A rare claimed victory for a Free Syrian Army (FSA) affiliate, the Thursday capture of the town of al-Rai in Aleppo Province, didn’t last very long, and reports are coming out today that ISIS has already recovered the town.
Al-Rai is close to the Turkish border, and was seen as a strategically value part of one of the many, many supply routes used by rebels to smuggle weapons into Syria from Turkey, which is believed to have factored into ISIS’ decision to launch a quick counterattack.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights insisted the loss of al-Rai proved that the rebels can’t hold any gains they make against ISIS “without adequate air cover.” Gains by other factions, like the Kurdish YPG, depend heavily on US and Russian backing.
ISIS has been facing offensives on several fronts throughout the Syrian ceasefire, of which they are not a party, as the truces are allowing a number of factions to shift focus to attacking them. Today’s recovery, however, suggests ISIS isn’t in nearly so desperate a situation as some would claim.
It’s possibly due to Russian/Syrian airstrikes. Russian/Syrian airstrikes mostly target the FSA instead of the Islamic State. This had happened many times before, when the FSA was defeated by airstrikes, it created the opportunity the Islamic State to overrun and take territory previously held by the FSA. Syrian/Russian airstrikes are therefore indirectly helping the Islamic State.
Before the “ceasefire”, it’s primarily the Syrian rebels (the FSA and Jabhat al-Nusra) who were fighting against the Islamic State, preventing the Islamic State from expanding Westward and overtaking Damascus.
what a silly argument, look at a map, aside form Palmyra and the desert isis and the syrian regime had no borders.
the syrian regime had to destroy the other fighting groups around Aleppo to even get to the Islamic state.
When Americans are told something repeatedly by their country’s propagandists, some of it sticks Orly. Let’s keep an eye of 3D and see if he/she regurgitates more in the coming days.
And don’t worry, Russia has it under control and the PNAC plans for Syria are on hold. Probably permanently now because Putin and Obama teamed up to spoil everything by meeting the ‘red line’ demands.
So do you have any sympathy for the tens of thousands of civilians (if not hundreds of thousands of civilians) that were slaughtered by Syrian/Russian airstrikes?
Syrian and Russian airstrikes are just as counterproductive as the U.S. drone wars against “terrorists”. When you kill innocent people, you create more people who are hateful against the government and also create an anti-Shia, anti-Christian sentiment.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians were slaughtered in Syria because of US interference and it’s intentions to overthrow the legitimate Assad regime which is popular with the Syrian people. That’s long before Russian airstrikes which have served to decelerate the slaughter and bring the fragile peace they are now experiencing.
And face it 3D, there isn’t going to be a US led war on Syria or Iran now, costing hundreds of thousands, (if not millions) now that Russia and China have stood up to protect their interests.
You’re right, regime change doesn’t work. And you should also know that your country isn’t the good guys.
Probably all a ploy so that they can “give” the FSA weapons and supplies that ISIS then “captures” after they retake the town while the FSA runs away leasing all their equipment behind.