Heavy fighting over the past few days in Syria’s Raqqa Province has left at least 28 combatants killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 15 ISIS fighters were killed, along with 13 members of Syrian government forces.
This is the latest attempt by ISIS to reestabilish itself in Syria, and seems to be going no better than the others. The ISIS fighters pushed into some checkpoints and caused some casualties, but Syrian and Russian warplanes responded with heavy airstrikes on their camps.
Most ISIS forces left in Syria, which is believed to be a substantial number of them, are based out of the desert. They mostly don’t have control of even small towns, and if they end up doing anything, it’s trying to ambush patrols that happen past.
After a long time as increasingly irrelevant desert brigands, ISIS seems to be hoping they can reorganize enough to take a bit of territory here and there and become a real faction again. So far, they don’t seem to be able to, and just spark brief exchanges of fire.
With other rebel factions also in decline, it’s getting harder and harder for ISIS to find the sort of poorly defended territory to expand into that allowed them to get so large the first time. Now, they are simply struggling for relevance.
Curiouser, and curiouser. They stay in the desert? Have not even smallest village under control. Thus — who is financing the militants? Feeding, supplying arms, vehicles, salary. Are they ISIS, or just any militants brought in from Iraq or from Jordan.
There is nobody interested in financing such troublemaking but US or Israel. The area had no ISIS or any other militants for a while. This is what we are paying for — to prevent Syria have peace. And all those “oil” protected areas, and security zones — well we can only guess. How can “ISIS” appear from nowhere? ISIS was a cult, lived with families, terrorized villages. Chopped heads.
These hit and run at checkpoints — has nothing to do with ISIS, Just a fake branding to justify hanging around.
It would be WISE for any author of any article to stop propounding this ridiculous story of militants living miraculously in the desert! This joke has to end — and ask questions on third grade level. Who is the enabler?
It is obviously us We carefully hired and recruited the skilled operatives of former ISIS commanders and troops that were available. They are in there now all trained and equipped to make sure the Kurds get control of that oil that is in the area which they have been situated for some time and will soon slice it off from Syria to form their own country. Assad would be wise to sign off on this and leave them be.
What you are suggesting would make sense — provided that geography snd demographic works.
First — In the area we deem important because of the oil — Kurds as population do not live. US has there something called SDF — an obsolete and long ago hollow collection of Kurd militants. Few hundred Kurds — that is all. Kurds live in areas today controlled by Damascus, Turkey, and Turkish- Russian patrols. So, no Kurds are living in those areas.
Second — the area we are talking about is MINISCULE. Specially north-east. In the South, Al-Tanf area and a spot of oil field — cannot become Kurdish, as population living there wants to be reunited with Damascus. Just waiting for US to depart. Again, this area is important as it hugs Jordan border, and US tries to expand control to Iraqi border — but the area has no Kurds! The famous DESERT there in Deir Azzor can easily be monitored by a few helicopters — and chances of anyone pitching tent there without being seen is NONE.
And only because of these mysterious militants coming from “desert peace is on hold. Otherwise, Damascus could just ignore US camps on its borders.
Since many border crossings exist between Syria and Iraq, Syria and Jordan, Syria and Lebanon and Syria and Turkey — few US camps are not territorially significant.
I would RATHER these soldiers care about our borders.