r/worldnews • u/DevineDoja • 26d ago
Ukraine sent special forces to Syria to attack Russians there, revealing a new front to the war: report Russia/Ukraine
https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-special-forces-syria-attack-russians-new-war-front-report-2024-63.1k
u/No-Stage974 26d ago
Remember when UA special forces attacked and killed Warner group and Russian soldiers in Africa? Yeah, they're still there doing it. So Syria is closer and russia can move troops and equipment back to Ukraine quicker, so, its obvious UA will destroy it there before it's sent back to attack Ukraine.
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u/sangueblu03 26d ago
They’re still in at least one African country, and in Syria. It’s a training opportunity for them. They operate alongside and with American operatives and intelligence in a theater where that doesn’t bring as much risk (as you can’t have US air support or US operatives operating openly in Ukraine).
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u/bombmk 26d ago
And in general it is also theaters much more conducive to their line of work and talents than a stagnant artillery ridden WW1 style front line. More bang for the buck.
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u/skalpelis 26d ago
Not just training. Wagner is there for the gold that Russia uses to finance their military. Ukraine can disrupt the funding and hit them where it hurts.
https://www.npr.org/2023/12/27/1221318890/russia-ukraine-wagner-group-putin-africa-blood-gold
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u/DrBix 26d ago
The US should offer to buy the gold for a couple dollars (176 rubbles) above what Russia is paying. Time to restock Fort Knox!
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u/gotwired 26d ago
Russia is paying for the gold in military power for oppressive african dictatorships. Sadly, I don't think the US can pay that price on a moral level at least.
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u/ShinyHappyREM 26d ago
*Wagner
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u/amayonegg 26d ago
He's obviously talking about the famous television production company Wagner Brothers
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u/Strong-Piccolo-5546 26d ago
i wonder if the UA will try to slip guys behind the lines into russia. they got a massive border. up through kazakstan or Georgia, 1000s of miles from Russian soldiers to cause some chaos and disrupt supply lines. They get guys fluent in russian to do it. The entire russian army is in the east.
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u/kamill85 26d ago
They have already done so a couple of times. Special forces operate in Russia for over a year, at least.
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u/zeolus123 26d ago
They finished their work in Africa and took the scenic route back to Ukraine... 😁
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u/MikeAppleTree 26d ago
If Russia needs to reinforce its presence in Syria it uses up valuable resources.
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u/Ugkvrtikov 26d ago
Assuming Ukraine doesn't have manpower shortage itself
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u/evilbunnyofdoom 26d ago
One could counter-argue and say that a handful of special forces are more valuable at exactly these types of disruption attacks than in standard trench warfare, since it is exactly what they are trained for. And it will disrupt and strain russian forces internationally as well, which is good.
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u/jareyjareyjareyjarey 26d ago
More bang for buck?
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u/errorsniper 26d ago
The technical term is force multiplication. The right guy, at the right place, at the right time, with the proper tools. Can do more damage than a force many times larger for a fraction of the cost.
edit: scrolled down after I submitted and saw someone already explained this lol
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u/Optimized_Orangutan 26d ago
Special forces are a Force Multiplier. 10 dudes doing something 1000 couldn't.
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u/metalconscript 26d ago
Well 10 dudes doing something you can’t spare a 1000 regulars on and only need the 10 dudes to accomplish the task at hand to an acceptable end state.
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u/Tiss_E_Lur 26d ago
More like 10 dudes that can choose where and when to strike, it will therefore be necessary to bind orders of magnitude more men to protect whatever they don't want wrecked.
SF has very limited actually critical mission use cases in peer warfare, their biggest contributions by far is the potential threat they pose and the imbalanced resources spent on countering it. An opponent simply cannot choose not to dedicate a ton of manpower to guard anything vital in the rear areas, ignoring that fact is guaranteed chaos when SF eventually strikes critical infrastructure.
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u/Flangepacket 26d ago
Those 10 dudes have worked their way through extreme selection with heavy fail rate and countless niche, pinpoint exercises that the 1000 dudes have not. Specialized, accurate and deadly.
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u/whatproblems 26d ago
they’re the ones attacking here so they don’t need a lot of troops for selective attacks while russia needs more to defend everywhere
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u/kaptainkeel 26d ago
Correct. There's also the fact that (1) generally, Russians there don't expect the Ukrainian
inquisitionspecial forces, and (2) a lot of those killed are seasoned commanders, not the new conscripts that you see in Ukraine. Much bigger of a loss to have a seasoned veteran commander of Syria get killed than Ivan who was conscripted 2 weeks ago.18
u/evilbunnyofdoom 26d ago
No one expects the
SpanishUkrainian inquisition. But yes, i think you are very much right4
u/Tovarish_Petrov 26d ago
СБУ wants to know your location, please answer with так/даyes/si
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u/mkspaptrl 26d ago
When their chief weapon is surprise...and an undying devotion to the UA cause..Noone can expect them.
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u/YourDogIsMyFriend 26d ago
Reminds me what happened to that Russian freedom movement (I forget their initials). They kept poking the borders. Taking small towns and retreating for just that purpose
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u/Designer_Brief_4949 26d ago
Bingo. You can blow shit up as opportunity presents itself, without investing in holding any specific territory.
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u/Ready_Nature 26d ago
Special forces aren’t particularly useful at the front in the kind of war being fought in Ukraine. This is probably a bigger benefit to Ukraine than using them as cannon fodder.
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u/Merker6 26d ago
Ukraine only needs a few dozen SF members to force Russia to maintain hundreds of regulars there to ensure security and defend critical installations like airfields and supply depots. It’s a very high RoI for the Ukrainians if they’re able to appropriately support their people there
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u/tapasmonkey 26d ago
Think of the few hundred IRA members working with shoe-string budgets, who kept thousands of British soldiers stationed in Ireland, at vast expense to Britain
Like the British in Ireland, the Russians have to defend from potential attacks everywhere and at all times, whereas the Ukrainians, like the IRA, are attacking at single points at single points in time, thus tying up massive amounts of Russian resources.
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u/Punchausen 26d ago
Ukraine are choosing these battles, which means that the cost to Russia will be exponentially higher
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u/Sure-Sympathy5014 26d ago
The cost benefit is pretty big. Even a small unit of say 50 guys being hidden by anti Russian locals can cause massive economic damage by simply forcing Russia to have to project more power into that region.
A single 50 cal shot into the fuel tank of a parked helicopter can cause millions in damage.
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u/iskandar- 26d ago
A wallmart drone with an RPG strapped to it can knock out multimillion dollar MBT.
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u/No-Ninja455 26d ago
Move from your defensive positions to tip the balance elsewhere, forcing Russia to re deploy and then you simply bring back the experienced men to Ukraine
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u/Telenil 26d ago
Maybe Western special forces should be doing something like that in one country or an other. The Kremlin has insisted multiple times that Wagner is just mercenaries completely unrelated to the Russian governement so, y'know, it's not like we'd be fighting Russian soldiers or anything.
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u/zehamberglar 26d ago
It's significantly more resource intensive to defend assets in the field than it is to assault them. This is one of the major reasons why asymmetric warfare campaigns are so counterintuitively successful.
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u/jameskchou 26d ago
Not a bad idea to wear out the Russians and prevent them from being redeployed to Ukraine. Also possible deal involving anti-Assad elements to back Ukraine in return
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u/BillW87 26d ago
It's also a much better use of Special Forces than throwing them in a trench on the front where they're not much more useful than any other grunt, and can catch an artillery shell or FPV drone just as easly as anyone else with a gun. Special Forces are able to undertake irregular operations that regular forces can't. They're not superheroes who are immune to harm or actually much more useful than traditional forces in traditional situations (sometimes less useful). Sending them off to theaters where they can harass the enemy in the way that maximizes their unique training is a smart move.
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u/MapoTofuWithRice 26d ago
Special forces aren't deployed into trenches. They're usually for infiltration operations, eg. attacking supply lines and important facilities (air bases, radar, depots).
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u/BillW87 26d ago
Yup 100%. I'm just calling out that rationale as there seems to be a lot of (mostly buried) comments wondering why UAF isn't deploying these guys at home when they're fighting a war against an invader. I'm sure there's plenty of ops they're running in Ukraine as well, but with static fighting lines and tons of anti-air coverage along the front making infiltration challenging there's probably limited opportunity for their Special Forces to actually do their job. The fighting in Syria is a lot more asymmetrical and therefore perfect for Ukraine's SF to cause havoc on Russian forces there.
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u/Theinternationalist 26d ago
It’s also a nice way to make connections with nearby countries that are also involved-
It’s horrifying but I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the forces there are starting to treat a DECADE LONG CIVIL WAR as a sort of networking event.
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u/ADizzy_07 26d ago edited 26d ago
This summer Syria will be holding the first Ayatollah Khat Mixer lol.
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u/1999wasprettycool 26d ago
Article says they’re working with Syrian rebels in the south-west. They’re remnants of the original more secular and nationalist leaning opposition who are mostly officially reconciled with the regime through Russian mediation but it’s been an open secret that they’re still very hostile to them. Interesting move by Ukraine, Syrian rebels are broadly sympathetic with Ukraine from the nationalists to the hardline jihadists out of pure hatred of Russia and Iran.
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u/MuzzledScreaming 26d ago
I would laugh so hard if Russia's invasion of Ukraine is somehow the way we end up with Kurdistan.
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u/noximo 26d ago
Turkey wouldn't allow that...
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u/petrichorax 26d ago
Kurdistan ideal borders cross through all of the countries in that region, it's basically never ever going to happen.
You would have to invade each country or ask them suuuper nicely to give up large swaths of their territory (no).
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u/ArthurBonesly 26d ago
The most realistic situation is that Iran collapses and Iranian and Iraqi kurds form an alliance while the instability iron is hot. Politically these groups are very different and even if there was an international recognition of a Kurdish state, there would be a crap ton of instability on what that state should look like that could be exploited by the nations they broke away from.
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u/fanglesscyclone 26d ago
Who’s saying they would have ideal borders? It would get carved out of Syria/Iraq most likely and probably stay there and just take in Kurds from other bordering countries. Turkey doesn’t want a Kurdistan at all but a Kurdistan that doesn’t piss off everyone is possible.
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u/ArthurBonesly 26d ago
Or Iran, or Iraq, or Azerbaijan.
Turkey has it's thumb on the scale, but let's make no mistake, every recognized nation with a Kurdish region is actively resisting Kurdish nationalism, a situation compounded by the fact that Turkish kurds are not of the same political/religious culture or Syrian, Iranian, Iraqi and Azerbaijani.
The biggest hurdle for a Kurdish state is that the Kurds are not a unified people in nationalism. The second biggest hurdle is, their closest allies are invested in the geopolitical status quo of borders. Even if Turkey weren't a factor, the US is glacial in recognizing the sovereignty of break away states because they don't want to piss off their allies dealing with the threat of break away stares (eg: Spain).
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u/Berly653 26d ago
Syria is turning into the “kill your adversaries without the consequences of striking them on home soil” capital of the world
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u/SaidwhatIsaid240 26d ago
So what I’m hearing is Syria is the worlds thunder dome?
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u/solonit 26d ago
Sand: check
Ruined infrastructure: check
Modified equipment: check
PvP free-for-all: check
Mel Gibson: maybe?
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u/anxiety_filter 26d ago
Hey remember when Donnie Poopypants pulled our troops out of Manbij and the bases were immediately occupied by Russian forces? Good times
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u/GoneFishing4Chicks 26d ago
And people say trump wouldnt deliver f35s to putin
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u/YourDogIsMyFriend 26d ago
Trump will deliver anything to anyone who kisses the ring. That’s why you see the bad boys of the world working so hard to reelect him. Buying full force American power for just money? Once in a life time level of corruption
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u/Melodic-Pangolin8449 26d ago
kisses the ring
It's Trump who kisses Putin's ring due to the Moscow hotel tapes (allegedly). Also, he kissed Erdogan's ring because Trump wants to "build" a tower in Turkey. That's why the US betrayed the Kurds this time.
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u/KyleIsntBobVilla 26d ago
Hotel tapes aside, Putin is orders of magnitude wealthier than trump. In that respect I’m sure trump is envious
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u/Magical_Pretzel 26d ago
That was on the request of the Turks, a NATO member (on paper) because they didn't want the US to interfere with their campaign against the kurds
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u/PappaWenko 26d ago
Ukraine special forces man... What a bunch of fucking badasses.
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u/YourDogIsMyFriend 26d ago
I watched something on the French foreign legion a long while back. This was before Russia invaded. And even then, the consensus was the best and most hard core fighters were Ukrainian.
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u/Interesting-Way6741 26d ago
Passionate maybe - but the reality is that effectiveness of troops is predicated on training and also access to resources. These are very constrained in Ukraine.
I don’t mean this to take away from the heroism of the Ukrainians: but to re-iterate that they need funding and support. Skilled soldiers aren’t born, they’re made through training.
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u/SteeltoSand 26d ago
ive literally never once heard anyone or any piece of media mention the Ukrainian special forces as the best and most hard core fighters hardcore
pretty sure before the war everyone said it was russia or sweden
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u/Brooklynxman 26d ago
Be Russian soldier
Be safe from Ukranians in Syria
Hear a whisper behind you
"Slava Ukraini."
Cyka blyat
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u/The_IRS_Fears_Him 26d ago
Great job Zelenskyy
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u/MadNhater 26d ago
Let’s give credit to the Ukrainian special forces in Syria thats actually doing the work here. Zelensky gets his credit elsewhere but this one is for the special forces
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u/Juan20455 26d ago
I mean, he is the one sending them there. Churchill wasn't the one physically fighting nazis. But he represented the spirit of the british people against nazis.
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u/Mikethebest78 26d ago
I'm impressed that they always seem to be able to hit Russia where they think they are safe.
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u/ahmuh1306 26d ago
After this war the Ukrainian special forces and the SBU will be like Mossad v2.0 lol. It's quite a big deal for a country like Ukraine to ship special forces to two different continents (Africa previously, ME now) to attack Russia. Slava Ukraini!
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u/tungstencube99 26d ago
I wouldn't be surprised, in fact I'm almost sure the mossad, or Israeli intelligence in general, actually shared Information with the Ukranians. after all Syria is right on their border.
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u/iskandar- 26d ago edited 26d ago
Could you imagine being the comrade conscriptovitch, dancing for joy when you get the news that you are not being deployed to Ukraine, knowing that yah Syria sucks but at least you wont have some UAF mad lad piloting a wallmart drone with an RPG strapped to it up you ass while you sleep... Only to be on patrol in the fucking dessert and hear a Ukrainian accent call out " surprise motherfucker!" in accented slavic before your squad gets done up?
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u/Street-Experience-83 26d ago
Syria is currently a PvE server please exercise caution as permadeath is on and keep inventory os off
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u/Both-Anything4139 26d ago
I think we would be surprised to learn the number of western countries who are using special forces to fuck with the russians in syria and africa at any point in time since 2022.
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u/AuntEyeEvil 26d ago
Makes sense. The more russians they can legally take out of service further strains putin's ability to rape, pillage, and kidnap his way through Ukraine.
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u/TheOtherUprising 26d ago
I forgot Russia was still in Syria. As someone who is on the left politically I am blown away by the segment of leftists who simp for Russia while calling themselves anti-imperialist as Russia does all the imperialist things they would hate if it was America doing it.
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u/cz03se 26d ago
Who the heck on the left is simping Russia?? This sounds like gaslighting to me
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u/thasmush 26d ago
Uneducated people
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u/DonniesAdvocate 26d ago
No. On the whole these people tend to be overly well educated, just look at someone like Chomsky, arguably one of the greatest academics alive today but a total Russia simp too. These people are usually called tankies after backing the Soviet invasion of, I think Hungary in 1956 and tend to be university educated leftists on the whole. Former British prime ministerial candidate Jeremy Corbyn would be another example.
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u/gotimas 26d ago
"US=imperialist; Russia=anti US = Russia good"
I have many friends like this, its just ignorance, they know about the atrocities done by the US, but not the ones done by Russia.
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u/the_house_on_the_lef 26d ago
Who the heck on the left is simping Russia??
Some of the oldschool Leninist parties in Europe. Boomers who are still affected by Cold War propaganda, basically. For example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Communist_Party#Reaction_to_the_2022_invasion_of_Ukraine
By contrast, democratic socialists tend to be younger, and anti-Russia.
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u/ZGM_Dazzling 26d ago
If you go too far left or too far right you end up pro-Russia
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u/_sophrosyne_ 26d ago
A lot of the leftist populists in Germany are taking this tack. See Sarah Wagenknecht
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u/JPFrankenstein 26d ago
Glenn Greenwald
Jimmy Dore
Russell Brand
Noam Chomsky
Max Blumenthal
Aaron Mate
Roger Waters
Cornell West
Matt Taibbi
Tulsi Gabbard
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u/VRichardsen 26d ago
Who the heck on the left is simping Russia?? This sounds like gaslighting to me
A surprisingly large number of people. They use the logic u/gotimas showed.
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u/mschuster91 26d ago
Way, way too many. The same crowd that's cheering for fucking Hamas.
I mean, I get where they're coming from, but even then there's better ways to protest against perceived Israeli oppression than to massacre civilians and take hostages JFC.
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u/Duskuser 26d ago
It's just a need to press everything down into a binary good/evil oppressed/oppressor dynamic.
It's comically simplistic, but it does unfortunately explain almost all of their behaviors.9
u/mschuster91 26d ago
Yeah. Especially enraging is that the Hamas simps don't even care about what Hamas does to the Palestinian people - LGBT folks get routinely executed summarily over there.
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u/Late-Eye-6936 26d ago
OMG I thought that guy with a mustache was Russian and I was like oh shit the Russians have bad motherfuckers in the military now. And then I saw the flag on his gun and felt hugely relieved
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u/Murderousdrifter 26d ago
Geez, how many foreign militaries are operating in Syria at the moment?