The American effort to stem the flow of Iranian arms to Syria [1] has faltered because of Iraq’s reluctance to inspect aircraft carrying the weapons through its airspace, American officials say.
The shipments have persisted at a critical time for President Bashar al-Assad [2] of Syria, who has come under increasing military pressure from rebel fighters. The air corridor over Iraq has emerged as a main supply route for weapons, including rockets, antitank missiles, rocket-propelled grenade and mortars.
Iran [3] has an enormous stake in Syria, which is its staunchest Arab ally and has also provided a channel for Iran’s support to the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbol... >>>
Both the Iraqis and the Iran are lying as they continue supplying weapons in a futile effort to keep a doomed Assad alive. Like Putin, they've assited in the murder of the Syrian people and will continue to do so to the degree their actions let him survive as much as a day longer than necessary. Meanwhile Hezbollah provides volunteers from Lebanon whose bodies have been returning in caskets. After Assad falls, the best thing the new Syrian government can do is to solve their jihadi problem by shipping the extremists off to target Assad's former allies. They will have earned it.
One good thing: The Iranian opposition reports that billions of dollars Khamenei has shipped to Iran to help Assad stay afloat have instead wound on in offshore acccounts of various Syrian demonstrators.
Links:
[1] //topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html?inline=nyt-geo
[2] //topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/bashar_al_assad/index.html?inline=nyt-per
[3] //topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iran/index.html?inline=nyt-geo
