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Staff Sgt. Wynn Hoke / Photo courtesy of U.S. Army
Jordanian and United States parachutists navigate their way to a landing zone in Jordan on May 10 during Exercise Eager Lion 2012.
A military exercise involving more than 11,000 troops from 19 countries is under way in Jordan, reportedly just miles from Syria's border.
Dubbed Eager Lion 2012, the operation is "very significant," a source close to the Jordanian government told NBC News, adding it was the first of its kind in 15 years "in terms of size and importance."
The source and an analyst both said the war games should be seen as a message to neighboring Syria's rulers.
Violence has raged in Syria for 14 months after mass protests turned into an insurrection against President Bashar al-Assad's rule. Assad's government has repeatedly accused foreign states of backing a "terrorist" campaign in Syria, an apparent reference to Gulf powers Saudi Arabia and Qatar which have argued that Syrian insurgents should be supplied with weapons.
Inside Syrian rebel stronghold: 'It is as if the city is on mute'
A month-old truce brokered by international mediator Kofi Annan has failed to stop the violence, which has killed more than 9,000, according to U.N. figures. It has also caused a refugee crisis in the region.
Another source close to the government in Jordan told NBC News that while some of the exercises were being held near the Royal Jordanian Air Force's King Feisal Al Jafr airbase in the south, other exercises were under way near the Syrian and Iraqi borders in the east. The sources spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity.
Majed Jaber / Reuters
U.S. Major General Ken Tovo (left), commanding general of the Special Operations Command Central, and Major General Awni El-Edwan, chief of staff of Jordanian Army's operations and training, address a joint news conference in Jordan on Tuesday.
Experts in the region said the exercises were most certainly more than just building bridges between different countries.
Report: Syria rebels get better weapons as US boosts support
"You can't honestly say that there is not a message when you get 19 nations together in multilateral force less than 50 miles away from the Syrian border," Michael Stephens of London-based military and security think tank RUSI told msnbc.com from Qatar.
"There is no possible reason as to why the Americans wouldn't want a joint operation held close to Syria," he added. "It enhances deterrence (and) the Americans could've quietened it down if they wanted to."
Media reports in Jordan claimed that the exercises were a message not only to Syria but Iran.
Syria violence spills into streets of Lebanon's Tripoli
However, American and Jordanian military officials strenuously denied that there were operations taking place close to Syria.
"It's not about Syria, it's just a pure coincidence," U.S. Central Command Maj. Robert Bockholt told msnbc.com from Jordan. "Eager Lion 12 has been pre-planned."
The personnel from 19 nations -- Australia, Bahrain, Brunei, Egypt, France, Italy, Iraq, Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar, Spain, Romania, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States -- were working together "to build functional capacity and enhance readiness," according to a statement from the combined operation, Task Force Spartan.
The exercise "does not target anyone -- none of the neighboring or world countries," Major Gen. Awni El-Edwan, Jordanian Armed Forces operations and training chief of staff, told journalists on Tuesday.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Run around and play in the sand all you want, but the US needs to stay out of the mess in Syria. Let the other Arab nations handle it. No matter what happens, some of those people will blame the US for either helping or for not helping.
You bet!
I am wondering where they were in Iraq and now in Afghanistan?
Sunni Saudi, Kuwaiti and other Sunni forces mean: run, run with seventh century desert robes.
Saudi forces, who are great in batlling in girls and women, unarmed and minorities, could not dislodge 500 Shiites rebels from Mecca/Medina.
Jordanian and Pakis forces had to dislodge them.
It means something. During my time in the Marines we trained with many countries. But always individually. Never a multi force like this. This is either just a show, as a signal to another country, or preparation for some invasion.
Ninteen countries all in a combined operation in Jordan....... this is getting to weird.
What's interesting is the majority of those countries were also involved in the operation against Iraq to push them out of Kuwait. The only new additions seem to be Brunei, Iraq (obviously), Jordan, Lebanon, and Ukraine. Looks like a lot of rebuilding of the old coalition.
If this show of force can reach the right ears in Iran maybe it can prevent Iran from committing suicide.by doing what Libya did and open up their country to complete inspection and to abandon both the enrichment and the nuke bomb making, If not Iran will be forcefully attacked by a multi national coalition that will justifiably bring down this criminal and terrorist regime of the ayatollahs that has held the world hostage for 33 years.Time is running our for these perverse and perverted clerics!!
AH! Get it over already!!!!!!!
Lets move on, send the message to Iran and lets get the focus back on the U.S. economy and a new president.
All this says about the jordanians si that they are either getting enough money to do this or are just the usual arab lacky kingdom licking up whatever the u.s. tells them to lick.
The ordinary jordanian citizens were rioting about the price of tomatoes in the country not too long ago. A few water cannons and many arrests shut that up very quickly. I could easily say that the majority of jordanians are living like in saudi arabia. Say one wrong word and your behind is in the slammer.
That's were the cia tortures people under rendition too.It is just another fiefdom destined for revolution. Not too long of a wait I would say ....
These "combined" operations are always a joke, just like all the NATO exercises. Let's see: 11,000 troops from 19 countries...so that's 10,982 Americans, and a truck driver from each of 18 other countries. Glad you could pitch in, guys, thanks a bunch.
This is just like the saber rattling Obama has been doing with Iran. And the media will play it up. But it will do nothing to stop Assad or the opposition (whoever they are). Just like Obama's veiled threats to use force against Iran will do nothing to stop Iran. however, what it does do, in the long run, is maje those involved in the saber rattling look very weak. Just ask NK.
KingK - Stop Iran from doing what? Iran isn't starting wars, hasn't started wars and has said they will not attack any other nation, unless they are attacked first.
Our intelligence agencies have made it clear that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program. Do you have other information to contradict the professionals?
JERUSALEM - Despite saber-rattling from Jerusalem, Israeli officials now
agree with the U.S. assessment that Tehran has not yet decided on the actual construction of a nuclear bomb, according to senior Israeli government and defense figures.
Tell us how you interpret the statement, KingK. It seems clear to me.
On to Syria. The US has no business arming rebels and mercenaries. When they attack Syrian troops, of course there will be fighting. You don't acheive peace by arming opposing factions. This is all an attempt to weaken a perceived enemy of Israel.
RalphH is right on target again.
Ralph is going back to his 5 cliches as well as an outright lie.Israel never said this. The proof of Iran messing with a nuke bomb program is overwhelming.All you have to do is read the German press either in its original or translated versions Both magazines and papers..And they are not the only ones.You can`t keep a nuke bomb project hidden ..The Pakistani -N. Korean threads with Iran are also conclusive.Ralph is trying to pull the wool over people eyes? If they are innocent they must stop playing these cat and mouse games .and again do what Libya did and open up their country and STOP the bomb program.
This comes from an associated press release:
Israeli intelligence officials, like other intelligence agencies worldwide,
estimate that once a decision to build a bomb is reached, it would take months
to upgrade the enrichment and months more to build a crude bomb - in all, a
year to 18 months.
Then, to fit a bomb to a Shahab-3 missile capable of striking Israel would
take Iran two years, Israeli defense officials say.
Israeli officials who favor a strike do not want Iran even to reach the
point where work on a bomb could begin.
http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=262275
US and Israeli intelligence agencies
mostly agree that Iran has not restarted its development of a nuclear bomb, the
New York Times reported on Saturday.
According to the report, the assessment among top US officials is that Iran has
not yet decided to pursue a nuclear weapon, a conclusion which was established
based on intelligence analyses.
Israel - while seeing an existential threat in Iran's possible pursuit of a
nuclear bomb - mostly agrees with those assessments, a US intelligence official
speaking on the condition of anonymity told the . Times.
“Their people ask very hard questions, but Mossad does not disagree with the US
on the weapons program,” the Times quoted the official as saying.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74157_Page2.html#ixzz1pgI7s2UV
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74157.html#ixzz1pgHAzDLL
This is hardly a warning to Bashar Assad.The 19 countries are so disparate.They would all probably agree on nothing.Typical media speculation.
Yes it struck me also that it is an odd mix of countries. Not the typical "coalition". Deals being made in the background.
Assad better hurry up and get his killing done becouse after the Nov. elections the USA will intervene. Should obama win he will no longer care about his voter base as he can't run again, and should Romney win.... well any way you look at it the war machine will keep churning out its product of death and destruction.
Let the Sunni Saudis, oil companies and their agents do the dancing! Wish they could do half of their dances in Afghanistan.
Assad should just bomb the al-Qaida, Muslim brotherhood members without mercy. If required he should get jet bombers from Russia.
His father battled the Sunni bigoted barbarians for more than five years. He should not be cowed down by them either.
The U.S. should stay away from the Syrian problems. Syria is a battle between religious groups that has been battled for Centuries. For any non-Arab country that tries to intervene would result in a loose-loose situation for those countries. Terrorist groups are a very large part of why there are problems in Syria. The Rebels (Activist) started this Civil War and now have fighters from other countries assisting them while Syria has Russia and Iran supporting them. The Rebels are still loosing the Battles and the War they started.
Obama assisted Islamists in taking over Egypt and Libya so why wouldn't he help them take over Syria as well? Barrack Hussein Obama will be the first BlackPresident of the United States and the first President of any race of the Muslim world if this continues.
The rise of Anti-Americanism is a message for the US...
All this sabre rattling with respect to Syria.
Why??
As recently as the spring of 2007 Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton said, after their respective audiences with Assad, that he was and is a true reformer.
He does not want intervention anymore than we would.
Anybody think that a NOTO coalition should have intervened in Watts??
LMAO!!!!! Only COINDENCE!!!
If any nation wants to get involved on the ground in Syria, it should be Jordan or Saudi Arabia. The US has no dog in this fight -- just like in Libya -- so what happens there is NONE OF OUR BUSINESS (unless we want to start a war with Iran at the same time.)
Just this morning I read a news article, on another site, saying "NATO confirms that Iran is supplying weapons to Syrian government". I didn't think much of it. But now this. Coincidence, or are we being prepared for yet another war?
Of course we are being prepared for another war.
And with intelligence from NATO that should be as reliable as that from Bush before invading Irak!
In other words: Manufactured!
Personally I think we should stop Assad, but your right Iran is not our problem, and even though they are probably building a bomb, not even they are stupid enough to use it. I agree that Iraq was none of our business, but Syrians are being killed by their government, children are being killed, this can't continue. You feel what you want about the cold war between Iran and US but Syria is justifiable
Why the hell can't the US stay out of other country's problems. Why do we always have to be involved in other country's and give the muse that it needs to stop. It's been going on this way in the middle east for thousands of years. Let's stay out of it and spend the money on our homeless people instead of billions each month in an area where we are dispised and hated. Don't get me wrong, Afghanistan was nesasary as they attacked us, but Iraq and now this is such a lame excuse. Bring the troops home. And if you must nuke them all and get it over once and for all. END IT ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.
The US conducts training exercises with other countries all the time. That fact is not unusual, and there is nothing wrong with it.
Now whether this particular exercise is meant as a signal to some other country, I do not know.
There is a growing likelihood that the Assad regime (including Assad himself) will be facing an International Court of Justice one day for crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Syrian people. For the most part now, it just remains for all of the evidence to be collected and formal indictments to be handed down. There will be justice one day, Syrian people, or this civilized world stands for nothing. PLEASE DO EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER TO HELP THE WORLD COLLECT EVIDENCE AGAINST THE ASSAD REGIME! - Rick Carter
The Turks should be encouraged to invade and depose Assad, including US logistical support.
Anytime anyone does anything to make Assad or Akmed mad, worried, nervous, uncomfortable, or does anything to add to their eventual downfall. GO FOR IT
As usual, we are ithching to go to another war, it's in our makeup, and nothing anybody does will convince us that brute force solves nothing.
We have a lot of toys in the Pentagon that they are dying to try them on, again, innocent poeple, just like Irak.
We love war, we miss it, we miss the profits from it, so Syria, Iran, and whoever else dares to think differently, HERE WE COME, AGAIN!
I think it's time we heard the truth. That world resources are low, and a global war is inevitable.
In other words you are ready kill and steal other peoples resources just because we don't have them or have depleted them with our insaciable greed and irresponsible rape of the earth. We have about 6% of the planet's population and consume about 30% of its resources.
A very twisted truth you have there.
Brilliant!
But it is correct.
This is entire piece is pure media speculation. Regional wargames among various participants across the globe are commonplace.
In regards to Syria, the only body that matters is the UN Security Council. As long as Russia and China veto any proposed military and/or quasi military-political solutions that would require a multinational intervention, then everything else is just baseless talk and speculation.
The nations cited in this article are a disparate collection of nationalities and all have various interests of degrees in the region and in Syria that are far from being in concert with one another.
Due to several factors -
1) Lack of UN SC mandate
2) Lack of cohesive plan of action by a willing coalition without UN approval
3) too many unknown variables both political and militarily to contemplate
- there will be no actions taken by the world community in Syria. The Arab Gulf states will provide a flow of arms, fighters from the region will flow into Syria to help the opposition, and non-lethal aid will flow from US and western powers, but there is nothing on the horizon to suggest greater involvement by the world community. In the US, neither the republican party, the democratic party or the Obama administration wants to be involved (particularly in a unilateral manner - except for John McCain).
Assad accuse foreign states of backing a "terrorist" campaign in Syria...My answer to you Assad : those what you call terrorist are real people with family who are standing against your brutal regime and massacre and crimes you and your army have committed against their families since months ago for opposing you!!!
it s easy to call your enemies terrorist... my other question to you Assad :what should they call you for all the crimes you have committed against your own people?
Assad: in my opinion.. you are terrorizing your own people and killing them with no mercy.. how can you live with yourself? if you had some respect and real believe and fear of God, you would not do this! but your time is coming to face God.. you will face God one way or another... no one escape God Justice.. I mean no one...
Matthew 24:6 "And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end."
Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."
Never more true than today.
Just look at recent history, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya. Now the U.K. has tension with Argentina, Iran with Israel and the U.S. Syria is at odds with many countries. China is looking to establish their authority in the South Sea. And already there are riots in Spain and Greece.
All because of conservative warmongering; it takes the return of a liberal Jewish teacher of righteousnes to end conservatism. The Kingdom of God is a socialist empire. Heaven is the religious metaphor for socialism.
Maxeemas .. So are you telling me that ALQAEDA is real people , have you seen what these real people doing to the civilians in Syria , and the Christians in particular , These rebels you talking about are worse than anything you ever seen, they came from different countries and they came to kill, and what so bad is , we are helping in arming them , knowing that they are the Alqaeda left over from Iraq and the Libyans wars, But off course we only doing it to please our friends the Saudis and Qataris , Alqaeda founders and supporters , How about NATO raids on civilians in Libya and lots of other countries , Do you think that they can escape God justice, or they have their own justice to worry about, So Assad woke up one morning and said , hmmm , its a good day for me to kill my civilians and my own Intel. forces , because he already lost over 4000 from his troops , that were massacred by your real people . People like are a joke , Because you believe what Anderson Cooper , and CNN tell you , and run with it , Arab monitors went there , you have UN monitors there now , and they are telling you about all these Alqaeda thugs , But it looks like nobody listening , you people have a selective hearings. its sad when people like you have to vote here , Because that's how we came up with McCain,Lieberman , Clinton , Graham and all these war monger politicians that want to send our troops into harm way , and spend our money in countries that do not deserve a penny.
Always a good idea to send Kofi Annan into a war zone to fix the problem; that's worked well in the past. Just as an aside, what are the French and Italian troops doing there? Oh, that's right. There's a general shortage of cheese and red wine in the affected areas.
This whole thing in Syria is probably George Bush's fault, anyway.
I thought it was the brutal regime and the leader ordering the killings of any who oppose him but I guess George Bush is a good scapegoat too if you ignore the fact that he isn't even @!$%#ing involved.
If Lebanon was involved in this "excercise" then I doubt the excercise took place as practice for an invasion on Syria or Iran. Lebanon has been a strong allie with Syria, and Iran.
Bumping off Assad might be a great way to warn Iran of what comes next if they continue with their nuke program.
So Iran is not trying actually CONSTRUCT an a-bomb. The question remains as to them doing everything else up to that point. If a radical Islamicist in the US were to purchase all the chemicals needed for bombs, plus ball bearings, tools, metal parts, wiring, and detonators and had threatened to blow up his neighbor's house, I doubt that not having assembled the actual bomb would get him off the hook so easily with Homeland Security.