Thursday  14 April 2016 / Hour 2, Block A:   Mike Singh, Washington Institute, in re:  Syria. Se JPost video of a drone said to have created an explosion within Syria, and vid of Iranian soldiers’ retreating PDQ. Attributed to al Nusrah? Also Iraqi Sh’ia militia; Iranians work by proxy. The so-called Artesh [regular ground] forces.   . . .  Main Russian contribution in Syria; air power.  . . . Hard to judge morale of Syrian army; previous reports suggest that in Assad’s heartland, the brutality of the war was disheartening.   Russia and Syria now speak of moving on to Raqqa, which would be a major coup, although militarily difficult.  Assad’s forces have never been able to fight in several places at once.  Delivery/nondelivery of S300 by Russia to Iran?  Perhaps part of the system arrived; it's not cutting-edge – maybe 1990 technology.  Lot of concern form Israel, Gulfies, even the US; but if it’s not new tech, less worry.    . . . Syria saga continues without too much hope in sight.    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/weeks-after-pullout-from-syria-russian-military-is-as-busy-as-ever/2016/04/11/d150a004-fd77-11e5-a569-2c9e819c14e4_story.html ; http://www.wsj.com/articles/syrians-head-to-polls-for-parliamentary-elections-1460533105  ;  http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran-News/Irans-Special-Forces-reportedly-suffering-heavy-losses-in-Syria-451090  ;  http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/irans-army-suffers-its-first-casualties-in-syria  ;  http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-alawites-in-syrian-society-loud-silence-in-a-declaration-of-identity-re
Michael Singh is the Lane-Swig Senior Fellow and managing director at The Washington Institute and a former senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council. During his tenure at the White House from 2005 to 2008, Mr. Singh was responsible for devising and coordinating U.S. national security policy toward the region stretching from Morocco to Iran, with a particular emphasis on Iran’s nuclear and regional activities, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Syria, and security cooperation in the broader Middle East. Previously, Mr. Singh served as special assistant to secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell and at the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv.