ISIS in Iraq and Syria
- Thread starter Suli
- Start date
Ahem. :waves:
Only if there heads are buried deep inside there arse would they not know the obvious. I reckon they dont give a flying feck until bombs go off infont of there door.
Until you, the free Europe, WOULD HAVE THE BALLS to say NO to the Wahhabi oil, and stop helping the Wahhabis (those bad "Muslims") murder the Muslims who are fine with you eating pork, SHUT UP and stop talking about BALLS.
Can people please leave Stevo alone...he hasn't been back in the thread since his now infamous post.
Not sure this is the reaction he expected - but, I for one feel sorry for him.
He just wants muslims to go hard or go home...is that too much to ask?
Not sure this is the reaction he expected - but, I for one feel sorry for him.
He just wants muslims to go hard or go home...is that too much to ask?
I actually felt a bit sorry when I saw he was banned after that last post.
Well that would explain why he hasn't been back in the thread :facepalm:
Mods have a tough job - what to allow and what to pull people up for. It's a shame....he obviously let his emotions get the better of him. We've all done it
A bit harsh If Steve was banned. Yes his posts were ignorant but to be fair I think it would have been good to productively debate with him and try to rationalise his outlook instead of just mocking him and giving him the ban hammer.
Well that would explain why he hasn't been back in the thread :facepalm:
Mods have a tough job - what to allow and what to pull people up for. It's a shame....he obviously let his emotions get the better of him. We've all done it
It was a bit obvious that he was emotionally charged, what with the spelling mistakes and repeated words and sentences... No he's going to think "fecking muslamics want to ban my pork, now they got me banned from the caf"
Russian air strike hits busy market in Idlib province
At least 40 people killed, scores wounded in air attack on popular marketplace in town of Ariha, activists say.
Local news channel Ariha al-Youm reported cluster bombs were used in the raid [Ariha al-Youm]
At least 40 people were killed and scores wounded on Sunday in a suspected Russian air strike on a crowded marketplace in Idlib province, activists said.
The early morning attack occurred in the town of Ariha, 15km south of Idlib city. Local news channel Ariha al-Youm reported cluster bombs were used in the raid by a Russian fighter jet.
The pro-opposition Orient TV also reported an initial death toll of 40.
However, Rami Abdulrahman, director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, put the death toll much higher, saying at least 60 people were killed and wounded in the attack.
Officials at the Russian defence ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Russian air force has conducted air strikes in support of President Bashar al-Assad since September 30.
Ariha is located in Idlib province, which is controlled by rebel groups including the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.
The province is not a stronghold of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group that controls wide areas of eastern Syria.
The Syrian military withdrew from Ariha in May as an alliance of rebel groups - including Nusra Front - advanced in Idlib in an offensive that resulted in the entire province falling into rebel hands.
At least 40 people killed, scores wounded in air attack on popular marketplace in town of Ariha, activists say.
Local news channel Ariha al-Youm reported cluster bombs were used in the raid [Ariha al-Youm]
At least 40 people were killed and scores wounded on Sunday in a suspected Russian air strike on a crowded marketplace in Idlib province, activists said.
The early morning attack occurred in the town of Ariha, 15km south of Idlib city. Local news channel Ariha al-Youm reported cluster bombs were used in the raid by a Russian fighter jet.
The pro-opposition Orient TV also reported an initial death toll of 40.
However, Rami Abdulrahman, director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, put the death toll much higher, saying at least 60 people were killed and wounded in the attack.
Officials at the Russian defence ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Russian air force has conducted air strikes in support of President Bashar al-Assad since September 30.
Ariha is located in Idlib province, which is controlled by rebel groups including the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.
The province is not a stronghold of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group that controls wide areas of eastern Syria.
The Syrian military withdrew from Ariha in May as an alliance of rebel groups - including Nusra Front - advanced in Idlib in an offensive that resulted in the entire province falling into rebel hands.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-rubble-strewn-road-to-damascus?intcid=mod-latest
grim read. Additionally the UNHCR is chroniclly underfunded, so the refugee camps around Syria are becoming a nightmare. It is ridiculous, that the world is unable to give at least another 3bn.
grim read. Additionally the UNHCR is chroniclly underfunded, so the refugee camps around Syria are becoming a nightmare. It is ridiculous, that the world is unable to give at least another 3bn.
Yet we're all too happy to give billions to murderous regimes. It's sickening.
The U.S government alone gives 260 bn. annually in subsidies to the top 500 companies there. Those who then more than happy to pay that money in bonuses or parachute payments.
Humanity eh?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...mpts-huge-reaction-from-twitter-a6752651.html
It's not fair
and I think you're really mean
I think you're really mean
I think you're really mean
Ive yet to read a justification on why the west supports the saudis which is in sync with the freedom and democracy rhetoric that is usually peddled.
Surely anyone who rejects Saudi policies should also boycott visiting them on religious holidays as well.
I think US foreign policy has been a disaster in recent years, but I'd still go there for a holiday.
I think US foreign policy has been a disaster in recent years, but I'd still go there for a holiday.
Surely anyone who rejects Saudi policies should also boycott visiting them on religious holidays as well.
No one goes on pilgrimage to visit Saudi feckin Arabia, its just unfortunate that the despicable regime happens to harbour the most holy cities for Muslims. Pretty sure the Iranians who go there don't enjoy the constant harassment they get.
Finally, some sense from Obama:
War with Isis: President Obama demands Turkey close stretch of border with Syria
Ankara is accused of tolerance of – if not complicity with – the terrorists, who use border as a crossing point for Isis recruits and oil sales
The US is demanding that Turkey close a 60-mile stretch of its border with Syria which is the sole remaining crossing point for Isis militants, including some of those involved in the massacre in Paris and other terrorist plots.
The complete closure of the 550-mile-long border would be a serious blow to Isis, which has brought tens of thousands of Islamist volunteers across the frontier over the past three years.
The US estimates some 30,000 Turkish troops would be needed to close the border between Jarabulus on the Euphrates and the town of Kilis, further west in Turkey, according to the paper. US intelligence agencies say that the stretch of frontier most commonly used by Isis is between Jarabulus, where the official border crossing has been closed, and the town of Cobanbey.
It has become of crucial importance ever since the Syrian Kurdish forces known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG) captured the border crossing at Tal Abyad, 60 miles north of Isis’s capital of Raqqa in June. Turkey had kept that border crossing open while Isis was in control on the southern side, but immediately closed it when the YPG seized the crossing point. The Turkish authorities are refusing to allow even the bodies of YPG fighters, who are Turkish citizens and were killed fighting Isis, to be taken back across the border into Turkey.
The US move follows increasing international criticism of Turkey for what is seen as its long-term tolerance of, and possible complicity with, Isis and other extreme jihadi groups such as al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra Front, and Ahrar al-Sham. Not only have thousands of foreign fighters passed through Turkey on their way to join Isis, but crude oil from oilfields seized by Isis in north-east Syria has been transported to Turkey for sale, providing much of revenue of the self-declared Islamic State.
Last week a Turkish court jailed two prominent journalists for publishing pictures of a Turkish truck delivering ammunition to opposition fighters in Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that the weapons were destined for Turkmen paramilitaries allied to Turkey fighting in Syria, but this was denied by Turkish political leaders close to the Turkmen.
Turkey is now under heavy pressure from the US and Russia, with President Vladimir Putin directly accusing Ankara of aiding Isis and al-Qaeda. In the wake of the shooting down of a Russian aircraft by a Turkish jet, Russia is launching heavy air strikes in support of the Syrian army’s advance to control the western end of the Syrian Turkish border. The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a Russian air strike on the town of Ariha yesterday killed 18 people and wounded dozens more. Meanwhile Turkey said it had now received the body of the pilot killed when the plane was shot down and would repatriate it to Moscow.
The US demand that Turkey finally close the border west of Jarabulus could, if Turkey complies, prove more damaging to Isis than increased air strikes by the US, France and, possibly Britain. The YPG has closed half the Syrian frontier over the last year and defeated an Isis assault aimed at taking another border crossing at Kobani. Syrian Kurdish leaders say they want to advance further west from their front line on the Euphrates and link up with a Kurdish enclave at Afrin. But Turkey insists that it will resist a further YPG advance with military force. Instead, it had proposed a protected zone on the southern side of the border from which Isis would be driven by moderate Syrian opposition fighters.
The US has opposed this proposal, suspecting that the Turkish definition of moderates includes those the US is targeting as terrorists. It also appears to be a ploy to stop the YPG, heavily supported by US air power, expanding its de facto state along Turkey’s southern flank. US officials are quoted as saying that there could be “significant blowback” against Turkey by European states if it allows Isis militants to cross from Syria into Turkey and then carry out terrorist outrages in Europe.
Meanwhile in Iraq, officials said three more mass graves had been found in the northern town of Sinjar, which Kurdish forces backed by US-led air strikes recaptured from Isis earlier this month.
War with Isis: President Obama demands Turkey close stretch of border with Syria
Ankara is accused of tolerance of – if not complicity with – the terrorists, who use border as a crossing point for Isis recruits and oil sales
The US is demanding that Turkey close a 60-mile stretch of its border with Syria which is the sole remaining crossing point for Isis militants, including some of those involved in the massacre in Paris and other terrorist plots.
The complete closure of the 550-mile-long border would be a serious blow to Isis, which has brought tens of thousands of Islamist volunteers across the frontier over the past three years.
The US estimates some 30,000 Turkish troops would be needed to close the border between Jarabulus on the Euphrates and the town of Kilis, further west in Turkey, according to the paper. US intelligence agencies say that the stretch of frontier most commonly used by Isis is between Jarabulus, where the official border crossing has been closed, and the town of Cobanbey.
It has become of crucial importance ever since the Syrian Kurdish forces known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG) captured the border crossing at Tal Abyad, 60 miles north of Isis’s capital of Raqqa in June. Turkey had kept that border crossing open while Isis was in control on the southern side, but immediately closed it when the YPG seized the crossing point. The Turkish authorities are refusing to allow even the bodies of YPG fighters, who are Turkish citizens and were killed fighting Isis, to be taken back across the border into Turkey.
The US move follows increasing international criticism of Turkey for what is seen as its long-term tolerance of, and possible complicity with, Isis and other extreme jihadi groups such as al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra Front, and Ahrar al-Sham. Not only have thousands of foreign fighters passed through Turkey on their way to join Isis, but crude oil from oilfields seized by Isis in north-east Syria has been transported to Turkey for sale, providing much of revenue of the self-declared Islamic State.
Last week a Turkish court jailed two prominent journalists for publishing pictures of a Turkish truck delivering ammunition to opposition fighters in Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that the weapons were destined for Turkmen paramilitaries allied to Turkey fighting in Syria, but this was denied by Turkish political leaders close to the Turkmen.
Turkey is now under heavy pressure from the US and Russia, with President Vladimir Putin directly accusing Ankara of aiding Isis and al-Qaeda. In the wake of the shooting down of a Russian aircraft by a Turkish jet, Russia is launching heavy air strikes in support of the Syrian army’s advance to control the western end of the Syrian Turkish border. The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a Russian air strike on the town of Ariha yesterday killed 18 people and wounded dozens more. Meanwhile Turkey said it had now received the body of the pilot killed when the plane was shot down and would repatriate it to Moscow.
The US demand that Turkey finally close the border west of Jarabulus could, if Turkey complies, prove more damaging to Isis than increased air strikes by the US, France and, possibly Britain. The YPG has closed half the Syrian frontier over the last year and defeated an Isis assault aimed at taking another border crossing at Kobani. Syrian Kurdish leaders say they want to advance further west from their front line on the Euphrates and link up with a Kurdish enclave at Afrin. But Turkey insists that it will resist a further YPG advance with military force. Instead, it had proposed a protected zone on the southern side of the border from which Isis would be driven by moderate Syrian opposition fighters.
The US has opposed this proposal, suspecting that the Turkish definition of moderates includes those the US is targeting as terrorists. It also appears to be a ploy to stop the YPG, heavily supported by US air power, expanding its de facto state along Turkey’s southern flank. US officials are quoted as saying that there could be “significant blowback” against Turkey by European states if it allows Isis militants to cross from Syria into Turkey and then carry out terrorist outrages in Europe.
Meanwhile in Iraq, officials said three more mass graves had been found in the northern town of Sinjar, which Kurdish forces backed by US-led air strikes recaptured from Isis earlier this month.
You must have missed the bit about it needing 30,000 troops. Even then people and stuff would get through of course, but the IS war effort would be severely hampered.
They seem very good at stopping Kurds from crossing to collect their deceased loved ones, but are magically aloof when fleets of ISIS oil tankers come in and trucks containing weapons and jihadists go the other way. This is also a 650,000-strong army.
If this 'demand' includes closing the Kilis border then there's no way the Turks will agree to it unless they want to admit defeat in Syria. Without that crossing the Jaysh al Fatah coalition and their 'FSA' allies will probably lose Aleppo to the regime and the northern countryside to either the YPG or ISIS.
I think there's a Turkish 'buffer/safety-zone' on the way, it seems to be the last card the Turks have left to play in the north, although their supply lines to the opposition are still open in Latakia.
I think there's a Turkish 'buffer/safety-zone' on the way, it seems to be the last card the Turks have left to play in the north, although their supply lines to the opposition are still open in Latakia.
Quite agree, I was replying to the suggestion that few aircraft can seal a border, whereas of course it takes a lot of troops on the ground. Suitably placed and instructed of course!
In the interests of a bit of balance in this thread, here is the case for continuing support for Syria's moderate rebel groups:
Syria’s many moderate rebels
https://mobile.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentary/566300-syrias-many-moderate-rebels
Includes a breakdown of the non-al Qaeda groups.
Syria’s many moderate rebels
https://mobile.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentary/566300-syrias-many-moderate-rebels
Includes a breakdown of the non-al Qaeda groups.
Brown's mine, all mine....I'll do you proud, I promise.
'The concern is that many rebels fight alongside Jabhat al-Nusra, Al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, which has tried to wind itself into the insurgency to protect its long-term goal of securing a launching pad for global jihad. Most of the rebel groups in tacit alliance with Nusra, however, could be broken away if they had an alternative, reliable supply of resources.'
The most worrying bit of the article.
That basically boils down to: 'There's a vast number of al-Qaida affiliated groups that I'm not counting because I'm sure if we give them weapons they'd be SOOOO grateful they'd instantly turn their back on al-Qaida'
Ridiculous logic and throws the credibility of the article under the bus.
Yeah I tend to agree. He has a point though with regards to the Kurds and their inability to conquer 'Arab' parts of the country from ISIS. It begs the question which I've yet to see answered satisfactorily by an Assad-supporter - who, realistically, is going to be able to conquer and hold territory from ISIS and Nusra? The Kurds can't do it and they wisely don't want to except along the northern corridor (where I think they'll face difficulties anyway). Does anyone think the people in these regions are going to welcome the arrival of Hezbollah, Iranian and SAA troops? Some might, but the majority I have my doubts. That leaves 'the rebels'.
No easy answers here.
"separable" "potential" "powerbroker".
You would think people who write such articles would be too ashamed of themselves now to write more of the same bullsh*t. Clearly there are many holes in his article, but probably the biggest of all is "credibility". Who the hell says that information is even accurate. I'd like to see him write an article about the situation in Syria in 2012. Remember this?
That looks so long ago now that we all forgot what was said about the conflict, 3 years ago.
The thing is most of these articles are just written by unknowns, so when it becomes totally clear that he's totally talking bullsh*t here (in a year or two) he can just hide again, and then another idiot emerges with "new" analysis.
There are many questions of course even the ignorant would ask, like: "ok, assume that these "moderate groups" exist, and with the description you gave, and assume that they will separate themselves from Al-Qeada when the regime is toppled, who guarantees that they will be able to defeat Al-Qaeda and lead the political scene then? If they're so weak now that they can't survive without Al-Qaeda, you think they will suddenly be able to "defeat" Al-Qaeda, that simply if Assad is toppled? Did you see what happened to the Jamal Maarouf group and all of its money, weapons and hype, when they had a little problem with Al-Nusra (which you don't even know how big it is, but conveniently will suddenly disappear when Assad is toppled
)?The second clear (and huge) flaw in his analysis is that all the "moderate groups" are heavily infiltrated by Al-Qaeda, even at their leadership positions. Here is what an ISIS defector had to say about that:
http://uk.businessinsider.com/isis-...-trying-to-co-opt-moderates-2015-11?r=US&IR=T
Only an idiot would think these groups (if those "moderate groups" even exist) would have a chance at surviving without the extremist branches. They're just being used at the moment as a cover to provide Al-Qaeda with weapons by countries who are publicly opposed to Al-Qaeda, while everybody knows (I'm betting even the writer of this article) that it's the extremist groups who is doing most of the fighting right now, and will be the ones that will seize power if Assad is toppled.
Besides, if those "moderate" fractions are so moderate and nice, why don't they unite now in one group? Wouldn't be easier to unite them now, while they're facing a "common enemy"? If you can't unite them now, you think you can unite them when the regime is toppled? What kind of stupidity is that?
I could go on and on about the nonsense of this article, but there is no point really. They know what they're doing and they've already had the nerves to write the same nonsense about Bin Laden, Iraq's WMDs and Libya's rosy road towards democracy, before we all saw what happened a few years later. I'll tell you what will happen next (with no psychic powers) if things go according to plan. They'll just keep spouting this bullsh*t until the regime is toppled, and then Al-Qaeda takes over, and then comes the "Oh sh*t we fecked up again, sorry, we didn't know Al-Qaeda will take over, let's go in and liberate Syria!".
@Kaos @Danny1982 @TeamAssad, what does a regime victory look like? What's Assad's endgame here, and how does he achieve it?
I'm far from team Assad, im team Kurd if anything, I just prefer for Assad to win this war since I don't want a hypothetical Kurdish autonomous zone to be bordered by Islamists (it's bad enough that we have a hostile Turkish state to the north)
If it were up to me, in an ideal world Syria remains a secular state with or without Assad. Though the more realistic scenario would be to offer an independently regulated referendum asking Syrians whether they'd like in a secular state which protects minority rates or an Islamic state, and devolve accordingly.
Though even that's unlikely, so my other hope is that ISIS, Al Nusra and other radical Islamist groups are defeated and what's followed are discussions amongst the government and reasonable opposition groups, perhaps with Assad making way.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/iraq-war-isis-michael-flynn_565c83a9e4b079b2818af89c
Former Military Chief: Iraq War Was A 'Failure' That Helped Create ISIS
"We strategically marched in the wrong direction."
but then we knew this.
Former Military Chief: Iraq War Was A 'Failure' That Helped Create ISIS
"We strategically marched in the wrong direction."
but then we knew this.
https://news.vice.com/article/syrias-newest-rebel-army-has-its-sights-on-the-islamic-state
first time I read anything about this resistance in west syria against ISIS. Does anyone now more about this?
first time I read anything about this resistance in west syria against ISIS. Does anyone now more about this?
DOD official: Saudis haven't flown one mission against ISIS in 3 months, Jordan 4 months, UAE 9 months.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/30/obama-anti-isis-coalition-crumbles-as-arab-allies-/
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/30/obama-anti-isis-coalition-crumbles-as-arab-allies-/
They're probably too busy bombing wedding parties in the Yemen.DOD official: Saudis haven't flown one mission against ISIS in 3 months, Jordan 4 months, UAE 9 months.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/30/obama-anti-isis-coalition-crumbles-as-arab-allies-/
Yep. Certainly not slacking on the Yemen front.
The Jordanians on the other hand - purely disgraceful. They burnt their pilot alive and the midget king barks a little and goes back to being a useless waste of space.
That's basically what the article says - the Gulf countries made a strategic decision, dealing with Yemen was more important...not ISIS (wonder why
)