Syria in 2017 (January-April)

[OUTLAW 09]

Hardline clerics are piling pressure on Ahrar al-Sham to merge with JFS & others - leaking internal advocates & publicly calling for unity:

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
I'm told by Ahrar al-Sham insiders that opponents of a JFS merger are being threatened w their lives unless they change their position.

According to one of those [leadership] sources, JFS is actively trying to "force" the merger, but "it still won't happen."

An apparent US drone strike killed several senior JFS/AQ figures in #Idlib today, inc. Abu Omar al-Turkistani; a lead figure in unity talks.

SO is the US actively trying to derail any unity talks??????

[OUTLAW 09]

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
The last two major speeches from #IS leaders have singled #Turkey out as the primary target because of Ankara's war against #IS.

When #IS's caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, last spoke, on 2 NOV 2016, he said #Turkey was a "priority for your jihad"
https://goo.gl/fLC5UN

[OUTLAW 09]

Foreign Policy ‏@ForeignPolicy
The arc of history is long, but it won't ever judge Obama's Syria policy kindly.
http://atfp.co/2hBkW0w

ISW ‏@TheStudyofWar Jan 1
US interests in #Syria include preventing expansion of Iranian/Russian sphere of influence -

Syria #Assad's SyriaTel Mobile communications back in eastern #Aleppo & #Raqqa after 3 years

[OUTLAW 09]

Hacking warning......
How smartphones can be turned into spying devices with a simple app available on the net.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-d...vie-g9r5s7rgn#

[OUTLAW 09]

Woman killed, 3 civilians including a child injured, in #Russian air strikes on #KhanShaykhun, #Idlib province.

[OUTLAW 09]

What the heck is this........Egypt now out of control..???????

Egyptian anchor non-sarcastically announces a US-UK-Iran-Turkey-ISIS-Hezbollah-Hamas-JS conspiracy vs Egypt security

[CrowBat]

An apparent US drone strike killed several senior JFS/AQ figures in #Idlib today, inc. Abu Omar al-Turkistani; a lead figure in unity talks.

SO is the US actively trying to derail any unity talks??????

If so, it's the first sane US decision related to Syria since...

...hm...since King-Crane Commission's findings of 1919...?

(EDIT: <= filles a memorandum to remind himself of the story that 'even' a broken watch is showing correct time twice a day....)