That was Obama, about two weeks ago (sorry, I'm too lazy to search for relevant links, right now).
And no: neither Israel nor Turkey responded to this.
Guess, they were as bamboozled as most of Obama's advisers were...
That was Obama, about two weeks ago (sorry, I'm too lazy to search for relevant links, right now).
And no: neither Israel nor Turkey responded to this.
Guess, they were as bamboozled as most of Obama's advisers were...
Must congratulate Obama again.... and withdraw my promise to Bill to continue posting videos of TOW-kills too...
Namely, the last few days, and in the wake of its failed assault on Idlib City, the JAN - reinforced by parts of Jund al-Aqsa, Ahrar ash-Sham and, supposedly, even few Daesh units - has launched an all-out attack on positions of the Syrian Revolutionary Front, Harakat Hazm, and FSyA's 5th Corps (Fursan Haq) in Idlib Province.
The SRF is - or, better said: used to be - one of biggest groups of the FSyA, but Washington was always in clinch with its boss, Ja'amal Ma'arouf. Nevertheless, and together with Hazm and Fursan, it was one of recipients (and most prolific users) of TOW ATGMs.
Why 'used to be'?
Because a combination of withdrawal of units for 're-training and re-armament', severe air strikes by the SyAAF, bribery of specific commanders, and Jihadist assaults on those that refused to defect... have overpowered the SRF and caused its near total collapse in Idlib Province. Reports are still sketchy but it seems that at least two of its battalions have defected to other insurgent- or even Jihadist groups (at least one of SRF's unit should've changed sides to the JAN), a group from Hazm too, and then the SRF HQ in Dayr Sinbol - plus most of other villages that used to be under its control (mostly W and SW from Ma'arat an-Nouman) - was/were overrun by the Jihadists too. The SRF in Idlib thus lost nearly all of its heavy weaponry, including all of MBTs and TOWs in the process. Hazm lost much of equipment too (including additional stocks of TOWs).
... to make matters worse: this happened only days after regime captured Moarek (only to loot whatever was left of that town), put Kfar Zita under a siege, and launched an assault on Kfar Nabudah and Huways, only few kilometres south of Khan Sheykhoun (third largest city/town in Syria held by insurgents).
Considering Obama's practice of ignoring his own mistakes, US president is surely going to be happy to hear that Kfar Nabl - origin of some high-profile yet quite bitter critique of his idiotically short-sighted policy in recent times - is likely to fall under the JAN control now too.
...and Bill is going to be relieved because this means there will be much less internet presence from Syrian Marxists...
...while everybody else can now say, 'I told you so, I told you so, delivering US weapons to Syrian insurgents is equal to handing these out to Jihadists'...
That way everybody can feel happy and nobody must care about core reasons for this catastrophe.
Last edited by CrowBat; 11-03-2014 at 07:27 AM.
Two points. One, we can work with Marxists. Two, my point isn't to tell anyone I told you so, my point was to avoid unnecessary bloodshed due to our ineptness in doing these things. We give enough support to prolong the conflict, but not to win it. It results in more deaths and suffering, and nothing is accomplished. It will only get worse if Clinton becomes President.
It isn't over until it over, so there is room for hope that things can change. Keep in mind that the US is only one factor in this conflict, and it clearly isn't the decisive one.
I was kidding you, Bill; the rest was not meant specifically for you.
And regarding the rest: the fight between the SRF and the JAN was provoked by money, i.e. distribution of money earned from smuggling oil from fields under insurgent and JAN control. The SRF - significant parts of which were withdrawn out of Syria for re-training and re-arming to fight the Daesh - found itself without solution but to start arresting JAN commanders that felt emboldened by minimalized SRF presence.
The JAN - apparently reinforced by parts of Ahrahr ash-Sham and definitely reinforced by all of Jund al-Aqsa - then started bribing some of SRF commanders to defect. This worked in perhaps 2-3 cases, but it didn't in others. Even so, the SRF's position was weak because so many fighters are away, and the JAN finally assaulted.
This simply shouldn't have happened:
a) The idea of withdrawing insurgents for re-training abroad is stupid, stupid, and stupid, and if nobody in the DC ever realized that this would - at least 'temporarily' - weaken insurgent position, and then cause jealousy between other groups, he/she belongs being locked somewhere and the keys thrown away...
b) I simply do not understand how nobody in the USA can understand this: the ####in' MONEY is the core issue in this war. Only well-funded groups can function and fight. Without money, no insurgency can recruit and arm - nor win, especially not against opponents like the regime (funded by Iran), Daesh (funded by whoever only van fund them), and such groups like the JAN (funded the way al-Qaida is funded, obviously in quite effective fashion then otherwise it wouldn't exist for 20+ years). And versa-vice: all sorts of extremists are flourishing there PRECISELY BECAUSE they are all WELL FUNDED. Exactly this is leaving moderates without a choice but to leave, and that's why idiots like Obama then 'can say', 'there're no moderates to find in Syria'.
No US/Saudi supported body in Syria (like the SRF is one) should lack money or have to fight for it. Until this changes, nothing is going to change there. And nothing is going to change, because insurgents will still have to fight the Jihadists and the Daesh, or between each other, instead against the regime.
Lookie here:
- The next FSyA affiliate, Dawn of Freedom Brigades, has given the JAN 72 hours to return captured areas, or it will attack.
- But the JAN can't care less. Instead, there are now reports that the JAN is massing in Sarmada, in northern Idlib, near Bab al-Hawa border crossing to Turkey. If they capture that place, they'll cut off all insurgents in northern Syria from links to Turkey.
Such reports in turn might have prompted somebody in the DC to activate his/her second, perhaps even the third brain cell, then somebody there suddenly started thinking logically - at least a little bit:
US Officials Consider Striking Another Militant Group in Syria:
Overall, all of this remains too little, too late - and too stupid....U.S. officials are weighing whether to broaden the air campaign in Syria to strike a militant group that is a rival to the Islamic State and that is poised to take over a strategically vital corridor from Turkey.
Extremists from the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra group were said Monday to be within a few miles of the Bab *al-Hawa crossing in northwestern Syria on the Turkish border, one of only two openings through which the moderate Free Syrian Army receives military and humanitarian supplies provided by the United States and other backers.
Over the weekend, rebels said Jabhat al-Nusra forces swept through towns and villages controlled by the Free Syrian Army in Idlib province, west of Aleppo. Rebel groups associated with the Free Syrian Army were routed from their main strongholds, with scores of fighters fleeing toward Turkey or defecting to join the militants, according to opposition activists.
Apart from one attack by Tomahawk missiles against an *al-Qaeda cell within Jabhat al-Nusra in late September,when the Syrian airstrikes began, U.S. and Arab warplanes have been targeting the Islamic State, a separate group that the administration has made clear is its primary target in Iraq and Syria.
...
Oh, and to add salt to the injury: half the FSyA insurgents that were sent via Turkey to join the YPG and FSyA units already fighting in Kobane - have returned to Turkey.
Reason: the YPG wouldn't let them have anything of ammo dropped by the USAF.
Is stupidity a major condition for everybody in the DC - whether civilian or military - advancing in rank and being appointed to decision-making positions, nowadays?
It seems I'll have to answer my question on my own. Namely, it's certainly so that stupidity is one of major prerequisites for becoming a pres: why listen to advisers when one knows everything better...?
Spies Warned White House: Don’t Hit Al Qaeda in Syria
This is imposing the question: why paying advisers? How about firing all of them and saving tax-payers plenty of money...?...“If the U.S. attacks Nusra without attacking Assad, all the average Syrian sees is that the U.S. is enabling, emboldening, and strengthening the Assad regime,” said Christopher Harmer, a former Navy officer and an analyst with the Institute for the Study of War, which monitors developments in Syria. “It’s not that the Syrian people love Nusra; it’s that Nusra has been in the fight against Assad, and the U.S. has looked for every excuse to stay out of the fight against Assad.”
...
Syria: Tragedy of a country in a war without end
A short review by the BBC's Jeremy Bowen; note film portions of the report were on BBC News Channel yesterday, behind the lines with the Syrian regime, which is partly cited here:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-30011154?
He ends with:The war is changing, morphing into an even more grotesque shape, but it shows no signs of ending.
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