Thomas Wictor

Most people love bad news. They also love to be afraid. I spent most of my life being disappointed, angry, and fearful, so I’m grateful for every scrap of improvement that I see around me. I think the Muslim Anti-Terror Coalition ground invasion of Syria began today, which is very good news. It means the war is closer to the end than the beginning.

There were precursors. In March of 2015, several Muslim nations sent troops to Saudi Arabia for extensive training in urban combat. The first to arrive were Pakistani commandos.

Both infantry and engineer commando battalions took part in the exercises.

Throughout 2015, more and more Arab, African, Asian, and Central Asian nations sent troops to Saudi Arabia. The official story was that they were there to guard holy sites, but these men all belonged to specialized assault units. Some people claimed that they were going to fight in Yemen, but It’s clear that Yemeni troops—soldiers and militias—comprise the bulk of the ground forces there.

The soldiers in Saudi Arabia were training to use new weapons and to fight in new ways.

In the summer of 2015, there were massive military exercises held in the Southwestern United States: Apple Valley, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado; and Killeen, Texas, are the four I know about. My brother Tim photographed an Air France Airbus A380 flying eastward over our houses toward Edwards Air Force Base.

In the thirty-two years that Tim has lived here, he’s never seen jumbo jets flying this route, taken by JANET Airline to the Las Vegas National Security Site. We saw five A380s flying the JANET route that summer. I have no doubt that they were carrying Arab League and allied troops who needed to rehearse gigantic air assaults away from prying eyes.

More recently, here’s what happened.

Boots and other things on the ground

I believe that the Arab League sent special operators to Syria in October of 2014 at the very latest. During the siege of Kobane, fifty Arabs entered Syria from Turkey and headed to Kobane to join up with the Kurds of the Peoples’ Defense Units (YPG). They arrived on October 29, 2014. Within a week, Islamic State terrorists were being killed by the hundreds. By January 26, 2015, the Kurds had recaptured the city, and every important Islamic State commander in the area was dead.

Fast forward to February of 2016.

February 8 - Saudi Arabia offers to send special forces to Syria as part of an international ground force.

February 10 - At a NATO meeting of 49 defense ministers in Brussels, the US “refuses to rule out” the Saudi offer to send troops to Syria.

February 11 - The Saudis announce that their decision to send ground troops to Syria is final and irreversible, and that it must be done for the good of the kingdom. Questions about how and when should be addressed to Washington.

February 14 - In Saudi Arabia, twenty Muslim nations begin the largest military exercises ever held in the Middle East. “Northern Thunder” includes a total of 150,000 troops; 20,000 armored vehicles; 2500 fixed-wing aircraft; and 460 helicopters. Unspecified naval operations also take place.

February 19 - The Saudis say that any troops they send to Syria must be accompanied by soldiers of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve. Presdient Obama must lead.

February 19 - The Syrian Democratic Forces (QSD) retake al-Shaddadi, the last Islamic State holdout in al-Hasakah Governorate. A video shows a foreign special operator embedded with the Kurds.

Another video shows that professional special operators on dirt bikes and in all-terrain vehicles rapidly assaulted al-Shaddadi in the daylight as residents flew white flags and calmly watched.

February 26 - The US Army discloses that American advisers in Syria are kept away from the front lines and are never directly involved in combat, despite being men of the Special Forces.

February 29 - A ceasefire negotiated by the US, Russia, Assad, and most of the Syrian opposition groups comes into effect.

February 29 - US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announces that 200 American special-operations troops called the Expeditionary Targeting Force (ETF) are on the ground in Iraq and Syria.

February 29 - Saudi Arabia says that if Bashar al-Assad violates the terms of the ceasefire by continuing to fight, the Saudis will send troops to overthrow him.

March 1 - According to Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Assad is violating the ceasefire, using chlorine gas on civilians.

Here’s what happened yesterday and today in Syria.

Has a major ground operation begun?

Firstly, we have this.

A Kurdish-led fighting alliance on Wednesday captured a hill overlooking a main road in Aleppo from the militant Nusra Front group and its allies, in a surprise offensive aimed at encircling the northern city, Syrian opposition activists and state media said.

The predominantly Kurdish U.S-backed Syrian Democratic Forces’ offensive most likely does not break the cease-fire that came into effect five days ago, because Nusra Front and Islamic State group are excluded from the agreement.

Secondly, we have this.

Syria has suffered a massive power blackout across the country due to “unknown reasons”, state media said.

Officials were cited as saying power had been cut in all provinces and teams were trying to determine the cause.

It’s not possible for an entire nation to lose its power—unless someone hit the grid with a cyber attack or electromagnetic pulses (EMPs).

And thirdly, we have this.

If you want to infiltrate strategic special forces into hostile territory, knocking out the country’s electricity and Internet for several hours will give you pretty good cover.

I just interpret. To me, it’s not beyond belief that Saudi Arabia would want to stabilize the Middle East. The Saudis certainly have the capabilities, and now they’re openly showing the world that they have a partnership with Israel. These Saudi special forces are armed with the Israeli MATADOR shoulder-fired missile.

The political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces is the Syrian Democratic Assembly. Below is a video posted today. It shows Syrian Democratic Assembly co-chair Heysem Menai visiting the Arab Shammar tribe in northwestern Syria.

Menai—a Syrian Kurdish human-rights activist and author—is saying that the future of Syria lies in decentralization.

This is Sheikh Hamidi al-Daham al-Hadi, the head of the Syrian Shammars, who are Sunni Arab allies of the Kurds.

The Shammar tribe has a militia called Jaysh al-Sanaded (Army of the Brave) or Quwwat al-Sanaded (Forces of the Brave). It’s a component of the Syrian Democratic Forces and fights alongside the Kurdish YPG and the Arab Jaysh al-Thuwar.

However, there’s no question that Jaysh al-Thuwar is a front for Arab League professional special forces, most of them Saudi. I base that statement on the fact that Jaysh al-Thuwar has no outside sponsor, but suddenly it possesses advanced military equipment, such as this unidentified automatic cannon.

Saudi special forces.

Jaysh al-Thuwar.

Jaysh al-Thuwar wins every battle effortlessly, and it has its own air support. Here’s where we know it’s fighting.

I’m positive that Jaysh al-Thuwar—a component of the Syrian Democratic Forces, like Jaysh al-Sanaded—is mostly Saudi special operators.

Well, here’s the official position of Jaysh al-Sanaded and the Shammar tribe.

Let’s look at the video again. Note Heysem Menai’s six bodyguards.

They’re Arabs, but they aren’t from the Shammar tribe. They’re outsiders who arrived with Heysem Menai. Highly trained professionals, they stick to him like glue. All are very heavily armed, and they have two extremely high-tech defenses that I won’t describe.

See how none of them wear neckties? That’s because an opponent can grab a tie and yank down the head of the wearer. These men are all special operators who are prepared to instantly engage in hand-to-hand combat. They could kill you in about sixty different ways. More importantly, some are volunteer human shields for Heysem Menai. There’s a way to tell which ones will die if necessary.

Do you have any doubt whatsoever who assigned those bodyguards? You know as well as I do: the man who can make peace with anyone.

If the Israelis trust him, and if the anti-Wahhabist Shammar trust him, I think he’s trustworthy.

And I think the ground invasion of Syria has begun. If I’m right, things are going to get really confusing for a while.

It’s how Mohammed bin Salman wins and wins and wins.