There's a video floating around allegedly showing Shi'i celebrity militant Abu Azrael in Iraq carving the leg off the hanging burned corpse of an IS fighter with a sword. One of the most fecked up things I've seen even from this war. And these are the guys some are counting on to defeat the Islamic State?
ISIS in Iraq and Syria
- Thread starter Suli
- Start date
Centsy - if you think that's bad you should see some of the Shia militia videos from Syria in 2011/2012. They are horrific.
You mean those Shabiha dudes? I never saw any but heard tales. I thought that guy eating the soldier's heart was bad enough, and of course the beheadings (although I always found the more amateur ones more horrific than the slick ISIS productions), but this guy is slicing the guy's leg like a shwarma spit.
The heart eating guy was an FSA iirc, but yea the Shabiha guys were particularly scarring. I saw some horrific things on LiveLeak by them, when I couldn't watch, I ended up reading the accounts of people that escaped and even that was too much.
Believe me what you saw isn't even close to haw bad they are, wasn't for them no one would've got armed to fight and there wouldn't have been a FSA to begin with, plus something no one wants to admit ia Bashar freed a lot of the leaders of ISIS and FSA from his prisons in the start i.e. Zahran Aloush.
What do people in Damascus think of Zahran Alloush? And what's the wider view on Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham?
I can't answer that with complete credibility since I've not stayed in Damascus for more than 3 consecutive weeks for 3 years now since my college is outside damascus in a small village and most of my friends and even my gf are from Aleppo and Idlib, I'm guessing they aren't liked because of the constants rockets they throw at Damascus, some of my friends from Douma hates his guts tbh and say he's a thug hiding behind the revolution and I have to say everyone I know except my uncle were anti-regime, now all they want is to go back to their homes and be done with all of this.
What does this have to do with anything? This isn't the lollipop guild. The world can be a fecked up place and often times you need to look at the consequences of an action. Is the world better off without Saddam? In a vacuum sure. We don't live in a vacuum. The removal of Saddam made the entire region worse. The world is worse off right now due to the removal of Saddam.
The world isn't black and white, it isn't white hats versus black hats. Sometimes the evil asshole running things over there is better than the crazier evil assholes who are queuing up behind him to take over.
The invasion of Iraq was a giant mistake. It's a case study in how to be a dipshit. Ignore analysts. Ignore long term consequences. Don't think things through. Don't weigh pro's and con's. Just decide to act and ignore everything else. Basically, future diplomats should frame every major decision they will make against Iraq, and then do the opposite of what happened in Iraq. In every single instance.
I like the strawman regarding Kuwait and and Iran. Solid reasoning skills.
fecking hell that picture is heartbreaking.
That pic gets me every time
Whats the guy doing?
He carried the boy away (eventually).
I hate this world!
Daily Mail comments are something else
It's gonna haunt me for years I think.
Part of me curses the photographer but a bigger part says we shouldn't be spared these images.
It's not alone IS doing though. Bigger blame lies with Assad as it was him who started this whole mess of killing his own people.Whilst our govt's do nothing to stop the isis and some are even covertly aiding it
Both IS and Assad needs to be eliminated.
Maybe we should bomb these people's houses, randomly smash a few heads in the town square, and let them live in the ruins and a few tents for two-three years. Give them a small rubber boat, £1000 per person, and point out the route to Iceland. Just to try out this new economic migrant life style, you know.
The most disgraceful thing in all this is the Gulf Arab countries' refusal to take anyone in. They're more than happy to shower extremists in Iraq and Syria with weaponry, but when it comes to offering any humanitarian refuge, they vehemently shy away.
I was watching an interview on Arabic TV with a senior Kuwaiti minister who claims that they're unable to take in refugees because they wouldn't be able to afford Kuwait's expensive lifestyle and that they'd be too psychologically traumatised to contribute to society.....give me strength
Just reaffirms the joke that is the 'Arab League'. I salute the various European countries that have stretched out a helping hand for these people who's very own would have nothing to do with them.
I was watching an interview on Arabic TV with a senior Kuwaiti minister who claims that they're unable to take in refugees because they wouldn't be able to afford Kuwait's expensive lifestyle and that they'd be too psychologically traumatised to contribute to society.....give me strength
Just reaffirms the joke that is the 'Arab League'. I salute the various European countries that have stretched out a helping hand for these people who's very own would have nothing to do with them.
US voices concern over Russia military buildup in Syria
US secretary of state raises concerns about reports of Moscow's moves to boost military backing of Syrian government.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has raised US concerns about reports of "an imminent enhanced Russian military buildup" in Syria, in a phone call to his counterpart in Moscow, the US State Department said.
"The secretary made clear that if such reports were accurate, these actions could further escalate the conflict, lead to greater loss of innocent life, increase refugee flows and risk confrontation with the anti-ISIL coalition operating in Syria," the State Department said on Saturday.
Kerry spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, discussing with him the reports of Russia's ambitions to boost its military intervention in the Arab country.
The New York Times reported on Friday that Russia had sent a military advance team to Syria and was taking other steps that Washington fears may signal plans to vastly expand its military support for President Bashar al-Assad.
The paper said the moves included the recent transport of prefabricated housing units for hundreds of people to a Syrian airfield and the delivery of a portable air traffic control station there.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin was asked Friday whether Russia was taking part in military operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group in Syria.
"We are looking at various options but so far what you are talking about is not on the agenda," he said.
"To say we're ready to do this today - so far it's premature to talk about this. But we are already giving Syria quite serious help with equipment and training soldiers, with our weapons," RIA Novosti state news agency quoted Putin as saying.
It made no mention of US concerns about a possible Russian military buildup, but said the two discussed "different aspects of the situation in Syria and its environs, as well as the objectives of the fight against ISIL and other terrorist groups".
Moscow has never voiced support for moderate Syrian rebels and has referred to them as "terrorists" because of their opposition to Assad forces.
The US fears Russia's alleged military buildup in Syria would counter Syrian groups who are battling both ISIL and government troops.
US secretary of state raises concerns about reports of Moscow's moves to boost military backing of Syrian government.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has raised US concerns about reports of "an imminent enhanced Russian military buildup" in Syria, in a phone call to his counterpart in Moscow, the US State Department said.
"The secretary made clear that if such reports were accurate, these actions could further escalate the conflict, lead to greater loss of innocent life, increase refugee flows and risk confrontation with the anti-ISIL coalition operating in Syria," the State Department said on Saturday.
Kerry spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, discussing with him the reports of Russia's ambitions to boost its military intervention in the Arab country.
The New York Times reported on Friday that Russia had sent a military advance team to Syria and was taking other steps that Washington fears may signal plans to vastly expand its military support for President Bashar al-Assad.
The paper said the moves included the recent transport of prefabricated housing units for hundreds of people to a Syrian airfield and the delivery of a portable air traffic control station there.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin was asked Friday whether Russia was taking part in military operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group in Syria.
"We are looking at various options but so far what you are talking about is not on the agenda," he said.
"To say we're ready to do this today - so far it's premature to talk about this. But we are already giving Syria quite serious help with equipment and training soldiers, with our weapons," RIA Novosti state news agency quoted Putin as saying.
It made no mention of US concerns about a possible Russian military buildup, but said the two discussed "different aspects of the situation in Syria and its environs, as well as the objectives of the fight against ISIL and other terrorist groups".
Moscow has never voiced support for moderate Syrian rebels and has referred to them as "terrorists" because of their opposition to Assad forces.
The US fears Russia's alleged military buildup in Syria would counter Syrian groups who are battling both ISIL and government troops.
Russian involvement is at least concentrated in combatting the gravest threat - the ISIS presence. Its a welcome stance compared to the Gulf Arab States and the US who are more interested in arming these 'moderate' rebels who are more than happy to get in bed with ISIS.
i agree - if they weren't tied up in the ukraine (US interference) they could do even more. at least they are giving weapons to the right people
The most disgraceful thing in all this is the Gulf Arab countries' refusal to take anyone in. They're more than happy to shower extremists in Iraq and Syria with weaponry, but when it comes to offering any humanitarian refuge, they vehemently shy away.
I was watching an interview on Arabic TV with a senior Kuwaiti minister who claims that they're unable to take in refugees because they wouldn't be able to afford Kuwait's expensive lifestyle and that they'd be too psychologically traumatised to contribute to society.....give me strength
Just reaffirms the joke that is the 'Arab League'. I salute the various European countries that have stretched out a helping hand for these people who's very own would have nothing to do with them.
This.
The Gulf states have been nothing short of a bunch of wankers since this whole refugee took such proportions. They can all burn in hell in punishment to their lack of human morality.
If George Osborne is to be believed then pending UK involvement is even more welcome. He sounds like the UK are going to bomb both ISIS and the evil Assad regime. That's how creative you get four years into the war, when refugees start knocking on your door.
If the Russians hadn't held up the regime in the first place Assad would have been toppled without the civil war.
Removing Assad wouldn't have made things better, that's for sure. You'd think America would have learned by now after more than a decade of toppling Saddam and turning Iraq into a total mess.
And you think removing Assad would have seen Western style democracy, upholding of human rights and happily ever after? Just like it did when Gadaffi, Mubarak and Sadam were toppled, right? It's too simplistic to assume this because powers with varying interests would (none of them the wishes of the Syrian people) would have been jockeying to position their puppets and usually the nastiest will win, rinse and repeat.
The problem hear is tribal and different tribes find it hard enough to coexist without the added theocratic rivals that have been in existence between the Shias and the Sunnis for centuries now. Peace will never prevail in these areas unless and until they are split into autonomous city states along tribal lines. Only then will the ready made excuse of blaming this tribe, that religion or those foreigners be removed and leaders be held to account for their shortcomings.
It would've certainly saved life of half a million people and the current mess the world finds itself in. Because at the start of the uprising there wasn't any group or outside players involved in the conflict apart from the locals. It was later that the extremists group from neighboring Iraq and Lebanon waded in and now everyone is vying for power.
The most disgraceful thing in all this is the Gulf Arab countries' refusal to take anyone in. They're more than happy to shower extremists in Iraq and Syria with weaponry, but when it comes to offering any humanitarian refuge, they vehemently shy away.
I was watching an interview on Arabic TV with a senior Kuwaiti minister who claims that they're unable to take in refugees because they wouldn't be able to afford Kuwait's expensive lifestyle and that they'd be too psychologically traumatised to contribute to society.....give me strength
Just reaffirms the joke that is the 'Arab League'. I salute the various European countries that have stretched out a helping hand for these people who's very own would have nothing to do with them.
And herein lies the problem. Forget all of Europe, the Saudis and Qatar alone have a combined GDP of 1 trillion USD and a landmass almost as big as Europe but only about 30 million people between them and they could easily easily afford to take every single Syrian refugee but won't! They won't because they do not care! If muslims don't care about muslims then why is the west blamed for Islamophobia?
Also if there was some similar crisis in Africa and thousands of Christians would flee to their countries would any of the gulf states accept them in their culture and allow them to practice their faith?
I am of the belief that we should accept every single migrant that comes knocking on our door be they there for whatever reason but at the same time we should put pressure on the Arab states to do the same or if they don't want "dirty immigrants" to mess up their shiny towers then make them pay for their integration in Europe.
Has Russia learned anything from intervening in Ukraine and making a mess there?
I don't think anyone knows for sure how things eventually turn out but I do know that if the US had done what Russia and Iran have done in Syria then they would be getting pasted for holding up a vile regime against the will of most Syrians and then blamed for everything that happens afterwards. So in the spirit of equality I like to point this out every now and then just for the sake of balance in these debates.
Ukraine is absolutely different to Syria in every way possible so you cannot compare the two for the sake of this discussion.
And what is so horrible that Russia have done in Syria? Do tell.
We are talking about intervention from foreign powers in internal conflicts. When is it right to do so and when is it wrong to do so and who carries the blame when it all goes pear shaped. I think direct Russian military intervention in Ukraine and indirect support of Assad through military supply is exactly relevant and I will continue to raise it as a counter example because it is telling how changing the players in the narrative exposes the double standard by many posters in these debates.
Coalition of boots on the ground is what is needed, this has been going on for long enough and way too many unnessecary innocents died. Kids are dying and drowning every day while these sociopaths kill and rape at will...and the world is just watching.
This won't resolve itself without serious military intervention, it will only get worse.
This won't resolve itself without serious military intervention, it will only get worse.
Sponsoring and arming the "moderate" opposition is what turned this into a massacre. Assad may be a bastard but it was the western involvement that led to this horrible outcome. Just like 12 years earlier in Iraq.