According to Russian Major General Igor Konashenkov, they have intercepted some communications between al-Qaeda’s Syria faction, Jabhat al-Nusra, and ISIS on the topic of unifying against the Syrian military offensive in the Aleppo Province.
Ironically, this unification was supposed to happen years ago, as back in 2013 ISIS (then still al-Qaeda in Iraq) claimed it was absorbing the Nusra forces. This split Nusra roughly in half, with some joining ISIS and others remaining independent. The two sides have remained hostile ever since.
There was some discussion of revisiting the idea of unity last year, when US warplanes started bombing both in Syria, and at the time was presented as a possible way of countering the US, though nothing ever came of the matter.
Russia’s involvement may be pushing some discussions again, and al-Qaeda has likewise suggested unity was a possibility. in recent months, though the two factions are at odds on a lot of issues, and anything more than a temporary alliance seems unlikely.
I wonder if anyone in our Government recalls that the more "moderate" of these groups — Al Nusra — is currently the official, self-proclaimed subsidiary of the very same Al Qaeda organization which killed 3,000 Americans on 9/11? Or that anyone in our Government will admit the fact that our weapons are ending up in the hands of this "moderate" group? Or that anyone in our Government really cares what these "Syrian resistance" groups are doing to ordinary Syrian people whose towns and lands they occupy?
Amusing to see the way all the claims that that notorious pathological liar, the US government, lied about 9/11 are suddenly being swept under the carpet! The same government that, we're told, doesn't have the slightest compunction about lying in regard to the Afghan hospital is suddenly a paragon of truth and honesty as regards 9/11! Isn't pretext politics wonderful!
well, well, well … what excuse is Obama now going to come up with for arming, training and funding his Syrian Mercenaries – specifically trained to overthrow a UN recognised government. Are they still "moderate". The lie has been exposed and the blatant double game played by the US (creating and supporting an insurgency which is used as the excuse to enter the war all the while pretending to be a champion against terrorism. It is now out in the open, the US is and was the terrorist all along. Russia is destroying the US agents in Syria in a real war against terrorism. How sickeningly evil and corrupt the US is. Wat is most amazing is that when the cat is out of the bag and it became common knowledge that the terrorists are in fact CIA trained agents, it is spoken about openly as if that was what was being said all along. There is not a semblance of shame or embarrassment. There is not even an attempt to justify the lies. It is as if the lies were never spoken. They truly live in a fantasy world all of their own making but reality has finally overtaken them.
Probably the same excuse as Putin uses to justify arming, training and funding the mercenaries he's sent into the UN recognised sovereign state of Ukraine.
Talking about Ukraine — as if you know what you are talking about. Ukraine is a home to millions of Russians and even more of Ukrainians whose mother tongue is Russian. The moment coup leaders seized Ukrainian Parliament, or Rada — they forced deputies to vote in a law prohibiting Russian as official language. Deputies had been forced to vote — under threats, being beat up — all recorded on videos. Julia Timoshenko, the head of the Fatherland Party — and Yatsenuk her deputy — even before the coup stated in a recorded phone call with another state official that they need to "nuke the Russians". The head of Svoboda Party, very well known Nazi leader — incidentally the one whom Senator McCain met many times, had a more old fashioned advice: he recommended that Russian population — primarily educated, such as lawyers, doctors, teachers, government officials — be executed by the local commanders. In order to start the process, they recommended that local government be turned over to military. Timoshenko seconded, and volunteered her party local offices for the new command. All people who are on record planning the executions and eventual ethnic cleansing of millions — are still in the government. The Kiev government, in spite of some decorative elements — is still controlled by the right wing, Nazi groups that never forgave Russians and other Russian speaking Ukrainians the crime of defeating Hitler, and thus, defeating them. That part of today's Ukraine, western Galicia, should have never become part of Ukraine, as it historically was part of firs Polish-Lithuanian federation and then Habsburg empire. It was called Ukraine, as it was for Europe the Borderlands with Mongol and Tatar rule to the east. Their language is a dialect of Polish — but they are now trying to force it on the entire population. And they have been successful in the post-Soviet period, by enforcing its use in Government and making it official throughout the country. They still could not force people to speak it at home, and they certainly had to allow use of Russian as it was the language of the majority. Now, without a peep, the humanitarian West is actually supporting the cultural genocide, to be — if possible — turn into a real genocide. All sorts of death squads were unleashed on Russian speaking regions, and only a small number the most egregious have been mentioned in the Western press. Such as burning people alive in Odessa. But what about the crimes these groups committed in Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Mykolaev, Zaporozie (Mariupol), Kherson, and the portions of Lughansk and Donetsk that are not under control of the opposition. Russia does not need to help much — other then with the food, fuel, blankets, even water in bombed out areas. But everyone conveniently "forgot" that the greatest part of Ukrainian armed forces joined the opposition, along with the military equipment. Both these regions are heavy industrial areas where armaments are produced. The head of Ukrainian Navy defected and took with him almost entire fleet. Furious at their inability to destroy Russian population — and then fearing that the right moment has been lost once EU got involved — Kiev decided on "anti-terrorist" operations to bombard civilian areas — indiscriminately, again — without a peep from Western media. Hundreds of thousands fled to Russia. Five rounds of mandatory recruitment went by, and Kiev could not get people to sign up — they fled to Russia, Poland, Belarus, Hungary, Romania, Moldava, etc. Since under the Minsk agreement Kiev is supposed to change the constitution and give those regions federal status — the process is stalled. Kiev will not vote on it — or will vote on something that is not what Minsk requires. To start with — Kiev will not talk to the leaders of the regions, and that is against Minsk. So, stalling and playing dumb. But at least they are not shooting. But now, US is engaged in arming and equipping volunteers in the only region that Kiev can count on — Galicia. So all those right wing, Hitler adoring groups are not gainfully employed by US taxpayers, and being taught how to kill their own population. And all those wanted IN THE FIRST PLACE was to prevent Kiev to kill them, and want to keep the right to their language. Just like the Sunni extermists that we funded in Middle East are now ravaging the area — we will pay sooner or later when the right wing neo-Nazi groups spread. Why not? They are supported financially, their misdeeds covered politically and by idiotic media — so they will proliferate in Europe. And now, with the sight of all those refugees, they will tap into the popular resentment — and off we go. Another badly misjudged adventure gone terribly wrong. Time to stop the incompetents in our own Government, so they cannot do any more harm, and create bigger problems for us to deal with down the line.
This makes a lot of sense. The fight is no longer a Syrian civil war but a fight to defeat Putin (and with him, but now almost by the way, Assad). Logically, two camps should form up: Putin, Assad and the Kurds on one side everybody else on the other. ISIS and al-Qaeda getting together is perfectly logical
Of course they should unify. It would streamline American training and personnel costs!