166: Chapter 166 Trying to shirk responsibility

Seeing such a battle report, Major General Zaha felt a sharp pang of pain in his heart. He only had 15 mechanized infantry brigades in total, and in less than a month, he had already lost more than one. How long could Major General Zaha endure such a rate of loss?

At the same time, the loss of weapons and equipment was also significant. All the anti-aircraft missiles of two anti-aircraft battalions were lost, and other anti-aircraft battalions also suffered some losses. More than 50 "Fierce Rhino" series Tanks were lost, over 120 "Fierce Tiger" series Armored Vehicles were lost, more than 20 "Fierce Lion" series Artillery were lost, and 15 "Tianlong" Series UAVs were lost.

Nearly two mechanized infantry brigades' worth of armored vehicles had already been lost. Such losses could not be described as small. If one added the previously lost armored vehicles, it had practically reduced Major General Zaha's total inventory of armored vehicles by one-eighth.

Then there was the consumption of various types of ammunition. In Mayadin alone, over 12,000 rounds of various artillery shells were consumed, more than 500 various anti-aircraft missiles were used, and over 600 anti-tank missiles were expended. A large amount of various small arms ammunition was also consumed.

At this rate of consumption, Major General Zaha dared not calculate how long the ammunition on hand could sustain the army. After all, they were currently mainly fighting against the Opposition Armed Forces and had not yet attacked the military bases of the USA.

If they were to attack the military bases of the USA, the ammunition consumption would at least triple, and as time went on, the ammunition consumption would continue to increase.

Major General Zaha couldn't help but want to find an arms dealer to procure ammunition right now, but there were still a mountain of things to deal with, and he had no way to think about procuring arms.

The seven mechanized infantry brigades in Mayadin had completely taken control of the local situation and began mopping up the fleeing Opposition Armed Forces. At the same time, they began to build defensive lines in the northern region of Mayadin to avoid being ambushed again by the USA or the Opposition Armed Forces.

After consideration, Major General Zaha decided to draw personnel from the reserve mechanized infantry brigades to replenish the various mechanized infantry brigades, so as to achieve full strength in preparation for the upcoming battles. Some armored vehicles were also replenished to the various mechanized infantry brigades to fill the losses from the previous battles.

The entire Syrian army in Mayadin and the northern region of Syria began to work intensely on various tasks, seeking to complete their rest and reorganization as quickly as possible and throw themselves into new battles.

Major General Zaha reported the combat situation of this period to General Faraj. General Faraj was quite satisfied with the results achieved. After all, they had eliminated nearly 30,000 Opposition Armed Forces and over 800 USA troops, and recaptured many towns in northern Syria.

Such results could be considered the greatest achievement for Syria in recent years. Previously, it was mostly the Syrian army that suffered heavy losses, but now it was the Opposition Armed Forces and the USA troops that were suffering heavy losses.

However, seeing the casualty situation of Major General Zaha's army, General Faraj's eyes twitched. The casualties were indeed quite high, exceeding 15,000, with more than 5,000 killed in action. For the Syrian army, which did not have a particularly large force to begin with, this was a very high casualty figure.

The consumption of weapons and ammunition also kept General Faraj awake at night. The loss of armored vehicles equivalent to nearly two mechanized infantry brigades and the consumption of various ammunition had already accounted for 8% of the ammunition prepared by Syria and 5% of its armored vehicles.

This was only the first round of the offensive launched in the northeastern region of Syria. There would be several more rounds of offensives before they could completely drive out the USA, and the losses caused by that would be even greater. There were no large-scale battles in other directions yet, but if Turkey and Israel, under pressure from the USA, also joined the battle, Syria's losses would skyrocket.

General Faraj had prepared 8,000 armored vehicles, 400,000 artillery shells, 500 UAVs, as well as a considerable number of anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles for this war. However, these weapons and equipment seemed far from enough.

Whether to use the funds Syria had deposited with arms dealers to replenish weapons and equipment, General Faraj considered for a while and decided to wait until Major General Zaha completed the second round of the offensive before deciding.

If the offensive went smoothly, the next step would be to face the military bases of the USA directly. By then, they would need to reserve more weapons and ammunition to avoid a counterattack from the USA with reinforced troops.

On one hand, General Faraj ordered Major General Zaha to complete the rest and reorganization as soon as possible and prepare to launch the second round of the offensive; on the other hand, he ordered the Syrian army in all other directions to continue to make defensive preparations and resolutely repel any enemy troops that dared to invade.

Major General Zaha had long anticipated General Faraj's order. He continued to follow his own plan, urging each mechanized infantry brigade to complete their rest and reorganization in a timely manner and to strengthen vigilance so as not to let the USA and the Opposition Armed Forces take advantage of any opportunities.

After Colonel Wall returned to the Hera Joint Military Base, he was immediately taken away to be questioned, and subsequently directly relieved of his duties. After all, with such huge losses, someone needed to be the scapegoat. Colonel Wall was a suitable scapegoat.

The air wing commanded by Major General Hunter also lost quite a few fighter jets, but Lieutenant General Green did not yet have the authority to move against Major General Hunter. Only the Central Theater Command had the authority to investigate Major General Hunter.

Colonel Wall felt very aggrieved; he was only executing the orders of Lieutenant General Green. Although such huge losses occurred during the execution of the mission, one could not put all the responsibility on his own head.

But Lieutenant General Green currently had no energy to deal with Colonel Wall's grievances; he himself was in considerable trouble as well. The USA garrison had suffered great losses in this battle, unlike the losses at the Raqqa Military Base before, which were still within Lieutenant General Green's control.

The US Central Command would definitely intervene and investigate, and even the high-level military of the USA would send people to investigate. Lieutenant General Green needed to be prepared to try his best to shirk his own responsibility. Although it was highly likely that he would not continue to serve as the commander of the USA forces in Syria, he could still hold an important position if transferred to another place.

But this would require Lieutenant General Green to figure out how to shirk the majority of his responsibility for such a result to be possible. Otherwise, if he was determined to have significant responsibility, Lieutenant General Green could directly retire from the military and go home to live out his retirement, or even possibly face a military tribunal.

The direction for Lieutenant General Green to shirk responsibility was, one, the intelligence department's failure in reconnaissance, as they unexpectedly failed to scout out the strength and weapons and equipment of the Syrian army in Mayadin clearly and grasp detailed intelligence; and the other was that Colonel Wall and Major General Hunter had improprieties in their specific command and failed to make the best decisions in a timely manner, which caused such huge losses.

In order to reduce losses, Lieutenant General Green had already dispatched two reinforcement units to provide support, but the losses still occurred; naturally, the responsibility did not lie with Lieutenant General Green.