Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria: update
Jabhat al-Nusra's Benefactor(s) ?
Tying into the preceding post, from the Guardian, Free Syrian Army rebels defect to Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra - The well-resourced organisation, which is linked to al-Qaida, is luring many anti-Assad fighters away, say brigade commanders (Mona Mahmood and Ian Black, The Guardian, 8 May 2013):
Quote:
Syria's main armed opposition group, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), is losing fighters and capabilities to Jabhat al-Nusra, an Islamist organisation with links to al-Qaida that is emerging as the best-equipped, financed and motivated force fighting Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Evidence of the growing strength of al-Nusra, gathered from Guardian interviews with FSA commanders across Syria, underlines the dilemma for the US, Britain and other governments as they ponder the question of arming anti-Assad rebels.
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Illustrating their plight, FSA commanders say that entire units have gone over to al-Nusra while others have lost a quarter or more of their strength to them recently.
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Abu Ahmed and others say the FSA has lost fighters to al-Nusra in Aleppo, Hama, Idlib and Deir al-Zor and the Damascus region. Ala'a al-Basha, commander of the Sayyida Aisha brigade, warned the FSA chief of staff, General Salim Idriss, about the issue last month. Basha said 3,000 FSA men have joined al-Nusra in the last few months, mainly because of a lack of weapons and ammunition. ...
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The FSA's Ahrar al-Shimal brigade joined al-Nusra en masse while the Sufiyan al-Thawri brigade in Idlib lost 65 of its fighters to al-Nusra a few months ago for lack of weapons. According to one estimate the FSA has lost a quarter of all its fighters.
Al-Nusra has members serving undercover with FSA units so they can spot potential recruits, according to Abu Hassan of the FSA's al-Tawhid Lions brigade.
The above suggests that JaN would do well in an election among the anti-Assad fighters.
Besides having a presently appealing message and a good "ground game" (using American political jargon), JaN also appears to be well financed:
Quote:
"If you join al-Nusra, there is always a gun for you but many of the FSA brigades can't even provide bullets for their fighters," complained Abu Tamim, an FSA man who joined Jabhat al-Nusra in Idlib province. "My nephew is in Egypt, he wants to come to Syria to fight but he doesn't have enough money. Al-Nusra told him: 'Come and we will even pay your flight tickets.' He is coming to fight with al-Nusra because he does not have any other way."
Jabhat al-Nusra is winning support in Deir al-Zor, according to Abu Hudaifa, another FSA defector. "They are protecting people and helping them financially. Al-Nusra is in control of most of the oil wells in the city." The Jabhat al-Nusra media, with songs about jihad and martyrdom, is extremely influential.
Abu Zeid used to command the FSA's Syria Mujahideen brigade in the Damascus region and led all its 420 fighters to al-Nusra. "Since we joined I and my men are getting everything we need to keep us fighting to liberate Syria and to cover our families' expenses, though fighting with al-Nusra is governed by very strict rules issued by the operations command or foreign fighters," he said. "There is no freedom at all but you do get everything you want.
Has anyone looked into the source(s) of JaN's funding ?
Regards
Mike
S-300s to Syria...with Russki crews
That is what Jamestown is reporting today. Also reporting that is something called ynet out of Israel though they didn't mention Russian crews.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...380773,00.html
Boy are things going to get interesting if they actually do that.
Evidence to support the assertion
Quote:
Originally Posted by
carl
Bill Moore:
I can't think of a conflict that gets to a point where people kill each other that doesn't involve strong hatred, so I don't see where that has anything much to do with it.
As far as the dreaded nation building goes, that is only part of a good small war fight. The way we do things of course often has next to nothing to do with good practices. Ultimately you have to win over the population, or at least get them stand aside from the fight to the extent they don't support passively or actively the opposition. If you don't do that the only alternative is to get beat or do it the Syrian gov way.
Where do you get this information that a good small wars fight involves certain good practices? What are you basing your information on? Galula's book is hugely flawed, carl, there are huge problems with it and the situation he described didn't exist in Iraq or in Afghanistan.
It doesn't mean that tactically we can't learn things from it but it has to be put in context and matched up with other things.
Seriously, hard evidence? Sorry to be such a jerk but I can't understand this largely male fantasy. It's like male chick lit.