Syria: Assad's meeting with Sadr

Muqtada al Sadr made a surprise visit to Damascus for talks with President Bashar Al Assad, the details of which were undisclosed. We can only guess at the nature of their discussion, but I imagine it was to convey some sort of message from Tehran concerning the latest concerted effort being made against Iran. Sadr is reported to have been residing in Qom for some time and the observant will note that around the time the riots began in Iran, regular bomb attacks against Sadr's areas have been taking place, timed with the US withdrawal from the major cities.

In Iran, the Rafsanjani, Mousavi, Khatami triumvirate is still trying to muscle Ahmedinejad in a struggle which now threatens Khamenei himself. Naturally, Damascus and Hezbullah HQ will be anxious for a direct update on what is happening, especially with all the Israeli posturing that has been taking place recently. Although the Republic is distracted, I think it is still business as usual for its foreign operations. In Afghanistan Western forces are still losing men to IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices) and the two British hostages are still a card that has not been played in spite of the release of the five Iranian diplomats. It is not confirmed that Iran is behind this, but it would not be difficult to imagine some involvement, Helmand is extremely close to the Iranian border; IED's were a major gripe the occupation forces had with Iran in 2007, blaming the Revolutionary Guards with supplying the expertise and equipment necessary to construct sophisticated traps, especially in the south of Iraq. Previous to that Bush in 2007 had warned those who opposed his troops in Iraq to "bring it on", and if you remember the American casualty rate soared after that, only to be lowered once a deal was cut with the Iranians. Then it was covered by the silly American "Surge". Anyhow, that was then.

I am not sure what will happen, something has to be done about the agitators in Iran and soon otherwise the situation will get out of hand, but what would happen once that is concluded is anybody's guess. The British and the Europeans seem to have a hand in this though the United States is distant yet sympathetic, probably worried about the backlash it could face in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq alone has 135,000 soldiers (probably less now) but an American "Dien Bien Phu" (with thousands of American soldiers killed or in POW camps) is the last thing that Obama would need and could poison his term in office. It looks like Israel could be unleashed if the triumvirate fail to shift Ahmedinejad, but what should really be on everybody's mind is what would happen should Ahmedinejad and Khatemi survive this. And I believe they will...