{"id":7546,"date":"2015-10-13T08:02:32","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T15:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/a-putin-craze-takes-hold-in-middle-east\/"},"modified":"2015-10-13T08:02:32","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T15:02:32","slug":"a-putin-craze-takes-hold-in-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/a-putin-craze-takes-hold-in-middle-east\/","title":{"rendered":"A Putin craze takes hold in Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT \u2014 <\/strong>Amid the ornate walls of Damascus\u2019 famed Omayyad Mosque, preacher Maamoun Rahmeh stood before worshippers last week, declaring Russian President Vladimir Putin a \u201cgiant and beloved leader\u201d who has \u201cdestroyed the myth of the self-aggrandizing America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Posters of Putin are popping up on cars and billboards elsewhere in parts of Syria and Iraq, praising the Russian military intervention in Syria as one that will redress the balance of power in the region.<\/p>\n

The Russian leader is winning accolades from many in Iraq and Syria, who see Russian airstrikes in Syria as a turning point after more than a year of largely ineffectual efforts by the U.S.-led coalition to dislodge the Islamic State militants who have occupied significant parts of the two countries.<\/p>\n

The reactions underscore that while the West may criticize Putin for supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad, there is some relief in the region at the emergence of a player with a coherent \u2014 if controversial \u2014 strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutin does more than just speak,\u201d said Sohban Elewi of Damascus, summing up the views of Syrians on opposing camps who regard U.S. policy in Syria and Iraq as fumbled and confused.<\/p>\n

Russia began its air campaign in Syria on Sept. 30, joining the fray of those bombing Syria at a critical time for Assad and his embattled troops. The Syrian army\u2019s loss of the northern province of Idlib opened the way for rebels to come dangerously close to the coastal Alawite heartland, leaving his soldiers there vulnerable and dejected.<\/p>\n

Russia insists it is targeting the Islamic State group and other \u201cterrorists.\u201d But Syrian rebels and opposition activists say Moscow\u2019s warplanes in recent days have focused on Idlib and the central province of Hama, hitting U.S.-backed rebels in areas with no IS militants.<\/p>\n

The planes also have provided air cover for Syrian ground troops who launched an offensive in central Syria, reinforcing the belief that Russia\u2019s main aim is to shore up Assad\u2019s forces.<\/p>\n

In addition to the warplanes taking off from a base in Latakia, Russian ships in the Caspian Sea have fired cruise missiles that fly nearly 930 miles over Iran and Iraq to strike Raqqa and Aleppo provinces, in what many see as a show of force meant to portray muscle more than serve a specific military goal.<\/p>\n

Among Assad\u2019s war-weary and frustrated supporters, such elaborate displays of support provide a much-needed psychological boost, and have injected new hope that their flailing battle against rebel factions and the Islamic State group can still be won.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe (Russian) intervention has raised the morale of the Syrian army and the Syrian people alike,\u201d said Dr. Samir Haddad from the central city of Homs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Putin has a distinguished personality and charisma, and it has become clear that world leaders have gradually started approving, openly or secretly, of this intervention,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In Iraq, where the U.S.-led war against IS has stalled, many say they want Russian airstrikes against IS to extend to their country.<\/p>\n

Buried between paintings of Baghdad architecture, mosques and landscapes, some art shops in Baghdad have begun selling portraits of Putin, a tribute to his intervention in what Iraqis see as the new military front against IS.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia does not play games. They are problem solvers, and they do it quietly and efficiently, not like the Americans who prefer to do everything in front of the cameras,\u201d said Hussein Karim, a 21-year-old medical student from Baghdad.<\/p>\n

In one cartoon widely distributed among Iraqis on Facebook and Twitter, U.S. President Barack Obama is dressed as a Sunni sheikh, while Putin as a Shiite imam, suggesting the two are taking sides.<\/p>\n

Another cartoon shows a bare-chested Putin holding IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by the collar of his jalabaya, looking very intimidating. He says to al-Baghdadi: \u201cWhere do you think you\u2019re going? I\u2019ll flatten you like flour,\u201d a popular Iraqi expression.<\/p>\n

Al-Baghdadi, holding a cellphone, shouts: \u201cObama, save me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the cartoons portray Putin as muscular \u2014 a perception that echoes the one at home in Russia, where he has cultivated an image as a man of action.<\/p>\n

In addition to conducting his official duties, he often is shown on Russian TV doing such activities as playing ice hockey \u2014 as he did last week on his 63rd birthday \u2014 or climbing into a submersible to explore the sea.<\/p>\n

T-shirts with his image are sold at shopping malls, souvenir stores and even from vending machines in Moscow airports. Some depict him looking tough in dark sunglasses, while others show him riding a horse to the words from a pop song: \u201cThey are not going to get us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The military intervention in Syria is viewed by many as a sign of shifting alliances in the region as Russia takes a greater role in the fight against IS.<\/p>\n

Russia has had strong ties with the Mideast for years. The fascination with Putin is driven largely by a longstanding suspicion of the West and anger about decades of U.S. intervention in the region that many say has led to more wars and sectarianism. Many hope a stronger Russia would lead to a more balanced approach.<\/p>\n

Iraq\u2019s prime minister said last month that his government also entered a joint intelligence sharing agreement with Russia, Iran and Syria, opening an operations center in the heart of Baghdad.<\/p>\n

In Egypt, Russian flags and posters of Putin\u2019s face hung across Cairo during his visit in February. At the time, the state-run Al Ahram newspaper profiled him, with photos showing Putin shirtless and holding various weapons, headlined, \u201cA hero of our times.\u201d<\/p>\n

His appeal has extended to Lebanon, where some demonstrators \u2014 Christian allies of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group \u2014 wore T-shirts bearing Putin\u2019s face at a protest Sunday calling for Lebanese presidential elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutin considers the Syrian crisis an excellent opportunity to erode America\u2019s standing in the region,\u201d said Ghassan Charbel, editor of the London-based Arabic daily newspaper Al Hayat.<\/p>\n

In a front-page editorial Monday, he warned that while Syria presents Moscow with an opportunity to exact revenge from the West, it may transform quickly into an Afghanistan-like quagmire that threatens to erode Putin\u2019s image as a \u201cczar.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the Russian airstrikes also have drawn the ire of rebels in Syria who have formed a joint operations room to fight the new foe.<\/p>\n

At a recent demonstration in the northern city of Idlib, armed rebels set fire to a Russian flag. \u201cWe will trample on your heads,\u201d read one banner, addressing the Russians.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Salama reported from Baghdad. Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus and Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT \u2014 Amid the ornate walls of Damascus\u2019 famed Omayyad Mosque, preacher Maamoun Rahmeh stood before worshippers last week, declaring Russian President Vladimir Putin a \u201cgiant and beloved leader\u201d who has \u201cdestroyed the myth of the self-aggrandizing America.\u201d Posters of Putin are popping up on cars and billboards elsewhere in parts of Syria and Iraq, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-7546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7546"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=7546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}