Pertti Susilainen
Head Priest
 mr. sukkit
Ballkicks: (+924 / -57)
Posts: 7104 (1.06)
Reg. Date: Dec 2002
Location: Mayrit
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Reply 9 of 28 (Originally posted on: 04-08-17 02:39:54 AM)
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Iran is heavily involved in Syria. In fact, until Russia became much more involved, it was basically Iranian militias (not only Hezbollah but primarily them I suppose) doing most of the fighting for Assad. And I suppose they still do most of the fighting on the ground. The Syrian army has a reputation for being useless according to some Russians there, more interested in looting and getting bribes at checkpoints than in fighting, and much of Assad's forces are militias of various kinds, both Syrian and foreign.
Other than that, yeah, Ztolk, you understand it just fine.
I get the impression that the US under Obama didn't have a coherent plant after Russia got involved and direct American intervention stopped being a possibility that Obama would contemplate. They've been just reacting to events - like ISIS pops up and the US realizes they must do *something*, but they're not sure what that something should be and at any rate the political will to do much doesn't exist. Being anti-Assad means you have to work with all forms of Islamists, ranging from relatively moderate ones to, in practice, the local Al Qaida affiliate (they'll always be the Al Nusra Front in my heart), and that brings all sorts of strategic complications. At the end of the day, due to this lack of a coherent plan, the US can't but half-arse the job, so the only thing they're accomplishing is prolonging the war I guess.
ISIS was a godsend for Assad. There was a real prospect of his government losing the war at that point and going down, but lo and behold, a new force pops up that is much more interested in fighting the rebels than the Syrian army.
As for the Kurds, they're absolutely key to fighting ISIS, to the point that I can't see Turkey managing to undermine what they're building. Unless the US backstabs them, which is 100% on the table, of course.
Zippo: oh man you are a genius
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