Assad at Sea?

[Maxx]

There are rumors that Assad spends most of his time at sea:

http://www.timesofisrael.com/assad-a...-on-a-warship/

[Sarpedon]

"government airships?" are you sure that isn't a steampunk story masquerading as news?

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by Sarpedon

"government airships?" are you sure that isn't a steampunk story masquerading as news?

Usually refers to armoured helicopters and fighter-bombers. A gunship is an airship with its main armamemnt being its gun.

[Sarpedon]

I've heard 'gunship' used in that way. I've never heard 'airship' refer to anything other than a lighter than air dirigible.

And what possible motive does Russia have to protect him? If he's not the ruler of Syria anymore, what use is he to them? Does Russia have the budget to maintain a 'cordon' of warships smack in the middle of the mediterranean sea? This whole article seems to be suspect.

[Maxx]

Originally Posted by Sarpedon

I've heard 'gunship' used in that way. I've never heard 'airship' refer to anything other than a lighter than air dirigible.

And what possible motive does Russia have to protect him? If he's not the ruler of Syria anymore, what use is he to them? Does Russia have the budget to maintain a 'cordon' of warships smack in the middle of the mediterranean sea? This whole article seems to be suspect.

There's a lot of wierd stuff in the article. For example, that Assad cleared out because the Iranians had a source inside his core security group.

So, could Assad be planning something that Iran would not be very happy about?

The "cordon" would be somewhere near Latakia I would think.

And as for being useful -- at the moment Assad still controls a very well-armed, relatively well-motivated and battle-hardened Alawaite Army and navy and air force and a moderate amount of territory. With Sunnis on all sides, they could still control most of Lebanon (with the help of Hezbollah, which is not Sunni) and with understandings with Jordan and Israel, they could do fine with a partitioned set of regions in Lebanon and parts of Syria without getting massacred by the Sunnis.