Just to support you in this, I didn't know Persians won most of the time against Romans, Spartans, Greeks, etc.
However, Iran cannot win against Turkey. It is good that Hezbollah recaptured Lebonan territory or Iranian-backed alliance defeated ISIS, but you cannot fight a convential war. Yes, Tehran has good-sized balls that it captures US, Canadian ship crew or military persoanl sometimes, but it can be termed eitehr bravery or stupidity.
Persians have a rich history with notable battlefield achievements under their belt, but some were able to defeat Persians in war.
The original Persian Empire (or the Achaemenid Empire) was a great power in its time and fought a war with Greeks for a long period of time in the 5th century AD. This historical chapter is identified as the
Greco-Persian Wars. Archaemind forces were able to destroy Greekish cities such as
Acropolis and Athens during the war.
But Greeks stood the test of times and their fortune shifted with Alexander the Great (good fighter; fearless leader; a brilliant military strategist). Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire in 330 BC and brought an end to the Greco-Persian Wars.
Fast forward to the 8th century AD, the Rashidun Caliphate conquered the third Persian Empire (or the Sasanian Empire). Credit to Caliph Abu Bakr for being a competent leader and Khalid ibn al-Walid for being a surprisingly good military strategist (arguably the best of his time and one of the best in Islamic history). The earlier war between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire had taken a toll on both and might have affected the capacity of Sasanian Empire to fight another war but defeat it is.
Fast forward to the 13th century AD, the Mongolians conquered an Islamic Persian Empire (or the Khwarezmian Empire). Genghis Khan achieved this feat in a brilliantly executed but extremely brutal operation. The Khwarezmian Empire was the largest and most powerful among the Islamic dynasties of its time. Genghis Khan might be the most brilliant but vicious military strategist to have ever existed. Estimated 15 million people died in this brutal war.
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Lebanon is broke due to factionalism and Iran contributes to this effect. Hezbollah is celebrated for giving tough time to Israel in war in 2006 but it is like a state within state in Lebanon.
Banks have shut their doors and the central bank is no longer buying dollars, leaving Lebanese in a state of despair and panic
www.middleeasteye.net
The long read: Three years ago, a huge explosion ripped the city apart – and with it people’s hopes for rebuilding. The most vulnerable, many of them women, are bearing the brunt of Lebanon’s endless disasters
www.theguardian.com
Fighting began after a Hezbollah truck overturned in the town of Kahaleh, and residents closed roads.
www.aljazeera.com
Violence at Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp intensifies as ceasefire between Fatah and armed groups crumbles.
www.aljazeera.com
The notion of "resisting zionists" has its appeal to clerics even though Lebanon has become a broke banana republic in the process. This is a good thing?
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Iranian efforts to fight ISIL are appreciated but Iran was not alone in this fight, far from it. Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki founded Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) to fight ISIL in Iraq in 2013, and Iran supported this movement. In Syria, Iran was focused on supporting Assad regime to defeat authentic Syrian rebels alongside Russia. Iran recruited Hezbollah to fight its battles in Syria and used ballistic missiles at times.
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American invasion of Iraq and De-ba'athification Project led to disbanding of the original Iraqi army and Assad regime thought that it was a good idea to export terrorism to Iraq:
During the early stages of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the Syrian regime enabled the transit of radical Sunni Islamist fighters to the country, where they targeted Americans and mostly Iranian-backed Shiites.
Wrongly defining the struggles gripping the Middle East encourages misguided remedies.
www.newyorker.com
These terrorists came together to establish the notorious Al-Qaeda Network in Iraq (AQI), and this group sparked Shia - Sunni strife in Iraq with its misdeeds.
Iraq’s al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has declared “all-out war” on Shia Muslims in Iraq in response to a US-Iraqi offensive on the town of Tal Afar, according to an audio clip posted on the internet.
www.aljazeera.com
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org...-shiites-exposes-divide-among-sunni-jihadists
en.wikipedia.org
Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Ibadi - one of the leading figureheads in fight against ISIL in the Middle East - also pointed out that Syria was exporting terrorism to Iraq:
Our aim is to stop or to control regional conflicts. There is a conflict in the region, there is a huge conflict. You have Saudi Arabia on one side, probably eager to be a leader of the Islamic Sunni world. You have Iran on the other side who is eager to become [the leader of] the Shia Islamic world, or even beyond. You have Turkey, as well, competing for the leadership of the Muslim Sunni world. And here we are having conflict in Yemen, having conflict in Syria, and it’s been extended before to Iraq. In Iraq, we don’t want to be part of this conflict. We are looking after our own interest, and we think we are the victims of this conflict. What happened in Syria impacted us directly.
Look what happened with Daesh when they crossed the borders into Iraq. So, I think we are very eager to stop these regional conflicts. It’s tough. It happens to be we are here, Iraq is here. We cannot move it from the map. We are bordering Turkey, bordering Iran, bordering Saudi Arabia, bordering Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, of course. And we are here, we have to live with our neighbors…
www.usip.org
US-led forces fought and defeated ISIL across Iraq and Syria (
Operation Inherent Resolve):
The Islamic State – also known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh – emerged from the remnants of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), a local offshoot of al Qaeda founded by Abu Musab al Zarqawi in 2004. It faded into obscurity for several years after the surge of U.S. troops to Iraq in 2007. But it began to reemerge in 2011. Over the next few years, it took advantage of growing instability in Iraq and Syria to carry out attacks and bolster its ranks.
The group changed its name to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2013. ISIS launched an offensive on Mosul and Tikrit in June 2014. On June 29, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi announced the formation of a caliphate stretching from Aleppo in Syria to Diyala in Iraq, and renamed the group the Islamic State.
A U.S.-led coalition began airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq on August 7, 2014, and expanded the campaign to Syria the following month. On October 15, the United States named the campaign “Operation Inherent Resolve.”
At its height, the Islamic State - also known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh - held about a third of Syria and 40 percent of Iraq. By December 2017 it had lost 95 percent of its territory, including its two biggest properties, Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, and the northern Syrian city of Raqqa...
www.wilsoncenter.org
Both USAF and US Navy could bomb ISIL positions across Iraq and Syria from virtually any direction. This was the only way to defeat ISIL movement because it was able to draw recruits from like all over the world and replenish its ranks otherwise.
US worked with Haider al-Abadi in Iraq and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) group in Syria to defeat ISIL in the region. SDF is on bad terms with Turkey but on good terms with Assad regime.
There is a lesson in this saga - those who try to burn others, might get burned as well. Syria does not have good reputation even in the End Times Islamic eschatology - it will be under control of a tyrant and will continue to burn. An eye-opener.
Bashar al-Assad is renowned for his "humanitarian services" in the region of-course.
Now if you ask Iranians, they beat all others combined with a hand tied behind their back and have conquered the Middle East. It was easy to claim victory when others were done fighting each other. Now this is an art of war in itself...
Amateur Americans should take notes.
@dbc