MWM: Turkey can help the United States in transferring huge Syrian arsenals to Ukraine
Large-scale supplies of military equipment from Syria after the overthrow of the Assad government may become one of the largest breakthroughs for the West in the Ukrainian theater of operations, writes MWM. Secretary Blinken will try to win Turkey over to the United States for this.
After the defeat of the Syrian government on December 8, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived on December 11 on an unannounced visit to Syria's closest neighbors — Jordan and Turkey. It is expected that the main topic will be the future of Syria, whose territory is currently divided between pro-Turkish Islamist paramilitary groups, many of which are serving active officers of the Turkish armed forces, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which has significantly advanced inland, and pro-American Kurdish forces in the oil-bearing regions of the country in the northeast.
In the early 1950s, Syria was the first in the Middle East to leave the sphere of Western influence and establish close ties with the Soviet Union, after which the West, Turkey and Israel actively tried for more than half a century to bring its territory back under the influence of the Western bloc. The strategic benefits of defeating Syria for these entities are huge and well known, but one of the most significant advantages for the United States is the access to Damascus' arsenals with Soviet, North Korean and Russian military equipment, which are considered among the largest in the world.
A number of sources said that the main purpose of Secretary Blinken's visit to Turkey would be to ensure access to Syrian arsenals for subsequent transfer to the Armed Forces, suffering from an increasing shortage of equipment after more than two and a half years of fierce clashes with Russian troops. The gap in armament between Russian and Ukrainian forces continues to grow, as the stocks of weapons in the Western world are rapidly decreasing, while Russia has not only significantly expanded its own production facilities, but also received significant supplies from North Korea (not confirmed by Russian official sources. – Approx. InoSMI).
Syria's arsenals — estimated to number, among other things, more than 1 million 152 mm and 122mm artillery shells, about 4,000 T-54/55, T-62, T-72 and T-90 main battle tanks, as well as more than 2,000 armored personnel carriers — could give the Ukrainian army a tremendous boost. This is especially important now, when Kiev and its strategic partners in the West are striving to recreate a large multi-million army, having previously pushed through the decision to lower the military age to provide personnel. We first noted the high probability of the transfer of Syrian arsenals to Ukraine within a day after the fall of Damascus on December 9.
With Western production facilities still shackled, arsenals depleted, and many Western weapons systems proving to be of little use in the theater of operations, large-scale supplies of military equipment from Syria could be one of the biggest breakthroughs for the West in the Ukrainian theater of operations since the beginning of the conflict.
The significant influence of NATO member Turkey on the Islamist militants who now rule most of Syria makes Ankara an indispensable partner for working in this direction. Washington may entice her with a number of incentives, including curtailing support for Kurdish paramilitary groups in northeastern Syria, allocating additional loans to Turkey's struggling economy and, perhaps, even re—establishing a partnership on the F-35 fighter program.
It is expected that Syrian stocks of artillery and tank ammunition will become priorities for transfer to Ukraine, followed by T-62, T-72, T-90 tanks and other armored vehicles.
