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Moscow sets up Russian Golan brigade, warns Israel Sunnis plus al Qaeda are bigger threat than Assad

Russian MI-24 helicopters designated for Golan

DEBKAfile Special Report Jun 10, 2013, 7:54 PM (IDT)

Moscow is determined to position Russian troops on the divided Golan as part of the UN force policing the separation sector because, said the Russian lawmaker Aleksey Pushkov Monday, June 10, “we cannot exclude… large-scale Syrian-Israel action.” He warned that if Assad was replaced by radical Islamists, he would seem like “an angel from heaven.” Vladimir Shamanov, Russian Airborne Troops chief, disclosed that a new brigade, dubbed “a peacekeeping unit,” had set up for the Golan and armed with MI-24 combat helicopters.

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Barack Obama | Israel | Syria | Bashar Assad | Hizballah | Binyamin Netanyahu | Iran | Iran nuclear

First clash between Syrian rebels and Iraqi soldiers. Baghdad bankrolls Assad’s war

Iraqi troops provide service for Bashar Assad

DEBKAfile Special Report
Jun 9, 2013, 10:53 PM (IDT)

Syrian rebel forces attacked two Iraqi military positions at the southern tip of their common border Sunday, June 9. They failed to beat the Iraqi troops back although a number of Iraqi officers and soldiers were killed. This was the Syrian rebels' first engagement with the Iraqi army, although it is unlikely to be the last. DEBKAfile: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has even outdone Hassan Nasrallah in the generosity of his assistance for propping Assad up – advancing Damascus unlimited credit and a dip into Iraq’s multibillion-dollar oil revenues for his war chest.