https://www.nordnet.se/mux/web/analys/ny....

This morning, Interfax reports that two Russian warships with Russian marines are to be deployed to the Russian naval base near Tartus.

According to Interfax, they are supposed to carry out special operations. No mention of what that means, from the info I have at this point.

Source according to Interfax is an anonymous person in the Russian navy.

Maybe to support this:

http://www.mehrnews.com/en/newsdetail.as....

No chance of anything spinning out of control here is there....

Have those 4 done that before? I'd say precedent matters here...

This story is bouncing around in the world news echo chamber. Here is another version with some interesting other force numbers attached to it originating from the Arabic kanguage website Al-Shakhoura:

Quote:

Large-scale military drill by Russia, China and Iran in Syria, website

June 18 – An Arabic language website claims that China, Russia and Iran are going to carry out a large-scale military maneuver in Syria, “the biggest of its kind in the Middle-East history,” the semiofficial Fars-news agency reported Monday.

The joint exercise will be at sea, air and land on Syrian soil, the website Al-Shakhoura is quoted by Fars. It added that 90 000 military personnel, 400 air planes and 900 tanks will take part in the drill.

The Russian news agency Interfax quoting a Russian naval official says that two Russian naval vessels with marines on board were ready to head for Syria to protect Russian citizens and a naval base there, in what would be the first known reinforcement of Moscow’s military presence since the start of an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

The website also claims that also China has asked the Suez-canal authorities for passage of 12 naval ships in late June heading towards Tartus in Syria. The report did not disclose whether Iran would also send military personnel or war ships to the drill./-

http://www.iranwpd.com/index.php?option=....

Interesting on many different levels if even one element is true:

First, the force numbers quoted are far beyond what it takes to rescue Russian civilians from the country. And, it hardly takes China to help.

Second, If China sails a dozen naval ships through the Suez, it points to a sharp geopolitical shift in the region. Opportunistic regional influence projection in the vacuous state of the Egyptian non-governance. As it stands right now this points to fast unfolding events and implications abound.

And third, if true, the immediacy of which this very large joint exercise 'appears' to be coming together implies that perceptions may be of a impending? U.S./Israeli strike on Iran of which they are fast getting into place to obstruct.

All that said, it's important at this point to corroborate the information best as possible as there is a possibility this story has been seeded by the usual band actors for their tactical advantage.

Yet it's also a caveat to quote a time honored saying that goes something like this: 'when the real wars start, The first casualty is the truth'.

This would never have happened even 10 years ago. The balance of power is definitely shifting.

Certainly makes you think about our traditional allies....

I don't believe that piece... specifically the reference to a Chinese deployment of troops on Syrian soil. I think it's fiction.

I can understand a Russian presence given their naval interests in Tartus. A standing naval presence in the Med is something that Russia has telegraphed as being somewhat critical to its interests, and it's willing to invest some geopolitical blue chips to defend this. I can understand that, and that makes sense. However, I VERY strongly doubt that the Chinese would place ANY military formation on a battlefield where they might potentially be in a situation where they would be solely reliant on a Russian supply chain. It's just WAY too risky, from a geopolitical perspective, and it would be an EXTREME deviation from Chinese S.O.P.

China, as most nations would do, will only deploy ground forces into a simmering conflict zone if they were willing to back up the deployment with a potential blood price. And from a "big picture" geopolitical perspective, frankly, Syria is NOT a nation that China will pay a blood price for. You pick and choose these nations carefully, and correspondingly pick and choose your "high profile" deployments VERY carefully. You can't deploy everywhere, and make implied promises to everyone. And China is generally more conservative in these matters than its peers. Might China support Russia and Iran's agenda with Syria... Yes. Is China willing to invest geopolitical "blue chips" there... No. It needs those blue chips in other places, such as oil drilling rights in waters closer to its homeland, as one example. Syria is very much an open question, and if China deploys and ends up being on the losing end, they would lose face with NUMEROUS potential nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America that they are trying to draw into their orbit. I just don't see it being a gamble the Chinese would be interested in making.

I also VERY strongly doubt that the Iranians would insert any sort of formal infantry formation into Syria as well. Too much of a provocation, and a formal deployment into Syria would absolutely enrage the Gulf Arabs. This is not to say that the Iranians couldn't do such a thing, but rather, such a move would give create some serious and unnecessary geopolitical problems for Iran that could be avoided with a more subtle approach. If Iran wanted to play a military role in Syria, they wouldn't dispatch a high profile infantry formation and would instead do something more low profile... such as a Quds force operation. When the US wanted to throw its weight around in its backyard, in Central America as an example, it did not send in the 101st Airborne. It sent in small, discreet formations. In Iran's case, this would probably be a better "tool" in this situation anyways... and in fact I'd be surprised if the Iranian Quds and/or IRGC weren't ALREADY deployed in Syria right now.

No mention of China or Iran but this article confirms the two ships/Russian marines part, from the link Kwerk posted:

Quote:

An unidentified officer confirmed that "Two major amphibious ships – The Nikolai Filchenkov and The Tsezar Kunikov – are preparing to be dispatched to Tartus outside of their schedule."

It is believed the two ships will be carrying a large group of marines and could be used to evacuate Russian citizens and property. There has been no official confirmation of the report from the navy or the defence ministry.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnew....

Bjonsson -

Didn't (doesn't?) China have some "security forces" deployed in Sudan? IIRC, some MSM reporting even stated that one of the risks of taking action against the Bashir gov't during the height of the Darfur crisis was the possibility of inadvertently killing Chinese that were there throughout the country.

Of course, Syria doesn't have the oil resources that Sudan does, but it seems that China has set a precedent for distant foreign deployments of its forces.

Meanwhile Obama and Putin are together in Cabo?

If this is true something smells fishy...and I don't mean the Taco's at Sammy Hagar's place!

Is there a website that tracks other countries ships like Stratfor does our fleet?