes destroyed a Russian tank that was approaching the position of American allies and American special forces in Syria.  The American planes returned to base safely but the Russian tank was destroyed.  There is no word yet on what was the nationality of the soldiers operating the tank.

The confrontation took place near the area where Assad forces began an attack on American supported forces and or own special operators about ten days ago.  In that attack, the special forces called in US air power which took our the attackers.  The latest word is that about 100 Assad forces were killed and something like 200 Russian mercenaries were also killed by the plane.  One would have hoped that the Assad forces would realize the futility of attacking the US special operators, but that lesson does not seem to have been learned.

Are we about to see a massive increase in hostilities against US forces in Syria?  If that happens, will President Trump strike back at the Assad regime and its allies or will he withdraw American forces from harm's way now that ISIS has been annihilated?  How many soldiers will Assad and his Iranian masters be willing to lose in order to try to give the US a bloody nose?

These are not only important questions, but they are scary.  The last thing the world, the Middle East or the USA needs is another war.

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