Afghanistan is kinda an example does not apply to Syria, I just don't see how it reflects there. Afghanistan is kinda in nowhere and it allowed it to morph. But Syria is different, it is surrounded by U.S. allies and pretty sure the KSA can play a role with that to keep it contained and remains moderate and a civil state that does not morph into something like Afghanistan at that time.
Keeping Assad is a no choice for Syrians after all that happened. They passed the no return point long time ago, also, Assad does not have a ground forces left. He is fighting with Iraqi "Nujaba'", Lebanon Hezbollah, and Iranian forces made of Afghan and Pakistan migrants. Soon, the Iraqi PMF already stated that they will go to Syria after they are done with Mosul and Iraqi prime minister already stated himself that he is willing to send forces to fight along with Assad.
They are promised with citizenship and currently there is a demographic change going on to settle those Shi'ite militias in the Regime areas.
I have the strangest feeling that "Saudi Arabia will keep peace in Syria" is far, far less true than you think it is.
Afghanistan is one example of many, because this happens all the time. Nations give funding to some rebel group that opposes a leader they don't like. The conflict is allowed to escalate and it becomes existential. Islamists from across the Middle East (and in the case of ISIS, across the world) pour in, and at first they are welcomed for their fighting strength. But soon they co-opt the original movement and create yet another breeding ground for terror. Chechyna is an example for which a very good study is available as linked.
It simply amazes me how much "well it's different this time" denialism one US government after another can muster in their inability to acknowledge this difficult, yet very well known, fact.
On December 04 2016 02:46 LegalLord wrote: I have the strangest feeling that "Saudi Arabia will keep peace in Syria" is far, far less true than you think it is.
Afghanistan is one example of many, because this happens all the time. Nations give funding to some rebel group that opposes a leader they don't like. The conflict is allowed to escalate and it becomes existential. Islamists from across the Middle East (and in the case of ISIS, across the world) pour in, and at first they are welcomed for their fighting strength. But soon they co-opt the original movement and create yet another breeding ground for terror. Chechyna is an example for which a very good study is available as linked.
It simply amazes me how much "well it's different this time" denialism one US government after another can muster in their inability to acknowledge this difficult, yet very well known, fact.
Chechnya is also completely unrelated. The KSA and Jordan are allies to US and they share boarders. Also the they themselves support the rebels so they have influence over them and can keep them under control, especially the people in the middle east are close to each other unlike Afghan and Chechnya who are not Arabs at all.
Syria is over 80% Sunni and KSA is major Sunni power in the area, that is why I say it is a key to hold it, or would you like to see it becoming an Iranian state just like Iraq now? Iran is already planning to go forward even further than Syria and they already stated that they are planning for an "Unified Global Islamic"
On December 04 2016 02:46 LegalLord wrote: I have the strangest feeling that "Saudi Arabia will keep peace in Syria" is far, far less true than you think it is.
Afghanistan is one example of many, because this happens all the time. Nations give funding to some rebel group that opposes a leader they don't like. The conflict is allowed to escalate and it becomes existential. Islamists from across the Middle East (and in the case of ISIS, across the world) pour in, and at first they are welcomed for their fighting strength. But soon they co-opt the original movement and create yet another breeding ground for terror. Chechyna is an example for which a very good study is available as linked.
It simply amazes me how much "well it's different this time" denialism one US government after another can muster in their inability to acknowledge this difficult, yet very well known, fact.
Chechnya is also completely unrelated. The KSA and Jordan are allies to US and they share boarders. Also the they themselves support the rebels so they have influence over them and can keep them under control, especially the people in the middle east are close to each other unlike Afghan and Chechnya who are not Arabs at all.
Syria is over 80% Sunni and KSA is major Sunni power in the area, that is why I say it is a key to hold it, or would you like to see it becoming an Iranian state just like Iraq now? Iran is already planning to go forward even further than Syria and they already stated that they are planning for an "Unified Global Islamic"
Yeah, this isn't going anywhere when any relevant info is dismissed as "it's different this time." I'm going to bow out.
On December 04 2016 02:57 SK.Testie wrote: I don't think they care if it's different this time so long as they can sell more weapons. Prolonging conflict is good $.
Perhaps. Not for the US as a whole but probably for enough people in power to create the necessary consensus.
On December 04 2016 01:46 LegalLord wrote: I'm not sure how "rebels getting slaughtered" amounts to genocide. John Rambo McCain is just being his usual warhawk self here.
I wish the US government would one day realize the short-sightedness of their approach to arming rebels. Today it's a low-cost way to create an opposition force, tomorrow they're fighting US troops. How many times has this already happened?
Why would the rebels be fighting U.S. troops in the future? And yes, what is going on in the eastern side of Aleppo is a genocide.
What's going on in eastern Aleppo is a hostage situation. These people from Hanano district celebrating getting evacuated from eastern Aleppo where jihadists horded all the food and medical supplies coming in don't look like they are being genocided
On December 04 2016 03:02 Wrath wrote: Chechnya is also completely unrelated. The KSA and Jordan are allies to US and they share boarders. Also the they themselves support the rebels so they have influence over them and can keep them under control, especially the people in the middle east are close to each other unlike Afghan and Chechnya who are not Arabs at all.
If we disregard everything Saudi Arabia has done over the past 30 years your post makes sense.
edit: I'm sure Syria would be a secular democratic paradise if KSA had its way, right?
On December 04 2016 01:46 LegalLord wrote: I'm not sure how "rebels getting slaughtered" amounts to genocide. John Rambo McCain is just being his usual warhawk self here.
I wish the US government would one day realize the short-sightedness of their approach to arming rebels. Today it's a low-cost way to create an opposition force, tomorrow they're fighting US troops. How many times has this already happened?
Why would the rebels be fighting U.S. troops in the future? And yes, what is going on in the eastern side of Aleppo is a genocide.
What's going on in eastern Aleppo is a hostage situation. These people from Hanano district celebrating getting evacuated from eastern Aleppo where jihadists horded all the food and medical supplies coming in don't look like they are being genocided
On December 04 2016 03:02 Wrath wrote: Chechnya is also completely unrelated. The KSA and Jordan are allies to US and they share boarders. Also the they themselves support the rebels so they have influence over them and can keep them under control, especially the people in the middle east are close to each other unlike Afghan and Chechnya who are not Arabs at all.
If we disregard everything Saudi Arabia has done over the past 30 years your post makes sense.
edit: I'm sure Syria would be a secular democratic paradise if KSA had its way, right?
"Celebrating". Everyone knows the games the regime of "lets take photos of smiling etc and no idea where the people went to after all that". Syria is famous for secret prisons and how much they respect human rights.
Yes, what is going in Aleppo is a genocide. And again, the idea of "Secular" Syrian army is the biggest joke of all time, the "secular" forces are masses of Shiite militias from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghan and Pakistan immigrants in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards members.
It is a religious war that is going on and the only target there is Sunni groups, do you actually believe that if a deal is made that Al-Nusra goes out of Aleppo everything will be fine? No, they will keep bombing it until they ALL leave it and surrender it to the regime and be sent to Idlib in preparation for massive attack there after getting all gather in Idlib.
Why Hezbollah or Iraqi Shiite groups are never considered terrorists in the midea eyes or even bombed though they are considered so by UN?
Sure Syria was an awesome secular democratic paradise before 2011 right? The only difference is that it was a non-Islamic shithole, now because the rebels have some groups like Al-Nusra makes the whole rebel forces equal to ISIS?
Edit: Again, my point regarding KSA and Jordan is that they have boarders and can have huge influence over there. US have close relationship with both countries and they can be really helpful in ensuring that it won't morph into an 199x Afghanistan.
If we disregard everything Saudi Arabia has done over the past 30 years your post makes sense.
On December 04 2016 01:46 LegalLord wrote: I'm not sure how "rebels getting slaughtered" amounts to genocide. John Rambo McCain is just being his usual warhawk self here.
I wish the US government would one day realize the short-sightedness of their approach to arming rebels. Today it's a low-cost way to create an opposition force, tomorrow they're fighting US troops. How many times has this already happened?
Why would the rebels be fighting U.S. troops in the future? And yes, what is going on in the eastern side of Aleppo is a genocide.
What's going on in eastern Aleppo is a hostage situation. These people from Hanano district celebrating getting evacuated from eastern Aleppo where jihadists horded all the food and medical supplies coming in don't look like they are being genocided
On December 04 2016 03:02 Wrath wrote: Chechnya is also completely unrelated. The KSA and Jordan are allies to US and they share boarders. Also the they themselves support the rebels so they have influence over them and can keep them under control, especially the people in the middle east are close to each other unlike Afghan and Chechnya who are not Arabs at all.
If we disregard everything Saudi Arabia has done over the past 30 years your post makes sense.
edit: I'm sure Syria would be a secular democratic paradise if KSA had its way, right?
"Celebrating". Everyone knows the games the regime of "lets take photos of smiling etc and no idea where the people went to after all that". Syria is famous for secret prisons and how much they respect human rights.
Yes, what is going in Aleppo is a genocide. And again, the idea of "Secular" Syrian army is the biggest joke of all time, the "secular" forces are masses of Shiite militias from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghan and Pakistan immigrants in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards members.
It is a religious war that is going on and the only target there is Sunni groups, do you actually believe that if a deal is made that Al-Nusra goes out of Aleppo everything will be fine? No, they will keep bombing it until they ALL leave it and surrender it to the regime and be sent to Idlib in preparation for massive attack there after getting all gather in Idlib.
Why Hezbollah or Iraqi Shiite groups are never considered terrorists in the midea eyes or even bombed though they are considered so by UN?
Sure Syria was an awesome secular democratic paradise before 2011 right? The only difference is that it was a non-Islamic shithole, now because the rebels have some groups like Al-Nusra makes the whole rebel forces equal to ISIS?
And here we have the common misconception that the Syrian government is an Alawate regime fighting the Sunni majority, but even the slightest knowledge about Syria or Syrians throws this out the window. Does anyone here really believe for even a moment Assad could stay in power holding 8 of the 10 largest cities for 5 years fighting 75% of Syria's population? I mean really?
Most of the officers in the Syrian army (including key generals), most of Syria's conscripted footsoldiers, most of the officials who work in Syria’s bureaucracy, ministers and diplomats are in fact Sunni. Most Syrians see themselves as Syrians and Arabs first, rather than Sunni, Shia, Christian ect. The general view in Syria is that Assad is far from perfect, it is of course a dictatorship like in most Arab countries but its better than a guy like Saddam of sectarian despotic totalitarianism like in Saudi Arabia.
Iran and Hezbolah do not make up the bulk of Assad's forces, Sunni do. Secular Sunni's in Syria, those that reject salafism and jihadism overwhelmingly support Assad and have stayed loyal to Syria throughout the conflict, if they didn't Assad would have fallen long ago.
On December 04 2016 03:35 Wrath wrote: Like what?
I wont believe you are being serious now, this is what happens when you watch too much Al Jazeera
On December 04 2016 01:46 LegalLord wrote: I'm not sure how "rebels getting slaughtered" amounts to genocide. John Rambo McCain is just being his usual warhawk self here.
I wish the US government would one day realize the short-sightedness of their approach to arming rebels. Today it's a low-cost way to create an opposition force, tomorrow they're fighting US troops. How many times has this already happened?
Why would the rebels be fighting U.S. troops in the future? And yes, what is going on in the eastern side of Aleppo is a genocide.
What's going on in eastern Aleppo is a hostage situation. These people from Hanano district celebrating getting evacuated from eastern Aleppo where jihadists horded all the food and medical supplies coming in don't look like they are being genocided
On December 04 2016 03:02 Wrath wrote: Chechnya is also completely unrelated. The KSA and Jordan are allies to US and they share boarders. Also the they themselves support the rebels so they have influence over them and can keep them under control, especially the people in the middle east are close to each other unlike Afghan and Chechnya who are not Arabs at all.
If we disregard everything Saudi Arabia has done over the past 30 years your post makes sense.
edit: I'm sure Syria would be a secular democratic paradise if KSA had its way, right?
"Celebrating". Everyone knows the games the regime of "lets take photos of smiling etc and no idea where the people went to after all that". Syria is famous for secret prisons and how much they respect human rights.
Yes, what is going in Aleppo is a genocide. And again, the idea of "Secular" Syrian army is the biggest joke of all time, the "secular" forces are masses of Shiite militias from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghan and Pakistan immigrants in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards members.
It is a religious war that is going on and the only target there is Sunni groups, do you actually believe that if a deal is made that Al-Nusra goes out of Aleppo everything will be fine? No, they will keep bombing it until they ALL leave it and surrender it to the regime and be sent to Idlib in preparation for massive attack there after getting all gather in Idlib.
Why Hezbollah or Iraqi Shiite groups are never considered terrorists in the midea eyes or even bombed though they are considered so by UN?
Sure Syria was an awesome secular democratic paradise before 2011 right? The only difference is that it was a non-Islamic shithole, now because the rebels have some groups like Al-Nusra makes the whole rebel forces equal to ISIS?
And here we have the common misconception that the Syrian government is an Alawate regime fighting the Sunni majority, but even the slightest knowledge about Syria or Syrians throws this out the window. Does anyone here really believe for even a moment Assad could stay in power holding 8 of the 10 largest cities for 5 years fighting 75% of Syria's population? I mean really?
Most of the officers in the Syrian army (including key generals), most of Syria's conscripted footsoldiers, most of the officials who work in Syria’s bureaucracy, ministers and diplomats are in fact Sunni. Most Syrians see themselves as Syrians and Arabs first, rather than Sunni, Shia, Christian ect. The general view in Syria is that Assad is far from perfect, it is of course a dictatorship like in most Arab countries but its better than a guy like Saddam of sectarian despotic totalitarianism like in Saudi Arabia.
Iran and Hezbolah do not make up the bulk of Assad's forces, Sunni do. Secular Sunni's in Syria overwhelmingly support Assad and have stayed loyal to Syria throughout the conflict, if they didn't Assad would have fallen long ago.
He is holding due to his air force that the rebels do not have a solution for. He is holding due to the massive support he is getting. Assad and his regime may not be considered as anti-sunni. But they are willing to sell the whole country to anyone offering help for them to stay in power. They sold it to Iran long time ago, after Hafiz Al-asad died, Iran started to gain huge influence over the regime. The people of Syria never thought about the Sunni-Shiite thing before the revolution at all. But when the 2011 events kicked in, Iran considered that a threat to their control and moved in quickly and in two years it turned into a sectarian war.
Both Iran and Hezbollah lost over 2000 men there and they are still fighting.
Watch the video I submitted earlier which explains how things went from 2011 to 2016:
Russia is intervening for its own benefits and the regime does not give a damn as long as it stays in power. Are we really going to just ignore that Assad killed over 500,000 and resulted in nearly half of the population of Syria to be refugees? Are we really going to use the Islamic groups like Al-Nusra as an excuse to keep Assad in power? Why not remove both of them and let the scholars who are outside to come and form a temporal power transfer to the public?
The idea of letting a mass murder continue ruling over people is a joke and cannot be allowed to happen if this world have any humanity left.
My god... Are you seriously using Al jazeera opposite direction program to say KSA is bad which obviously shows that the video is cropped? Seriously? Are you aware that during King Abdullah time (Pre current King Salman) Qatar had bad relationships with KSA? Al Jazeera is in Qatar, also Faisal Al Kasim IS NOT calling for an Alwaite genocide, feel free to follow him on twitter and facebook. He is against all this religious bullshit war going on and excluding a party over one.
In case you do not know, the opposite direction is a program that Fasial Kasim presents both parties and ask them questions from the other side (whether questions from facebook, email... etc). Do not accuse the man of something he is not.
In Syria, the Alwaite are the rulers and Sunni never considered it in a sectarian way until the way the Alwaite "The Minority" was treating the Sunni "The Majority". especially during the revolution in 2011 and how their arrogance allowed to escalate a school boys incident to a country wide revolution.
Of course the majority will want to kick the shit out of them in that case. Are we really forgetting over 40 years of Alwait rule of corruption, humiliating the people and human rights violations and secret prisons etc just to be political correct and say they are welcome? The people had enough of their bullshit and they have the absolute right to get them all from Christians to Sunnis to Durzis to whatever thing they were.
On December 04 2016 01:30 Wrath wrote: Whats the point of "authorizing" if he already stated that he wants to work with Russia instead?
The point is that no-one has any earthly idea what Trump will do in office and everyone is trying really hard to push their own agenda, given the fact that POTUS won't have one of his own. McCain is saying he wants this to happen, even though he's unsure if Trump's gonna go along.
That said, I am starting to come around to admitting this war is a lost cause. The US should have intervened when they crossed the "red line:" fucked up the SAA, told the Kurds to take whatever they wanted, and moved on with their lives. They didn't, it's too late, and Russian alliance with Assad means the war is as good as over at this point. It's just about how much human suffering is caused before the end at this point, as far as I can tell.
And Trump might concede. Or might not. Or he might start a war with China over Taiwan. Your guess is as good as mine.
On December 04 2016 01:30 Wrath wrote: Whats the point of "authorizing" if he already stated that he wants to work with Russia instead?
The point is that no-one has any earthly idea what Trump will do in office and everyone is trying really hard to push their own agenda, given the fact that POTUS won't have one of his own. McCain is saying he wants this to happen, even though he's unsure if Trump's gonna go along.
That said, I am starting to come around to admitting this war is a lost cause. The US should have intervened when they crossed the "red line:" fucked up the SAA, told the Kurds to take whatever they wanted, and moved on with their lives. They didn't, it's too late, and Russian alliance with Assad means the war is as good as over at this point. It's just about how much human suffering is caused before the end at this point, as far as I can tell.
And Trump might concede. Or might not. Or he might start a war with China over Taiwan. Your guess is as good as mine.
I completely agree. Syria as a country is gone and won't come back, at least not anytime soon. Same thing with Iraq. Lets just hope the world won't become even a shitter place in 2017 after 20th of January.
On December 04 2016 10:32 Yoav wrote: That said, I am starting to come around to admitting this war is a lost cause. The US should have intervened when they crossed the "red line:" fucked up the SAA, told the Kurds to take whatever they wanted, and moved on with their lives.
So the US intervenes and Syria becomes Somalia/Libya 2.0 with 30 different islamist warlords fighting over who can throw more acid in women's faces and destroy more ancient artifacts. With ISIS sweeping the whole of Syria shortly after....
Anyway, military update:
The SAA and allies have continued the push into eastern Aleppo, going past Al Myassar and are now storming Al Qaterji, fierce clashes with jihadist militants in these dense urban areas are ongoing with the situation changing rapidly. These districts are important because of their elevation compared to the middle of whats left of eastern Aleppo, it clears the way for a sweep of the central districts (I posted a geo-map on the previous page in this thread).
The enclave of Al-Tal around Damascus has also surrendered following the trend there in recent days. Hundreds (~500) of Al Nursa terrorists have agreed to be bussed to Idlib leaving behind their small and heavy arms, with the rest receiving blanket amnesty from Assad. Some 1500 people in total (fighters and their families) have arrived in Idlib today while the others are free to resume civilian life.
Al-Tal in general adhered to the ceasefire and there haven't been active hostilities there in quite some time. But the overall strategic situation around Damascus has become so hopeless for the militants thats this was their only real option. The surrender of Al-Tal was agreed on December the 1st. The town had a pre-war population of 60,000.
The SAA haven't stopped their large push into eastern Aleppo even well after sundown, intense raids ongoing at Bab Al Hadid and Bustan Al Qasr right now. Less that 500 meters now to the Citadel and reports of the National Eye Hospital, a key operations base for jihadists inside Aleppo now in government hands.
With this advance, militants have been pushed out of the old, densely built part of the city into less densely packed districts in the south of the enclave.
On December 04 2016 10:32 Yoav wrote: That said, I am starting to come around to admitting this war is a lost cause. The US should have intervened when they crossed the "red line:" fucked up the SAA, told the Kurds to take whatever they wanted, and moved on with their lives.
So the US intervenes and Syria becomes Somalia/Libya 2.0 with 30 different islamist warlords fighting over who can throw more acid in women's faces and destroy more ancient artifacts. With ISIS sweeping the whole of Syria shortly after....
The concept behind fucking up the SAA for using chemical weapons is not to achieve any particular outcome on the ground. It's to fuck up people who use chemical weapons for violating international law. There's no imperialist endgame necessary... just violence to make clear that even petty warlords in conflicts we don't really give a shit about don't get to violate the highest laws of warfare.
At this point, I've had enough of us trying to predict outcomes on the ground based on our interventions. It would be nice to stop trying to assert our "interests" and instead do what the US should be doing abroad: protecting democracies, even the ones that don't like us, and telling dictatorships and single-party states that we'll give them no help whatsoever... but we'll be there do bomb them into the stone age if they commit genocide, violate laws of war, or attack a democracy. If you look at the last hundred years and the West's pragmatism has wrought, I'd prefer to try a century of idealism next. I think it might just work a little better.
On December 05 2016 03:56 zeo wrote: With this advance, militants have been pushed out of the old, densely built part of the city into less densely packed districts in the south of the enclave.
Densest is in the central Aleppo neighborhoods. That has yet to be taken. The militants are, however getting pushed out of all eastern Aleppo urban territority into the southern Aleppo urban territory.
It is very surprising to see the urban fighting being so quick for Aleppo after years of mostly static lines in the city. I wonder when the lines will contract small enough to stabilize or if the entire enclave will eventually collapse.
On December 05 2016 05:24 LegalLord wrote: Jumping to conclusions on the chemical weapons attack is definitely not justification for Syrian intervention. It's not clear the government did it.
Are you saying that the government did not use chemical weapons? If so, who does have access to it?
On December 05 2016 03:56 zeo wrote: With this advance, militants have been pushed out of the old, densely built part of the city into less densely packed districts in the south of the enclave.
Densest is in the central Aleppo neighborhoods. That has yet to be taken. The militants are, however getting pushed out of all eastern Aleppo urban territority into the southern Aleppo urban territory.
It is very surprising to see the urban fighting being so quick for Aleppo after years of mostly static lines in the city. I wonder when the lines will contract small enough to stabilize or if the entire enclave will eventually collapse.
To be fair central Aleppo could mean a lot of areas depending on how you look at it, I can't for the life in me find it now but I remember seeing an urban heatmap of building density (or was it population density) of rebel held areas a few months ago. In general I was referring to how the general proximity of buildings that could be used as cover is denser in these areas, if you look at a satellite image of where the militants are holding out now there are a lot of open spaces (like cemeteries, wide streets, parks ect.).
All supply lines into eastern Aleppo have been cut since late in July, with a brief deblockade through the artillery collage that turned into an Al Nusra graveyard. But since then no weapons/ammunition, and more importantly no fresh blood. A very common tactic the Syrian army has used in urban warfare is that they push into a neighborhood and pull as many civilians as they can out of there or force them deeper into the city. After a day or two the SAA withdraws and the militants retake the district, almost immediately the Syrian army starts bombing the shit out of the area by land and air because the rebels don’t have human shields anymore.
It has been used with great success in eastern Aleppo because the militants are not one unified group, rather a loose alliance of 10+ groups with various degrees of salafist jihadist ideology each of which wants to be the top dog in the city. If one group loses a district they immediately want to take it back so they don’t look weak and free propaganda on Twitter.
The contact lines didn’t change because of the humanitarian ceasefire going on in Aleppo since October, but the whole time since July militants have been taking heavy casualties and exhausting resources, during which the SAA and its allies could bring in fresh troops to replace their own casualties while also rotating units that have been in battle too long. So the jihadist lines became thinner and thinner over the last month with heavy poking and prodding along the entire front looking for weaknesses.
It’s obvious Russia is pulling the strings on the strategic scale and that they were waiting for the elections in America to be over before the start of the offensive. This level of coordination and long term planning is far beyond what the SAA has been capable of up until now and the last week has been a resounding success. Russian bombers haven’t targeted the encirclement since early October, focusing on bombing anything outside of Aleppo thinking about trying to relieve the siege while Syrian bombers worked on the inside when necessary.
Jihadists were stretched way too thin to mount a serious defense, they can probably put up a fight south of the Citadel but their moral has completely tanked in the last week, the next few days are crucial.
Yesterday, after almost 6 months of fighting (since June) the defacto capitol of ISIS in Libya was seized by a conglomerate of pro-western troops. With overwhelming superiority in men and material, with support from the special forces of Great Britain, France and Italy, as well as US military aid the siege had crawled to a snails pace since I last posted about this a few months ago. But finally yesterday the defending ISIS fighters were overwhelmed.
ISIS only held a few dozen buildings in Sirte by the end of November
Sadly the ISIS story in Libya won't stop here. ISIS has long since moved into the desert and in the direction of Benghazi, where with varying degrees of success they are now fighting the LNA and other groups. The ISIS garrison in Sirte has long since been left to fend for itself, with ISIS mounting no effort to lift the siege. In this regard, the capture of Sirte represents only a kind of propaganda win, a display that ISIS can be beaten with force and a warning to other groups in this civil war.
All parties know full well that even complete victory over ISIS doesn't mean the end of the civil war in Libya, so we have a position where all the big players are constantly begging the US and NATO, as well as Russia to give them military equipment 'for security reasons'. The main reason there is ISIS in Libya is because there is no force strong enough to control the entire country. The murder of Gadaffi and the destruction of the political structures of Libya removed the cementing force in the country, with nothing put in place to replace it.
All these larger groups are either jihadists, pro-western puppet generals, tribal groups, criminal gangs in turf wars over who controls the oil industry and other 'freedom fighters' who together look like maggots festering on the remains of this once flourishing North African state. There is a kind of symbolism in the fact that with the background of the last building being cleared of ISIS in Sirte fighting raged in Benghazi and Tripoli between the former 'fighters against tyranny'.
I don't want to go all long winded with this post and I don't have time now so I'll write about Aleppo later today
Spoiler: The lines didn't change yesterday, jihadist counter-attack failed and a Russian field hospital was bombed in Aleppo by militants killing a doctor and nurse.
After a day spent consolidating gained territory, organizing troops and fending off a militant counter-attack the SAA and allies have completely freed 7 districts in eastern Aleppo today after heavy fighting:
- Al Sha'ar - Jouret Awwad - Karm Al Qaterji - Turbat Lala - Al Marjeh - Shiekh Lutf - Karz Dada
For a bit of context the parts in purple are SAA advancments in the last 3 days:
Reports going around during the day about jihadists retreating en-mass from the northern part of the pocket with the bottleneck becoming narrower today. The area around the citadel is an ancient part of the city that the Syrian army has been reluctant to bomb throughout the war with terrorists digging an extensive series of tunnels in the area, the streets here are also very narrow so maybe the jihadi's think it's still defendable.