r/worldnews • u/DevineDoja • Jun 04 '24

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-2024-6
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u/Merker6 Jun 04 '24

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 Jun 04 '24

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/Pretty_Good_At_IRL Jun 04 '24

uhh, the IRA also blew up cars and civilian targets all over england and made a number of assassination attempts of british political figures.  

 In short, an absolutely terrible comparison. The IRA was a bunch of terrorists for most of their existence. Might as well talk about the success of al qaeda. 

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u/tapasmonkey Jun 04 '24

I'm British, and grew up in the 1980s - I have zero admiration or sympathy towards the IRA - they were a horrendous band of murdering tw*ats.

...I'm just saying that there's a parallel between the two: there was an expression, from the IRA, along the lines of "remember we only have to be lucky once - you have to be lucky always"

Ukraine is conducting an asymmetrical defensive war against a giant bullying neighbour, so frankly all means are acceptable.

So you're entirely correct: the IRA were reprehensible ar*eholes, but there are undeniable similarities in the sadly twisted and desperate logic of tying down a much larger force.