Top Cuban general, key forces in Syria to aid Assad

[MikeWB]

Only ones MIA are chinese...


http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/10/14/cuban-military-forces-deployed-to-syria-to-operate-russian-tanks-say-sources/
Cuban military operatives reportedly have been spotted in Syria, where sources believe they are advising President Bashar al-Assad's soldiers and may be preparing to man Russian-made tanks to aid Damascus in fighting rebel forces backed by the U.S.

Gen. Leopoldo Cintra Frias, head of  Cuba's Armed Forces, recently visited Syria to lead a group of Cuban military personnel joining forces with Russia in their support of Assad, according to information received by the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies.

On Wednesday, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that Cuban paramilitary and special forces units are on the ground in Syria, citing evidence from intelligence reports. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Cuban troops may have been training in Russia and may have arrived in Syria on Russian planes.

    " ... it would indicate that General Raul Castro is more interested in supporting his allies, Russia and Syria, than in continuing to normalize relations with the U.S."

    - Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami

An Arab military officer at the Damascus airport reportedly witnessed two Russian planes arrive there with Cuban military personnel on board. When the officer questioned the Cubans, they told him they were there to assist Assad because they are experts at operating Russian tanks, according to Jaime Suchlicki, the institute's executive director.

"It doesn't surprise me," Suchlicki told FoxNews.com, noting Russia's long history of supplying military equipment to Cuba as well as Cuba's assistance in Soviet-led operations in Africa the 1970's.

"They have a very close relationship," Suchlicki said. "The Russians have been training the Cubans for years and supplying them with all sorts of military equipment."

Syria's bloody civil war is in its fourth year and has so far cost an estimated 250,000 people their lives and sparked a humanitarian crisis as displaced refugees flee the embattled nation. The U.S. has called for the ouster of dictator Assad, and is supporting a rebel group known as the Free Syrian Army. But ISIS and Al Qaeda offshoot Al Nusra are also present in Syria, battling Assad, the FSA and each other. Russia, Iran and now apparently Cuba are helping Assad in his bid to maintain power.

Cuba's military is ranked the world's 110th most powerful by the site globalfirepower.com. While small, the Cuban military is "very well-trained," according to Suchlicki, who said their presence in Syria is a "departure from what the U.S. expected."

President Obama earlier this year removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, seeking to normalize relations between the two countries. The U.S. cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 after Fidel Castro's revolution. The U.S. spent decades trying to either actively overthrow the Cuban government or isolate the island, including toughening the economic embargo first imposed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The U.S. Embassy in Havana reopened in July 2015.

"Yes, there are those who want to turn back the clock and double down on a policy of isolation," Obama said at the time, "but it's long past time for us to realize that this approach doesn't work. It hasn't worked for 50 years."

"This is a historic step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the Cuban government and people, and begin a new chapter with our neighbors in the Americas," Obama said in July from the White House Rose Garden.

The U.S. official described Cuban's involved in Syria as similar to the "Cuba-Angola arrangement" -- a reference to Cuban troops operating on behalf of the Soviets in several central African countries in the 1970's. Cuba also sent troops to Syria in 1973 to support them in the Yom Kippur War against Israel and deployed officers to observe Israeli military tactics.

The official could not confirm whether Cuba's top general is in Syria, or if Cuban forces are manning Russian tanks provided to Assad by Russia.

"If this information about the presence of Cuban troops in Syria now is confirmed, it would indicate that General Raul Castro is more interested in supporting his allies, Russia and Syria, than in continuing to normalize relations with the U.S.," the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies said in a statement Tuesday.

"Raul Castro has expressed publicly his support for the Syrian regime and his solidarity with Russian and Iranian objectives in the Middle East," the group said. "This new Cuban internationalism reaffirms one more time that the Castro's brothers are more interested in their role in the world in opposition to the U.S. than in modernizing Cuba and helping the Cuban people rise above their current misery."

[yankeedoodle]

Maybe this is true, and maybe it isn't.  Perhaps it is just more of the relentless Cuba bashing that we've heard for the last five decades.

Of course, decades ago, when Cuba was supported by the then-Soviet Union, they sent military experts and troops to confront US-backed forces in Africa during the Cold War conflicts, but who's to say - Fox New?  - whether the Cubans are ready and willing to go to war again.

This could very well be more anti-Cuba propaganda from people who hate Cuba, and will always hate Cuba, until it is again a colony of the US and the Mafia.   After a treaty with Iran, propagandists have Iran moving into Syria, and, after a treaty with Cuba, propagandists have Cubans moving into Syria.  Obviously, to some, Cuba and Iran both must be subjugated, and they hate the treaties, and they want Americans to continue to hate Iran and Cuba, despite the treaties.

Here's another crackpot piece of propaganda, in which Politico insinuates that...wait for it...Castro and the Cubans killed Kennedy, in retaliation for the CIA trying to kill Castro.     This is totally ridiculous, but these type of stories will keep circulating to continue the hatred of Cuba. 
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/10/jfk-assassination-john-mccone-warren-commission-cia-213197?curator=MediaREDEF

[yankeedoodle]

Claims of Iranian and Cuban military presence in Syria come as the Pentagon and State Department have accused Russia of bombing US-backed rebels instead of IS positions.

Iranians, Cubans and CIA-backed rebels: US media jumps on muddled Syria reports
https://www.rt.com/usa/318712-syria-iran-cuba-rebels/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Citing activists and anonymous government sources, US media outlets claim that Russian airstrikes are deliberately targeting the US-backed rebels, as Iranian and even Cuban troops are streaming into Syria.

The Associated Press reported that Iranian Revolutionary Guards began arriving to Syria two weeks ago, after Russia launched an air campaign against the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL). Citing a "regional official" with "deep knowledge of operational details in Syria," AP estimated the number of Iranian troops at 1,500.

Another report of Iranian troops came from the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a frequent Western media source about the Syrian conflict. The SOHR claimed that Iranian troops were arriving to a military base in Latakia to prepare for a push by Syrian government forces on Idlib province.

Fox News, meanwhile, reported that a top Cuban general "recently visited Syria." Citing claims by the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies and seconded by an anonymous US government official, the network said that General Leopoldo Cintra Frias and a "group of Cuban military personnel" were in Syria to join Russian operations in support of the Syrian government.

There are no Iranian troops fighting in Syria, Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said. Speaking to the Lebanon-based al-Mayadeen television channel, Zoubi said that some Iranian officials were in Syria "for consultations only," Iran's Press TV reported.

Claims of Iranian and Cuban military presence in Syria come as the Pentagon and State Department have accused Russia of bombing US-backed rebels instead of IS positions.

Meanwhile, US media outlets have begun openly acknowledging that a secret CIA program has trained and equipped an estimated 10,000 fighters to oppose the government of President Bashar Assad. According to AP, these rebels – backed by the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar – include "some ultraconservative groups and al-Qaida affiliates."

"Putin is deliberately targeting our forces," one anonymous US official told Fox News on Wednesday, estimating that up to 150 CIA-trained rebels have been killed in Russian air attacks. "Our guys are fighting for their lives."

"They aren't targeting ISIL, so there is nothing to coordinate," the official added. "The only role Russia can or should play in Syria is in assisting Assad to step aside. Everything else is counterproductive. They have been completely disingenuous about their desire to fight ISIL."

Recent efforts by the Pentagon to train and equip a "moderate" rebel force in Syria have ended with the capture or desertion of the fewer than 100 fighters it produced. The US has since "adjusted" the program to supply weapons and ammunition to commanders deemed reliable, a spokesman for the US-led coalition against IS admitted Tuesday.

Moscow has criticized the ammunition deliveries, saying they will likely end up in terrorist hands again. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov questioned the US-led coalition's objectives in Syria, stressing that Washington must decide whether its aim is to eliminate the jihadists or to use extremist forces to pursue its own political agenda.

"It is probably not very nice [for them] to see how effective[ly] our military is working compared to the more than a year-long operations [of] the coalition created by the United States of America," Lavrov told the Russian channel NTV on Tuesday.

Last week, CNN and other media outlets reported claims by anonymous US officials that four of the 26 cruise missiles fired by Russian ships from the Caspian Sea had veered off-course and crashed in Iran. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed all missiles had hit their intended targets, while the Iranian government said there were no indications of Russian missiles crashing in Iranian territory.

[MikeWB]

YD, CIA/Pentagon/StateDep is pumping out tons of black propaganda so who knows what rumors are true now. Until we start seeing Cubans on the ground from SAA affiliated twitter accounts, I wouldn't trust any of this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_propaganda