Saturday, March 2, 2013

Quds Force Commanding General Says Syria Lacks Exceptional Military Commanders


Quds Force Commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani said during a speech in Tehran that if the Syrian regime had a few commanders like the Iranian commander during the Iran-Iraq war, it would have been “insured” against current “incursions.”

“If Syria and its government just had one Haj Hemmat, One Hossein Kharazi, and one Kazemi (among martyred commanders of Iran-Iraq war), the country would have been insured; and the (current) incursions would have made no impact on the country. But their missing link is having such individuals who came to full being during the sacred defense (Iran-Iraq war),” Gen. Soleimani said. (Fars News Agency, 2 March)

Gen. Soleimani did not discuss the presence of Quds Force commanders in Syria today. The Force lost a general officer in the Syrian conflict last month.

File photo: Quds Force Commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani (ISNA)

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

The "commander" is talking from his backside.
Which military college did any of these IRGC "commanders" go too?
None what so ever.Maybe if he would have said that the Syrian
commanders didn't kill enough like they have,then it would be
much more believable.

Anonymous said...

General Soleimani is absolutely correct. Even realistic Arab generals like the ex-Chief of Egyptian army Saad-edin Shazli (Crossing the Suez) in 1973 Ramadan war acknowledged that the biggest problems with Arab militaries is their low education, politicized officers corps, indemic corruption and overall low quality of leadership. Most officers in the Arab world are selected due to their political, religious, sectarian, class or social acceptability. The average Arab soldier is a Fellahin (farmer) who can barely put his thumb ink print on paper let alone master complex modern weapons systems that require a minimum IQ of 100 and at least literacy and numeracy levels of a western high school or equal. The Arab also lacks nationalism, are too emotionalm poorly trained, ill-led and have short attention spans. They get excited and lose morale very quickly. We saw that in the Jange Tahmili, that after initial euphoria, Saddam's hordes quickly lost focus after even basic resistance from Iranian forces, even the newly formed Basij and Sepah.There is also a lot of abuse by corrupt officers and mistreatment of soldiers and conscripts in Arab armies. A humiliated soldier used as a personal servant simply will not fight. The Arabs need to change their officer recruitment and training methods. The superb quality, training,motivation and education levels of Hezbollah can be the benchmark for training the future Syrian military.

The same can be said about Arab conflicts with the Zionists. How can 400 million plus Arabs lose to 5 million imported Zionists? Even if they lined up and pissed on Occupied Palestine they would flood them Zionists into the sea.

Iran has really professionalized its military from the corrupt days of the shah's parade ground hollow bemedaled "generals" who were at par with Arab officers. The post-revolutionary Iranian military is perhaps the most motivated and professional in the world. The officer corps selection criteria in Iran is also very high. Almost all the 300 plus general staff officers are veterans of the Jange Tahmili and there is a strong mentoring program for junior field grade officers. Constant training and exercises have also honed the skills of Iranian military. The winning factor is Iranian nationalism and an acute understanding of history.

The Syrian military is the best in the Arab world, perhaps only Hezbollah is more professional. However, with Iranian training and their own battlefield experience against the FSA terrorists, the Syrians will come out as a battle-tested and motivated military. So far the Syrian military has shown exceptional discipline, unit cohesion and motivation. Not even a single platoon has defected or collapsed. General Soleimani is a very honest and superb officer with several years of combat experience in the region and his factual assessment is good indication in how to address the Arab military weakness. The amazing story of Hezbollah can be successfully applied to all Arab militaries. Education, nationalism, training and motivation are the cornerstones.

Anonymous said...

@ anon 6:49

Your ignorance about Iranian military and low calibre comments really need no futher response, but for the other rational people, it would be good to read a few objective western analysis of the Iranian military, even the Zionists acknowledge (Anthony Codesman) in his decade old book Iranian Military in Transition, acknowledged the Imam Ali military academy as one of the best in the region. My illiterate friend, ignorance is very dangerous. Iranian military also now trains a lot of friendly nations officers. The air-assault school at Shiraz and military aviation academy at Isfahan is second to none. However, as amply demonstrated in your comments, being an idiot is perhaps your forte, so leave the rational comments to others. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Iranian military has the best led armed forces in the middle east ... equaled only by the IDF.

Anonymous said...

I can't help but shake off the misconception that Iran's ground force is a rabble thanks to seeing so many pictures of modern basijis poorly equipped and trained. If anyone can post links to websites and or books discussing the professionalism of Iran's army, I'll be grateful.

Nader Uskowi said...

Gen. Soleimani was saying the Syrian military does not have the types of Hemmat and Kharazie. The question is, Why doesn’t the Iranian military have commanders like them any longer?

Hemmat and Kharzie were not born as military geniuses. They earned the respect they deserve during a war that was regarded as just, a war to save the country. The Syrian generals are not fighting a just war, they are firing scud missiles on their own people, a far cry from a war to defend the country. Why not the current Iranian generals are as exceptional as Hemmat and Khazaie? Same reasons. IRGC is not what it was during Iran-Iraq war. The organization is now as much a business and political entity than a military force. You cannot have Hemmats who are also millionaires or politicians!

Anonymous said...

Mr. Uskowi,

It does not matter whether the war is objectively just or not, it matters what the generals believe. If they believe the war is just, or feel threatened when they take into consideration what is at stake (their property, lives, and perhaps even their family's lives, let alone their country), they will undoubtedly put in all their effort. If what I have said was not true and the generals do believe that the war is unjust, then they should have defected by now. Many have even been offered large sums of money by Qatar to do so, but we see that the army's leadership is largely in tact.

I believe the reasons why this war has dragged on so long are the following: a constant supply of weapons from foreign countries and experienced foreign terrorists fighting on the side of the opposition and the urban nature of the conflict. If all supplies to the opposition was to be cut off by tomorrow, the war would be over in a matter of a few weeks at most. In regards to the latter point, Syria's army was never designed to fight off such an opposition; I can't blame them for being incapable of rooting out the opposition, nor can I wholly blame them for the destruction of Syria's infrastructure.

In regards to your points about the IRGC, I agree.

Anonymous said...

Those that became officers of the Basij during Jange-e-tahmili were originally party members and pseudo-politicians and they gathered experience and learned tactics, reconaisance, military intelligence, logistics and organization as they went.

The commanders of Sepah-e-Pasdaran had no significant military education, other than compulsory service at the age of 18. And it was infact the infamous human wave assault comprised of light infantry in overwhelming numbers armed with RPG-7s & Ak-47s, developed and shaped specifically for the volunteers, that made the difference which started to bring victory for Iran. The fact is that there was no other way to beat the Iraqi army other than to attack them in a fashion which was totally alien to them, one they had never dealt with before, and which they could not cope with - the infantry assault, masses of lightly armed infantrymen taking them by surprise through swift charges.

The tactics utilized by the remnants of the Shah's army made no positive impact. As a matter of fact, Bani Sadr who was then Chief of Staff of the regular army together with its cadres, initiated a series of counter-engagements with heavy use of tanks, aimed at liberating Iranian territory, each one was a complete failure. Their idea was that the troops should engage the enemy in set-piece battles, and the emphasis was put on armor at the front to accomplish the mainstay of the task while the infatry had a secondary or supportive role, and that smaller detachement of tanks should be pushed into the zone of battle by piece meal.

His plans were not necessarily bad, rather the problem was that the Iraqi tankers were simply better at fighting, had earned experience from the 1973 Yom Kippur war, so they got the better of the Shah's army, predicted their moves and prepared their armor in sound ambushing positions, and of course, the Iranians were careless enough to not gather thorough information of the enemy which resulted in them blundering into the traps.

After his troops had been defeated, he then started to generate this idea that Iran must accept loss of its territory, must allow the Iraqis to annex Khoramshahr, Abadan and other smaller towns and villages, switch to a defensive set-up and sue for peace before the Iraqis take even more of Iran! So much for the hailed and praised army & officers of the Shah!

Mark Pyruz said...

That IRGC-QF Commander was transiting Syria for Lebanon and appears to have been assassinated by Israel, so it's inaccurate to state he was killed in the Syrian conflict.

Suleimani has voiced criticism on a number of occasions concerning Syria's performance in the conflict. Iranian national security officials point to their successes against what they characterize as a failed color coup in 2009, using law enforcement and not the military. Now Suleimani is again critical of Syria's military performance during the conflict, measuring it against the time period it took for Iran to liberate its territory from foreign military occupation in the early 80s.

Anonymous said...

I suggest that you visit the Iranian Defence Forum and buy some western written books on Iranian military: I am sure you know how to google, just type-in Iranian military and a million books and articles from all sources will show-up.

Immortal: A military history of Iran and its armed forces

Iran at War 1500-2008

Iran-Iraq war by Tom Cooper and Farzad Bishop is a definitive account of the post-revolutionary Iranian military.

Believe me, I personally have experience and know a thing or two about the Artesh (Iranian military) and despite the daily rants of anti-Iran nutters, the Artesh, Sepah and Basij are no slouches. Iranians have been in the nationalism and war business for over 3000 years and have an illustrious military history. The Persian Empire was not built by cute and cuddly pussycats!

Anonymous said...

Does not make any sense? Medication mix-up on the weekend due to staff shortages..eh. My professional suggestion, triple the dose and post on Monday after the meds have been corrected. Amen.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Anon 6:49 PM. He is right.Where did these people that command the IRGC obtain their training from? Not the newer officers but the commanders.
And don't tell me the Iran Iraq war.Where did these people receive there officer training program from??

Anonymous said...

Thank you Mr Uskowi as well as being millionaires the original IRGC commanders which are still in charge of their forces have not proven where they obtained their officer training from.

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:10 PM.....There is something really wrong with you!
The Shah's trained army halted the Iraqi advance.Not only that,the Shah's trained air force destroyed Saddam's dreams for ever regarding Khuzestan.
The war could have ended in late 1981/1982 when the Arabs offered Iran $100 Billion war damages but Khomeini refused and pressed ahead with his naive plans to capture "Quds" via Karbalah.
After six years after that offer Khomeini had to except stalemate and possible collapse of the armed forces.That's why he drank the cup of poison and excepted the truce but without the benefit of the 1982 Arab offer of $100 Billion.
Go and read some books and educate yourself before you garnish these pages with your Bull Spit.

Nader Uskowi said...

The late Gen. Shateri was not in Syria for personal reasons. If the reports circulated after his death are correct, he was supervising the transfer of anti-aircraft missiles from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Hezbollah was keeping those Russian-made advanced missiles in Syria, but the concern was to lose the missiles in the conflict that has engulfed that country.

Anonymous said...

You are correct. I had diagnosed anon 11:10 condition a while ago. He is really messed up and confused as the budget cuts are creating havoc with his medication and timing of mental health care issues.LOL.

On a more serious note, it was indeed the IRIAF planes bought at the time of the shah and US trained pilots that saved Iran. Most of the field officers of the Artesh had been trained before the revolution. The blood-thirsty moron Khomeni did indeed reject Arab offer of $100 billion in war reparations and a halt to fighting after the liberation of Khorramshahr. Iran's total war casualties at that stage in May 1982 were about 60,000 dead and about 150,000 wounded. Iran held over 90,000 Iraqi POWS, destroyed 2 of Saddam's corps and held over 2000 kms of Iraqi territory around Mehran-Mandali axis and Basra-Fao front. The biggest opportunist bastard mullah Rafsanjani was engaged in a power struggle with Bani-Sadr and goaded the Artesh and its inexperienced officers (at that stage) to launch an ill-advised armored thrust at Sussengard with heavy Chieftan (Shir-e-Iran)tanks during spring rains and on sandy wet soil and rolling hills where most got bogged down in mud and there we hardly any tank recovery vehicles. Iranian armor also had no air cover. Iranian combat engineers were too inexperienced to read the battlefield terrain and advise about its unsuitability for heavy armor. Any professional military analyses the topography and terrain conditions before committing large numbers of heavy armored vehicles. The moronic mullahs and their ignorance ruined the day.

Iraqis caught the Iranians in a pincer and captured around 150 Chieftans, almost all intact, which Saddam later gave to Jordan.

These idiotic mullahs and their ignorance has imposed a heavy toll on Iran and caused a million totally unnecessary sacrificed lives on a very brave military, Sepah and Basij. Unfortunately, the revolution was hijacked before the military was really ready for war. The mullahs prolonged the war to weaken the military and wipe-out opposition. They even now have neglected any major weapons purchases. The mullahs and Islam have been a curse upon Iran.

Anonymous said...

Not really, Hezbollah has much more advanced MANPADS including SA 7, SA 16 IGLA and Chinese and DPRK FN-6 and the later FY series, not to mention the Iranian Misagh series. This was a Zionist hit on General Shateri who was mostly engaged in South Lebanon reconstruction. It was in the same vein as the murder of Imad Mughniyeh a few years earlier. The Syrian intelligence is quite heavily penetrated by the US/Zionists and Shateri was on to something. In any case, the murder of one brigade level field operative would hardly make any difference to the Sepah or Iran's strategic goals.

tubtuilayka said...

Anon 8:1 Let me help you decipher anon 6:49 comment about IRGC not having learned commanders. You see, people in his ilk, only consider those who went to Western military academies to be properly trained...though the west itself has difficulties winning any wars in recent times.
You cannot debate with the brainwashed lazy thinkers. They have been brought up on worshiping the westerners and everything they stand for. That's is our problem to get rid of this kind of mentality. Believe me brother, it will take years for, even if they see Iran going to MARS they will still say:"Oh, but the food those astronauts are eating is not Kentucky Chicken!"

Anonymous said...

To 11:36, 6:54 and 4:07 LOL @ ALL THREE OF YOU ARE MAJOR PRICKS and full of erroneous statements yourselfs, dumb-dumbs. Anyhow, back to the topic. It was Bani Sadr's plan and idea to launch that counter-offensive, at his own volition, at Susangerd ordering the Artesh to go at it alone with mostly armor. Also, Iran never took that many POW's, the correct figure is 75,000, while the Iraqis took about 45,000. He was and still is a traitor in many eyes because he displayed a defeatist attitude and he showed highly pessimistic tendencies, a weak individual who gave up too easily and who thought that a continued effort to liberate Iranian ground was futile - the Arthesh had indeed exhausted its capabilites to evict the Iraqis, they had done their best and had no more ingenuity in them - everything they had learned and practiced were put to use in several confrotation on the front, but with nothing to show for except losses. He was extremly reluctant to allow the new commanders of the Sepah to commit fresh plans & ideas & alternate tactics to be used for future offensive Operations. The turning point actually came when very large numbers of Basiji volunteers entered the scene (under the command of Sepah), and that in conjuntion with Artesh carried the day, which previously had failed at numerous occasions when it had operated independently. The worst bit of this whole story is without a doubt Bani Sadr's catastrophic suggestion that the Arthesh draw back and take up defensive positions behind Kharkeh river and try to hold up any additional Iraqi advances plus settle for Iraqi demands and peace terms - that would have spelled total disaster and ruined any hope of regaining Khoramshahr, Abadan, Susangerd, Bostan, Dezful, Shush and other smaller towns and villages. Him and his fellow Shahists were very distrustul and suspicious of the Sepah and vice versa, but when the two branches finally started cooperating, that's when the successes came.

Anonymous said...

Even the new meds are not working man? what's up. Picking up the names of obscure Iranian towns from an Atlas is crazy. Saddam's forces never even made it to Dezful let alone far off Shush. Where do you come up with all this nonsense. I need a serious talk with your shrink.LOL.

Anonymous said...

tubtuilayka.....No one with an sane mind can discuss obvious issues with brainwashed and insane Hezbollahi twits that only worship Arabian desert death cult of child molestation,rape,plunder and murder.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Anon 11:26 PM for your support of me as regards the issue of the $100 billion that the Arabs offered to the rapist regime as well as the heroic IIAF staff that defended the skies above Iran and that despite the barbarous acts that the regime dished out to them.

Anonymous said...

LOL! Alright, poo for brains 5:57, So the Iraqis did not occupy Dezful and Sush, but they came very close. Anyhow, i think you got the main point of my previous post nevertheless.