Syria’s uncontainable threat
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...14b_story.html
A discussion in Damascus
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“We are not just fighting Assad,” says one man. “We are fighting Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.” Accurate. “The Western countries,” adds another, “are just waiting around.” True enough. Their sympathies are with the more moderate Free Syrian Army, but the radical Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra “gives us food and assistance.” It is clear who has more resources.
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From a U.S. perspective, this disaster is not just humanitarian but strategic. A Somalia-like future for Syria would be an uncontainable regional and global threat. Lebanon is already being overwhelmed, with one out of four people now a Syrian refugee, adding tension to a combustible sectarian mix. In Jordan, the influx has left public services near the breaking point. Jordanian border guards routinely intercept automatic weapons, hand grenades and bombs with remote detonators coming out of Syria. “Some are headed to sleeper cells in Jordan,” a Jordanian general told me, and “others are in transit to other countries.”
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This has led some to propose a radical option: Tacitly concede defeat, accept that Assad is ascendant and engage him in a counterterrorism strategy. But that would not only reward mass atrocities, it would also be the acceptance of Russian and Iranian strategic dominance in the Middle East and the betrayal of our current friends. And it would reward mass atrocities.
More in this opinion piece, and IMO if there was ever a wicked problem with no good solutions this is it.
Islamists kill AQ's envoy in Syria
Twitter is alive with confirmed reports that Abu Khaled al-Suri, senior Al-Qaeda & co-founder of Ahrar al-Sham, was killed today in Aleppo, in a suicide attack on his HQ - possibly by another Islamist faction ISIS.
Background brief:http://www.longwarjournal.org/archiv...chief_repr.php