Syria’s largest Kurdish militia, the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), have announced they are joining a new rebel faction, initially dubbed the “Syrian Arab Coalition,” but subsequently renamed to the Democratic Forces now that they are dominated by a Kurdish faction.
The faction includes a handful of smaller Arab tribal militias, along with an Assyrian Christian faction. The group is said to be made up of about 3,200 fighters overall, though this is likely primarily the YPG itself, who controls significant territory in the Hasakeh Province.
Ironically, the YPG’s main city, Hasakeh, is co-defended by it and the Syrian government, so its ties to the rebellion in general are unclear. The promise of a massive influx of US weapons into this new faction, however, likely was sufficient to get them on board.
US military officials were quoted saying they were going to provide “fresh weapons” to the new faction, and get them to attack Raqqa, the capital of the ISIS caliphate. The rebels have expressed confidence that they could capture the city in “less than two months” if given enough weaponry, though most US efforts to arm rebels have ended up with ISIS coming out even stronger at the end, and with a bunch of new US-made weapons.
Now just how in the hell are they going to do this if they don't want to work with Russia? Seriously they will have to co-ordinate this with them or all hell is going to break loose.
Putin is waging his own privare war, which has nothing to do with ISIS. He's trying to hang on to his precious (but militarily useless) naval base. That means propping up Assad and nothing else. "Working with" Putin thus serves no useful purpose. All that needs to be done is to avoid plane crashes, although given the Russian military's well-established reputation for incompetence, there will sooner pr later be crashes, co-ordination or not.
Is there a button to shut this Michael Kenny up? His ignorance and/or hasbara are very annoying.
Ignorance isn't against the rules, any more than "hasbara" is anything you find annoying.
Right, he is fighting the other Islamic terrorists whom the U.S. are in bed with. Propping up Assad? He was actually elected overwhelmingly by the Syrian people who would rather have him as a leader than the head choppers propped up by Obama.
From what I understand, they YPG is aligned with Assad's government as well.
The Kurds, who were already fighting ISIS, were made an offer they couldn't refuse: Take the weapons and continue on to Damascus or become decoy targets for Turkey's fake campaign against ISIS.
As long as the Syrian war continued, USG will support anyone, in one hand the Kurdish, in the other the five members of the 50 million rebels team, and in the other non existent rebels or rebellion, as long as they can put a name on it.
Look: the us imperialism is changing nations by changing their countries map and shape, they did that to Palestinians land that is called Israel by now, gradually but surly that are doing it to Syria. Thus far they have made Syria a de facto country, Syria has become a open field for anyone to grab, even the Saudis barbarians.
The basic question for all Americans is whether we will act as an independent, sovereign
country pursuing peace through diplomacy, or hell-bent on destroying America for Israel.
The USG's two biggest exports are weapons and illegal drugs.
A poor kid in the ghetto will get his a** kicked into jail
for a couple grams of crack hidden in his underwear, while
murdering hoodlums with the backing from the Pentagon and
Congress continue to peddle weapons and drugs.
So it's official: we double down on stupid.
OK, let me see if I have this straight. Putin is a fool for supporting Assad. It will backfire on him.
In contrast, the US had been pretending to oppose Salafist jihadis like ISIS and al-Nusra while covertly supporting then by training and arming Fictional Syrian Army cohorts who quickly defected to the Salafists, all the while insisting "Assad must go."
Now that Russia is kicking Salafist ass, the US will support a coalition of Kurds, Assyrian Christians (who have long been protected from takfiris by the Syrian government) and moderate Arab tribes who mainly protect their homes. This coalition seems to have the support of the Syrian government (perhaps because it isn't trying to violently overthrow it). So now the Russians and Assad can attack ISIS and al-Nusra from the west while the US, Kurdish coalition and Iraq attack from the east, eliminating the only fanatical force in Syria that's unwilling to negotiate without pre-condition.
Serious negotiations will now begin, with the US insisting "eventually Assad must go." Kurds will get autonomy and representation at the federal level and Assad will be allowed to stay on during the transition with agreement that elections will be held after a specified time interval.
The US will declare a triumph of diplomacy. After the specified time, elections will be held and Assad will be allowed to run. The US may or may not whine, depending on politicians' sense of what the voters remember. Eventually, Assad will die of natural causes and thereby be removed from office. The US will have achieved a great triumph at the expense of hundreds of thousands of Syrian and Iraqi lives.
That pretty much sums it up, anti-; thanks!
The U.S. must get out of Syria and be tried for crimes against humanity.
"the YPG’s main city, Hasakeh, is co-defended by it and the Syrian government"
So now we are on the same side as Assad. Anyone who will fight ISIS. That is what Russia is saying too.
It should also be noted that Turkey is extremely hostile to YPG.
October 5, 2015 8-minute video: Geo-political Syria chess: demanding arrests of US .01% War Criminals finally, or you prefer gambling toward WW3?
https://youtu.be/WQz1d9zwtXA
OK, let me see if I have this straight. Putin is a fool for supporting Assad. It will backfire on him.
In contrast, the US had been pretending to oppose Salafist jihadis like ISIS and al-Nusra while covertly supporting them by training and arming Fictional Syrian Army cohorts who quickly defected to the Salafists, all the while insisting "Assad must go."
Now that Russia is kicking Salafist ass, the US will support a coalition of Kurds, Assyrian Christians (who have long been protected from takfiris by the Syrian government) and moderate Arab tribes who mainly protect their homes. This coalition seems to have the support of the Syrian government (perhaps because it isn't trying to violently overthrow it). So now the Russians and Assad can attack ISIS and al-Nusra from the west while the US, Kurdish coalition and Iraq attack from the east, eliminating the only fanatical force in Syria that's unwilling to negotiate without pre-condition.
My prediction: Serious negotiations without pre-conditions will now commence, with the US continuing to insist, "Assad must go, eventually," while accepting him in negotiations and as part of the transition team. The Kurds will get some autonomy and representation at the federal level, and everybody will agree elections within some specified time period. The time for elections will come. The US will loudly complain that Assad has been allowed as a candidate, but he will win. Eventually, Assad will die of natural causes and will thus be removed from power.
Meanwhile, US politicians will either proclaim a great diplomatic triumph or lament the "loss of Syria" depending on their reading of their constituents.