Biggest Liars of the Syrian War Analysts: Weiss and Lister

 In early to mid 2013, ISIS (also called ISIL or Islamic State) was allied to western backed rebels of the Free Syrian Army. This fact was accepted by western "Syria analysts" Michael Weiss and Charles Lister at the time as evidenced by their tweets to that effect. However, infighting began among the rebels and ISIS in late 2013 to early 2014 which caught these analysts off guard. By 2014 with the ISIS invasion of Iraq, ISIS had completely fallen out of favor with these analysts. They began a new narrative, one that said ISIS was never allied to the western backed rebels and was instead allied to "the Assad regime" all along.

Charles Lister, one of the biggest cheerleaders of rebel forces in Syria. He seems to pragmatically admire ISIS for their effectiveness against the Syrian military.

Michael Weiss, arguably the biggest liar of the Syrian analysts. He accepts ISIS and the Syrian military are enemies in 2013 and rebels are the ally of ISIS. This opinion will soon change as he wrote an entire book dedicated to blaming the Syrian government for the existence of ISIS. Michael has gone from "ISIS is allied to rebels" in the tweets below to "ISIS and the Syrian military are allies" or even "The Syrian Army never fights ISIS." H even calls Syrian and Russia "The air force of ISIS."

Weiss has since deleted these tweets to cover for his current narrative.

The switch up in the months/years after the ISIS/rebel breakup. It is clear they know they are lying about the history of ISIS, FSA and the Syrian army. They simply don't care.

The bestselling piece of propaganda in which Weiss spreads his lies about the origin and nature of ISIS.

Western Consumers who don't know any better now believe these lies. 

The US Occupation of Eastern Syria

 The US army occupies the Eastern half of Syria with the Euphrates river being the border. In this area are Syria's major oil fields were 80% of the nations oil reserves are located. The stated mission is to "defeat ISIS" but as ISIS is already effectively defeated this makes no sense. The actual mission is to deny Syria its oil and plunder it in violation of international law.

The race to recapture the oil fields from ISIS began in 2017. When the Syrian army began nearing besieged Deir Ezzor city, the US and their SDF allies realized they needed to move quickly if they were going to secure the oil. Until this point the US and its allies had been using ISIS as a buffer or pawn to hamper the Syrian government and its army. It wasn't until the Syrian army began winning and approaching the oil fields that the SDF and US military became interested in capturing this territory from ISIS. The US was happy to leave Deir Ezzor city besieged by ISIS to be a thorn in Syria's side.

The Syrian army was not quick enough to cross the Euphrates river and thus the nation's oil fell into the hands of the US army and its SDF pawns. 

The US military now steals oil from the resource rich East and transfers it to Iraq. 

A convoy of oil tankers leaving Syria.

The infamous Green Village base near Omar oil field.

Howitzers near the Conoco gas field.

How long will the US steal Syria's oil? In perpetuity because the international community says nothing. The USA is quick to speak about illegal annexation when it comes to Russia, but if the US or Israel does it it is considered acceptable. Will Syria falls further into poverty the United states benefits from the poor nation's resources under a mission that is an outright lie.

Weapons of Hezbollah

Hezbollah is a Lebanese militia that is sponsored mainly by Iran and Syria. Hezbollah has a massive weapons arsenal that Israel is incredibly threatened by. Israel is so cautious about Hezbollah that it will rarely strike its fighters, but rather strike weapons shipments inside Syria. This article will examine Hezbollah's very capable arsenal.

Hezbollah's MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) are quite modern. They operate large numbers of Igla MANPADS. It was recently revealed that Hezbollah operates the Verba MANPADS, Russia's most advanced MANPADS. Both systems, especially the Verba, are resistant to countermeasures such as flares. The Verba has a flight ceiling of 15,000 feet.

The Igla.

The Verba.

Hezbollah's ATGM arsenal is even more impressive. They operate the Kornet, Malyutka, Konkurs, Toophan, and Saeghe. This is one of Hezbollah's biggest deterrents.

The Toophan is an Iranian copy of the US BGM-71 TOW ATGM. It has several variants.

A Toophan in Syria with a Hezbollah fighter.

A Toophan on the border with Israel.

Toophans mounted to ATVs during a parade. SPG-9s are mounted on the front two ATVs.

The Kornet is a Russian made ATGM, the Iranians make a copy called Dehlavieh. Both are operated by Hezbollah.

Kornet ATGM with fire finding radar.

Kornet on an ATV.

Kornets on ATVs.

The aftermath of kornet strikes on IDF vehicles in 2015.

Hezbollah also operates the Saeghe ATGM. This is an Iranian copy of the US M-47 Dragon ATGM. They are seen here on the backs of Hezbollah fighters during a parade.

Hezbollah operates the Russian Konkurs and Metis-M ATGMs. Seen here during a parade. The Konkurs are mounted to ATVs and Metis-M teams.

Hezbollah is an unconventional militia in that it operates tanks and armored vehicles. This was most clearly displayed in a parade in Quasyr, Syria in 2016.

Here a DIY self propelled gun and a T-72AV and T-55 tanks.

M-113s mounted with ZPU-2s and T-55 tanks.

Armored vehicles including a couple of ZSU-57-2s.

BMP-1s and T-55s.

A Hezbollah T-55.

Hezbollah's biggest deterrent to Israel is its rocket arsenal. It is believed that Hezbollah has over 100,000 unguided rockets ready to fire into Israel. It is also believed to have guided ballistic missiles supplied by Iran. They also operate anti-ship Missiles.

Multiple rocket launcher.

Multiple rocket launcher in Lebanon ready to fire on Israel.

A Parade of Multiple rocket launchers.

Rocket launcher hidden in dense brush.

Iran supplied Hezbollah with dozens to hundreds of Fateh-110 guided ballistic missiles, seen here on a TEL in Iran. These can hit targets accurately throughout a large portion of Israel. 

Since the last war with Israel in 2006, Hezbollah has grown in strength. It has gained combat experience during the Syrian Civil War and weapons continue to flow into Lebanon from Iran and Syria. It is highly probable that Israel would get quite a black eye in another war against the Lebanese militia that has become more of an army.