Al-Qaeda factions, mostly al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and Jabhat al-Nusra, have taken over a growing number towns across Aleppo and Latakia Province, shoring up their control over the north and northwest of Syria.
Increasingly, the factions are carving out a sphere of influence in which secular rebels have limited control, and the Syrian military is more or less entirely ousted. But their battles aren’t going well everywhere.
Over the weekend, the al-Qaeda factions lost 19 separate towns across West Kurdistan, the northeastern portion of Syria, and the historically Kurdish region is now largely under the control of Kurdish militias.
Between those territories and the Syrian government’s stronghold around Damascus, the nation is increasingly split into three, with a lot of disputed territory in the middle of the country still being contested militarily, but the prospect of a sweeping victory by anyone remote, at best. Instead, the war is boiling down to a stalemate.
So, now. Who are we supporting in this? Kurds have two organizations. One of them made up of foreigners that is part of western-supported "coalition", while the other is in Syria, and they are the ones that liberated their towns and villages of Al-Qaeda — and they want to remain autonomy in Syria. Thus, the "coalition" does not interest them. Next we have Al-Qaeda, which in reallity are various Salafi groups collected from accross the Salafi supporters from everywhere, Bosnia, Kosovo, Salafis in Serbia, Libya, Caucases, and of course, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Gulf states. All funded and recruited by Saudi-sponsored Salafis. Then we have the Syrian government. There is no territory held by Free Syrian Army. Most Syrians, over 90% support government. The rest are divided into Syrian Salafis — mostly former refugees from Iraq — and Free Syrian Army, army defectors that are Salafis by religious orientation. So are we supporting Al-Qaeda, that is, Salafi head-choppers, and baby killers? Is that what it boils down to?
Well that's not entirely accurate. The Syrian Army has been gaining ground in the Aleppo province, especially in Safira and the surrounding areas. The regions where the article says Al-Qaeda or affiliate groups are exerting control are regions where the fighting is between those groups and other "rebel" groups.
Al Qaeda factions are NOT gaining ground in Aleppo and all their attempted infiltration into Latakia has ended with them massacred by the Syrian military and pro-government militias. It's also a mistake to call this war a civil war. The American Civil war was a civil war. This is an imposed war on the Syrian nation, fomented and supported by a bunch of foreign countries led by the US. A large number of the most effective insurgent fighters is of foreign origin. It's not easy to quickly win such a war. The US, the bumbling "superpower", has been unable do win against a few goat herders in Afghanistan.
But if one stays away from the MSM propaganda, and looks up other sources, one can clearly see the Syrian government is slowly but consistently winning the war against the terrorists.
Guerilla 101 teaches that irregular forces don't hold ground because the superior fire power of the regular forces means that the irregular forces are slaughtered. I'm all for Al Qaeda in Iraq and Jabhat al-Nusra holding or at least trying to hold as much ground as possible.