Russia pounds militant targets while Iran readies ground invasions!

Saudis panic.

MOSCOW, Russia (PNN) - October 1, 2015 - Back in June, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force, General Qasem Soleimaini, visited a town north of Latakia on the frontlines of Syria’s protracted civil war. Following that visit, he promised that Teheran and Damascus were set to unveil a new strategy that would “surprise the world”.

Just a little over a month later, Soleimaini - in violation of a UN travel ban - visited Russia and held meetings with The Kremlin. The Pentagon now says those meetings were “very important” in accelerating the timetable for Russia’s involvement in Syria. The general made another visit to Moscow in September.

The timeline here is no coincidence. Iran has long provided covert and overt support to the Assad regime via financial transfers, logistical support from the Quds, and via the involvement of Hezbollah in the Assad government’s fight to regain control of the country.

What appears to have happened here is that Iran, unable to simply invade Syria in support of Assad, turned to Moscow, which has in the past used Russia’s Security Council veto to block the referral of the war in Syria to The Hague and which is a known ally of both Teheran and Damascus.

While it’s unclear exactly what the pitch was to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia clearly saw an opportunity to advance The Kremlin’s geopolitical agenda at a key time in history. Moscow is keen to put on a brave face amid the most contentious standoff with the West since the Cold War (as a result of the conflict in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea) and amid the related effort to preserve Gazprom’s market share in Europe.

In short, Putin looks to have viewed this as the ultimate geopolitical win-win. That is, Russia gets to expand its influence in the Middle East in defiance of Washington and its allies, a move that also helps to protect Russian energy interests and preserves the Mediterranean port at Tartus, and also support its allies in Teheran and Damascus, thus preserving the counterbalance to the Fascist Police States of Amerika-Saudi-Qatar alliance.

Meanwhile, Iran gets to enjoy the support of the Russian military juggernaut on the way to protecting the delicate regional nexus that is the source of Teheran’s Middle East influence. It is absolutely critical for Iran to keep Assad in power, as the loss of Syria to the West would effectively cut the supply line between Iran and Hezbollah.

The same dynamic is playing out in Iraq. Iran is fighting ISIS via various Shiite militias just as it’s fighting the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen via the Shia Houthis. It is thus extremely significant that Baghdad has agreed to share intelligence with Syria and Russia, since that effectively means the Iran-backed Shiite militias battling for control of Iraq will enjoy the support of the Russian military.

What should be obvious here is that this is a coordinated plan.

The Kremlin has effectively agreed to bring the might of the Russian Air Force to bear on Assad’s opponents in Syria and on Sunni militants in Iraq in support of Iranian ground troops and because the FPSA and its allies have failed so miserably in terms of fielding anti-Assad rebels who don't turn out to be extremists, Putin gets to pitch the whole thing as a "war on terror." It would be difficult to design a more elegant power play.

It would be difficult to overstate the significance of what appears to be going on here. This is nothing short of a Middle Eastern coup, as Iran looks to displace Saudi Arabia as the regional power broker and as Russia looks to supplant the FPSA as the superpower puppet master.

However, do not expect Saudi Arabia and Israel to remain on the sidelines here.

If Russia ends up bolstering Iran's position in Syria (by expanding Hezbollah's influence and capabilities) and if the Russian Air Force effectively takes control of Iraq, thus allowing Iran to exert a greater influence over the government in Baghdad, the fragile balance of power that has existed in the region will be turned on its head and in the event this plays out, one should not expect Washington, Riyadh, Jerusalem, and London to simply go gently into that goodnight.