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being allowed into the Gulf. With the GIR s proven willingness to launch
massive air assaults and take tremendous casualties, the confines of the
Persian Gulf made the prospect of these large ships and their embarked air
wings and expeditionary ground forces too risky.
Security for these visits was extremely pronounced. No fewer than fifty
interceptor aircraft were in the air at all times in conjunction with the
Presidential and Prime Minister s visit. Although there had been some threats
from specific terrorists groups which created a corresponding higher alert
status at each of the bases. No untoward incidents occurred.
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Meanwhile, a potential inter-Arab crisis and condition was developing along
the border of Syria and the
GIR, at the former Iraqi border. The Syrian Army and Air Force were conducting
exercises south of
Turkey along that border. Syria indicated through diplomatic channels that
these exercises were needed for its armed forces and were also meant to send a
strong message to the GIR to respect Syria s borders. Although Syria had not
taken part in Operation Iraqi Freedom and had been warned by the
United States not to attempt to help Saddam Hussein or his Ba'ath party at
that time, Syria had participated earlier in Desert Storm on the side of the
allies. Many western analysts viewed the current military posturing by Syria
as a much needed and strong signal to the GIR and Hasan Sayeed. They presumed
it indicated that Sayeed s influence did not extend to all of Islam, including
some of those states viewed as very fundamental and faithful to the Islamic
faith.
The exercises themselves involved upwards of one hundred thousand personnel as
three full divisions practiced armored assault, mechanized advance and air
assault operations. Syria s logistical supply operations were also exercised
in support of these operations. In addition, close air support and combat air
patrol operations were held in support of the armored and mechanized
exercises.
The GIR communicated many warnings to the Syrians regarding these exercises
throughout the week between Christmas and the New Year. Hasan Sayeed
personally warned the Syrian King to ensure that no encroachment occurred by
the one thousand tanks, twelve hundred armored personnel carriers and four
hundred military aircraft involved in the exercises. Most of this equipment
was newer and perceived as a significant threat. T-72 and T-80 tanks, BTR-80
and BMP-2 armored personnel carriers, Mig-29, Mig-27 and SU-22 aircraft and
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HIND-E attack helicopters were all employed.
Mediation by various members of the Arab League was attempted as the GIR
beefed up its own forces in the areas along their northern border with Syria.
This involved transferring some of the forces that had been deployed around
Irbil and Karkuk after the defeat of the Kurds. As part of the GIR 1stArmy
group that had been pulled back deeper into the GIR began mobilizing for
movement, negotiations and calls for caution were issued by the European
Union, the Security Council of the United Nations and by the
United States.
On December 30th, Jien Zenim announced that the People s Republic of China
would lead a delegation of several of the Coalition of Asian States to the
region during the first week of January in an attempt to negotiate and defuse
the crisis. Jien s close confidant and ally, Li Peng, would head the
delegation on behalf of the PRC and the CAS.
New Year 2006
As the people all around the globe rang in the New Year with celebration and
festivities, the world also anxiously awaited the resolution of the crisis
brewing between the GIR and Syria. While the delegations were preparing for
the Chinese brokered summit, and while Syrian and GIR troops by the hundreds
of thousands faced each other over what appeared to be a very tense frontier,
other disturbing developments were coming to light on the international scene.
North Korea s annual military exercises were the largest in its history. Over
three hundred thousand
North Korean combat troops and their equipment were gathered right along the
DMZ conducting exercises meant to simulate the North s capability to invade
the South. These exercises and the numbers of troops participating meant that
the US forces and South Korean forces were placed on their highest state of
alert. Recognizing that an outbreak of hostilities on the Korean peninsula
would almost certainly end up involving them, Japan and Taiwan also placed
their forces on their highest state of readiness.
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All of this added substantially to the overall unease felt around the world,
particularly in the west and in those nations of Asia that had not become a
part of the CAS. Markets were down sharply, particularly the high tech and
petroleum markets that depended on these regions for their production.
While this was occurring, the CAS continued experiencing growth and
prosperity. This prosperity was enjoyed by all of its member states, but
particularly China, India and the GIR. Russia was also benefiting immensely
from her relationship to the CAS through the exclusive exploitation of
Siberia, and through its blossoming arms sales to members of the CAS and the
GIR. By January 1st, 2006 the number of nations that had officially joined the
CAS included China, Cambodia, India, Mongolia, The Greater Islamic
Republic, Laos, Vietnam, Nepal, North Korea, and Bangladesh.
The GIR was itself growing and reaching ever further towards the Imam Hasan
Sayeed s goal for a unified Islam. By January 1st, 2006, the GIR included all
of the former states of Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan,
Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Iraq.
This amounted to an Islamic population of over two hundred and seventy million
citizens who looked to the Imam Hasan Sayeed as their political, military and
spiritual leader. The developing Islamic Republic, like its predecessor Iran,
was a fundamental Islamic state where freedom of religion was not recognized
and freedom of speech and the press was severely suppressed. The fact that
most of these people were choosing to live in such conditions was mystifying
to the west, but alluring to other Islamic nations that leaned towards
fundamentalism.
January 5, 2006. 16:00 local time
Foreign Ministry press room
Damascus, Syria
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