dagblog - Comments for "How al-Qaeda Changed the Syrian War"

Iraq-Syria By Adam Shatz,

artappraiser — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 11:20:39 +0000

In reply to How al-Qaeda Changed the Syrian War

Iraq-Syria
By Adam Shatz, London Review of Books Blog, 29 Dec., 2013

The Iraq war is not over; it never really ended. It just spilled into a new war, the war in Syria. We may one day speak of Iraq-Syria the way that we speak now of ‘Af-Pak’.

In response to a wave of attacks by the al-Qaida group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the United States is supplying Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s embattled government with Hellfire missiles and drones. The Obama administration also wants congressional approval to lease (and eventually sell) six Apache helicopter gunships to the Iraqis [....]

In effect, the American government is arming a Shia-dominated state aligned with Iran and Assad, in order to fight Sunni extremists who want to bring down not only Maliki but Assad, too, an aim they share with Western-supported Syrian rebels. Or to put it differently: the American government is fighting Sunni extremists in Iraq, while its allies, notably Qatar and Saudi Arabia, are arming the same Sunni extremists in Syria.

Incoherent? Yes. But the question is whether this incoherence reflects the contradictory goals of stabilising Iraq and weakening Assad, or indicates a shift in American policy. The doctrine of counter-terrorism was the pillar of American policy in the Middle East from 11 September 2001 until the Arab revolts of 2011. It is now making a comeback in Washington, thanks to the resurgence of al-Qaida, militia rule in post-Gaddafi Libya and the fall of the Morsi government in Egypt [....]

The Islamist Enemy of Our

artappraiser — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 10:36:58 +0000

In reply to How al-Qaeda Changed the Syrian War

The Islamist Enemy of Our Islamist Enemy
Meet the West's unpredictable, possible soon-to-be new friend in Syria -- the Islamic Front.
By Hania Mourtada, Dispatch @ ForeignPolicy.com, Dec. 31, 2013

[...] The experience of being exiled from his own country by foreign Jihadists has left Abu Muhannad as livid at ISIS as he is at the Syrian regime.

"They have these disgusting, smelly beards. They won't even comb their hair. If I knew the revolution would bring them here, I swear I would never have participated in it," he said. "Did I rebel against the regime to end up in hiding? And who am I running away from? Chechens? European fanatics? Who are those people? They have overstayed their welcome."

With the Supreme Military Council, the Turkey-based military opposition body, failing to secure significant funding for the Free Syrian Army, the mainstream rebel group has been growing weaker by the day.

Abu Muhannad, like many disillusioned fighters, is now placing his bet on the new Islamic Front. The new alliance was announced in November, and has become the largest rebel force in Syria by merging together seven influential Islamist groups [....]

Aleppo's bloodiest week By

artappraiser — Sun, 29 Dec 2013 20:46:13 +0000

In reply to How al-Qaeda Changed the Syrian War

Aleppo's bloodiest week
By Edward Dark, Syria Pulse @ Al-Monitor.com, Dec. 26, 2013

ALEPPO, Syria — Aleppo has seen its bloodiest week since the Syrian conflict began more than 32 months ago. I’d even venture to say it's the bloodiest in its entire recent history, a grotesque carnival of mayhem, death and carnage, perpetrated against the hapless and helpless citizens of this long-suffering ancient city. A thousand waves of invaders and marauders this city must have seen as countless civilizations upon its land rose and fell, but this recent episode is of such ferocious barbarity and bloodletting that it surely must rank somewhere at the top of its list of all time historical traumas [....]