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Fearing more Israeli strikes, government-affiliated factions operating in south Syria transported much of their heavy materiel to Damascus, according to two commanders, while the foreign ministry complained in a statement that last week’s raids were “a deliberate attempt to destabilize Syria and exacerbate the suffering of its people.”

That, of course, was not universally true; Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, a heavy industry magnate whose famous firm produced the bulk of German war materiél during World War I, was an enthusiastic Hitler backer well before the 1933 breakthrough, making large financial contributions to the party and distributing copies of "Mein Kampf" among his workers.

On 13 March, Russia said the situation in Kursk was "fully under our control" and that Ukraine had "abandoned" much of its materiel.

Abu Anwar, a 30-year-old official with the new government, came with a team of rebels to inspect the site for materiel.

“It is because Russia is failing to achieve significant results on the battlefield that it resorts to drawing more manpower and drawing more materiel and kit from its allies,” Orysia Lutsevych, head of the Ukraine forum at the British think tank Chatham House, told a webinar put on by the organization.