President Assad isn't playing around with this mess. Raqqa is the stronghold to ISIL. It seems as though the militants are receiving battlefield losses from both sides, the USA and Kurds and the Syrian Air Force.
August 18, 2014
There are reports of ISIL's growth. There are many reasons for that, but, the most important is probably intimidation. Live and fight or die if you don't.
The Lebanese Military has been engaged as well. I don't think the USA media has been forthcoming with the truth regarding the struggles in the Middle East. The American media is dangerously close to being nothing but talking heads as are the generals they so heavily rely on.
The USA has made a lot of investment over decades with these nations. That doesn't disappear because the USA does not have 'boots on the ground.' Each of these countries have to claim a sovereign authority to secure their borders. Lebanon is okay and Jordan is doing exceptionally well.
August 20, 2014
By Samya Kullab
BEIRUT: Negotiators (click here) working to gain the release of Lebanese soldiers captured by militants said Tuesday that the matter required decisiveness on the part of the government, as Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi reassured relatives of the troops soldiers that securing their return was of utmost importance to the military. The Army chief met with the families of soldiers captured by Islamist militants, telling them that “the case of the missing soldiers is the main priority of the Army’s leadership,” and would remain at the forefront of its concerns until their members were safely returned to their families....
...The militants, part of both the Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), are still holding 19 soldiers and 14 members of the Internal Security Forces, but released six policemen a, sign of goodwill to encourage negotiations after the clashes ended....
The Nusra Front is not new. ISIS/L is finding it beneficial to join with longer lived militants. ISIL is a near relative to Nursa Front. Both grew out of al Qaeda in Iraq. Nusra in 2011 and ISIL in 2014. One has to wonder why the schism in the two.
Nusra has been exceptionally successful in finding funding, both from donors and other organizations such as al Qaeda. So, ISIL while wealthy with American military hardware needs leadership to find it's footing in maintaining it's supply of munitions as the USA bombers are destroying their current stock.
Nusra isn't considered a radical organization by most of the rebel groups and even the Syrian people in many instances. Even the so called Free Syrian Army recognized Nusra Front as an ally. They didn't like it when it was named as a terrorist organization. A lot of the Middle East is based in religion ORDER and not constitutional authority, so groups like Nusra actually are respected because they conduct their business/authority within the paradigm of reverent to religious dictates.
Basically, the region is looking at a consolidation of three separate rebel organizations, however, they will continue to maintain their own leadership. Everyone thinks of a fighting force as a UNIT under the command of a distinct leader with sovereign authority within a nation's constitutional law. That is not the reality in the Middle East. Dare I say, these organizations are more like warring tribes indicative of the region from long ago. The current unrest is more or less a return to smaller ethnic/religious groups than having the ability to form a government although ISIL has it's hopes.
August 29, 2014
August 18, 2014
BEIRUT: Syrian war planes bombed (click here) positions belonging to the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) in the northern province of Raqqa for a second day Monday, an activist group said.
Regime planes killed 31 jihadists and eight civilians Sunday in an unprecedented wave of aerial bombardment against the group in its Raqqa bastion.
The bombing continued Monday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, with at least 14 raids against jihadist positions.
There was no immediate death toll in the renewed bombing.
Three raids targeted the area around the town of Tabqa in western Raqqa and four hit near the Tabqa military airport, the only remaining regime-held position in the province.
The other seven strikes hit sites inside Raqqa city, the provincial capital...
The Lebanese Military has been engaged as well. I don't think the USA media has been forthcoming with the truth regarding the struggles in the Middle East. The American media is dangerously close to being nothing but talking heads as are the generals they so heavily rely on.
The USA has made a lot of investment over decades with these nations. That doesn't disappear because the USA does not have 'boots on the ground.' Each of these countries have to claim a sovereign authority to secure their borders. Lebanon is okay and Jordan is doing exceptionally well.
August 20, 2014
By Samya Kullab
BEIRUT: Negotiators (click here) working to gain the release of Lebanese soldiers captured by militants said Tuesday that the matter required decisiveness on the part of the government, as Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi reassured relatives of the troops soldiers that securing their return was of utmost importance to the military. The Army chief met with the families of soldiers captured by Islamist militants, telling them that “the case of the missing soldiers is the main priority of the Army’s leadership,” and would remain at the forefront of its concerns until their members were safely returned to their families....
...The militants, part of both the Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), are still holding 19 soldiers and 14 members of the Internal Security Forces, but released six policemen a, sign of goodwill to encourage negotiations after the clashes ended....
The Nusra Front is not new. ISIS/L is finding it beneficial to join with longer lived militants. ISIL is a near relative to Nursa Front. Both grew out of al Qaeda in Iraq. Nusra in 2011 and ISIL in 2014. One has to wonder why the schism in the two.
Nusra has been exceptionally successful in finding funding, both from donors and other organizations such as al Qaeda. So, ISIL while wealthy with American military hardware needs leadership to find it's footing in maintaining it's supply of munitions as the USA bombers are destroying their current stock.
Nusra isn't considered a radical organization by most of the rebel groups and even the Syrian people in many instances. Even the so called Free Syrian Army recognized Nusra Front as an ally. They didn't like it when it was named as a terrorist organization. A lot of the Middle East is based in religion ORDER and not constitutional authority, so groups like Nusra actually are respected because they conduct their business/authority within the paradigm of reverent to religious dictates.
Basically, the region is looking at a consolidation of three separate rebel organizations, however, they will continue to maintain their own leadership. Everyone thinks of a fighting force as a UNIT under the command of a distinct leader with sovereign authority within a nation's constitutional law. That is not the reality in the Middle East. Dare I say, these organizations are more like warring tribes indicative of the region from long ago. The current unrest is more or less a return to smaller ethnic/religious groups than having the ability to form a government although ISIL has it's hopes.
August 29, 2014
AMMAN — The border guards (click here) killed at dawn Tuesday one of two armed persons who attempted to illegally cross the border from Syria and exchanged fire with the soldiers, the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) said in a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.
The other was arrested, the army said.
A total of 833 Syrian refugees crossed the border into Jordan during the past 72 hours, according to the JAF official source, as quoted by Petra.
Several infiltration incidents and ensuing clashes have been reported on the northern border over the past few months.
The army killed another infiltrator last week. The man, who crossed into Jordan last Wednesday, refused to surrender to a border guard unit, forcing its members to open fire in line with the rules of engagement, the army announced a day later....
The idea that the Middle East mostly freelances leadership based in ethnic and religious affiliations makes it completely understandable why nation building doesn't work. Nation building as carried out by the USA relies on USA power and money, as soon as that ends there is no brick and mortar to continue it's existence and the region breaks down again into nations of people rather than defensible borders of countries.
To understand the Middle East without the oppression of figure head rulers created by the USA for the purpose of nation building is to understand why the fighting never ends. There is no loyalty to any country or flag so much as a loyalty of survival. And in order to last inside an organization one has to be very loyal.
So, in Baghdad there is now a new Prime Minister mentored by the USA to lead as a nation with distinct borders. So, for now, here we go again. The latest war lord is always the most popular and powerful until the followers become disgruntled and underpaid.
While the USA is seeking to end the use of it's own military hardware which endangers many lives, as if it never did while it had 'boots on the ground,' the people aren't really filling with nationalism to praise the new Prime Minister and rally to his side in the way of a unified fighting force. I think it is still primarily the Kurds that needed help in defeating the 'faux' American sponsored ISIL ruling military organization.
The idea that the Middle East mostly freelances leadership based in ethnic and religious affiliations makes it completely understandable why nation building doesn't work. Nation building as carried out by the USA relies on USA power and money, as soon as that ends there is no brick and mortar to continue it's existence and the region breaks down again into nations of people rather than defensible borders of countries.
To understand the Middle East without the oppression of figure head rulers created by the USA for the purpose of nation building is to understand why the fighting never ends. There is no loyalty to any country or flag so much as a loyalty of survival. And in order to last inside an organization one has to be very loyal.
So, in Baghdad there is now a new Prime Minister mentored by the USA to lead as a nation with distinct borders. So, for now, here we go again. The latest war lord is always the most popular and powerful until the followers become disgruntled and underpaid.
While the USA is seeking to end the use of it's own military hardware which endangers many lives, as if it never did while it had 'boots on the ground,' the people aren't really filling with nationalism to praise the new Prime Minister and rally to his side in the way of a unified fighting force. I think it is still primarily the Kurds that needed help in defeating the 'faux' American sponsored ISIL ruling military organization.
