Syria in 2016: an exchange on what to do

[mwe12]

Islamist and non-Islamist mainstream rebels — to the surprise of those who have derided their performance, let alone their existence — repelled the offensive at the time.

oooo, mainstream rebels like the IF/MB.

Indeed, Moscow and the Syrian regime are content to see the United States bear the lion’s share of the effort against the jihadi monster in the east, instead concentrating on mowing through the mainstream rebellion in western Syr

As they are still in a state of rebellion and attacking government targets I am not seeing what the outrage is.

Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian military aircraft that crossed its airspace in November backfired: Moscow vengefully directed its firepower on Turkey’s rebel friends across Idlib and Aleppo provinces.

Funny how that worked out.

Moscow also courted Syria’s Kurds, who found a new partner to play off the United States in their complex relations with Washington. And Russia has agreed to a temporary accommodation of Israel’s interests in southern Syria.

Israel and the "Kurds" the only two groups the public likes over there.

Inside Syria, and despite the polite wishes of Secretary of State John Kerry, the overwhelming majority of Russian strikes have hit non-Islamic State (IS) fighters.

Even the SOHR has stated Russia has killed hundreds upon hundreds of IS fighters; and it's an interesting case of academic dishonesty when he ignores the presence of AQ and other radical groups in those "non-IS fighters." He is full of crap.

he strikes killed Zahran Alloush, the commander of the main Islamist militia there.

The cage guy who was opposed to democracy and hated religious minorities.

Further north, a combination of Assad troops, Iranian Shiite militias, and Russian firepower dislodged the powerful Islamist rebel coalition Jaish Al-Fatah from Latakia province

A group which up to a few months ago included AQ as a direct member.

One perverse consequence of cutting the Azaz corridor is that it plays into the hands of the al Qaeda-affiliate Jabhat Al-Nusra, since weapons supplies from Turkey would have to go through Idlib,

A Qatari/Turkish ally who already gets support from groups there.

Idlib may well become the regime’s next target.

In which case it would be a short term perverse consequence.

The now-plausible rebel collapse in the Aleppo region could also send thousands of fighters dejected by their apparent abandonment into the arms of Nusra or IS.

Where they will be bombed in turn.

Assad all along pursued a strategy of gradual escalation and desensitization that, sadly, worked well. Syrians already compare the international outcry and response to the IS’ siege of Kobane in 2014 to the world’s indifference to the current tragedy.

In all seriousness the PKK has better PR agents in America.

An IS defeat there would seal the border with Turkey, meeting an important American objective.

Which is a good thing.

It pressured Jabhat al-Nusra to withdraw and anointed its allies in Syria, including the prominent Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham, as its enforcers.

Brackish wine in a dirty glass, just dimmed the lights.

True to its record of calculated dithering, President Barack Obama’s administration let the Turkish proposal hang until it could no longer be implemented.

A good move, why on earth we would give AQ and it's allies a NFZ?

Turkey faces now an agonizing dilemma: watch and do nothing as a storm gathers on its border, or mount a direct intervention into Syria that would inevitably inflame its own Kurdish problem and pit it against both IS and an array of Assad-allied forces, including Russia.

The storm is the barrages which are smashing its proxies and may well help the Kurds cut off the border.

In the south, the United States has demanded a decrease in weapons deliveries to the Southern Front, while in the north, the Turkey-based operations room is reportedly dormant.

Now if that money could just be spent here and not given to TOW teams to help a bunch of Islamists try and seize power.

But to do so while exposing the rebellion to the joint Assad-Russia-Iran onslaught and without contingency planning is simply nefarious.

Strategic dithering is not nefarious.

And they all assume, probably rightly, that he is more interested in the appearance of a process than in spending any political capital over it

The people who voted him into office, aren't demanding a war with Russia over this. The public wasn't on board for war when Assad allegedly gassed people and are not on board with one now.

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Another interventionist going into a rage over the fact this bad bill of goods has no buyers and trying to spin more BS in the hopes it finds a buyer.