Bashar Asad Speech July 26th, reference to Iran ...

[Arminkh]

I saw a documentary and it showed the Iranians were teaching SAA in practice how to make good relationship with locals. Basically bringing the locals inline with the goals and taking care of them. It was saying this is something that was not normal in SA and they were surprised how effective it was.

It is always the key in urban warfare. You can't win a fight in an urban area when every single citizen is a potential enemy that you don't know when might strike.

 

[That Guy]

Yes, because of unpreparedness of SAA, it was on the verge of collapse in 2012, but SAA was greatly transformed. If they were going to fight like 2011-12, then Assad would have been gone 3 years ago. Not that SAA performance is excellent today, but it is highly improved compared to those years. SAA was a mini-version of Red Army and everyone knows Red Army tactics suck in face of urban warfare. Iranian advisers flew to Damascus when the city was on the verge of falling, SAA took some effective countermeasures and drove militants out from various areas.

Although, their performance now is nothing to right home about, but it is much better. It's not very easy to change mentality of old army generals are raised with Soviet military doctrines.

Their tactics have greatly improved, but actual experience would do that, wouldn't it?

Anyway, I see recruitment as the biggest hurdle to the SAA, as it's becoming increasingly difficult for Assad's forces to find willing and able men.

Frankly, it seems with renewed support for opposition forces (both secular and Islamist), potential recruits are moving towards the opposition. If Turkey and the US succeed in establishing an ISIS-free zone, we may see a larger recruitment drive for the FSA, which would actually make them a very big player (they're doing okay right now).