About the FSA:
"The Free Syrian Army (Arabic: الجيش السوري الحر, al-Jaysh as-Sūrī al-Ḥurr, FSA) is a group of defected Syrian Armed Forces officers and soldiers,[15][16] founded during the Syrian Civil War on 29 July 2011[17] by five[16] or seven defected Syrian officers.[17][18] The group defined "all [Syrian] security forces attacking civilians" as their enemies,[17][18] and said its goal to be "to bring down the system"[17] or "to bring this regime down".[16]
On 23 September 2011, the Free Syrian Army merged with the Free Officers Movement (Arabic: حركة الضباط الأحرار, Ḥarakat aḑ-Ḑubbāṭ al-Aḥrār); Western observers like The Wall Street Journal considered the FSA since then the main military defectors group.[19][20][21] 90% of the FSA consists of Sunni Muslims,[22] but a small minority are (Shia) Alawites[22] and some Druze fought in FSA units. About 15% of FSA units are Kurds.[23] some FSA units are led by Druze.[24] As for further ethnic minorities, a Palestinian rebel commander in the Yarmouk enclave in southern Damascus in 2012 considered his rebel brigade to be part of FSA.[25]
The FSA coordinated with the Syrian National Council starting in December 2011,[26] and supported the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces after the coalition's November 2012 creation.[27] Between July 2012 and July 2013, ill-discipline and infighting weakened FSA, while jihadist groups entered northern Syria and became more effective than FSA.[28] In April 2013, the US promised $123 million aid to rebels, to be funneled through the then leader of the FSA, Salim Idriss.[29] Since February 2014, Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir is the appointed Chief of Staff and leader of the FSA.[2] A coalition of moderate Muslim rebel groups fighting under the Supreme Military Council of Syria, which includes the FSA, on 25 September 2014 allied with a predominantly Christian coalition called Syriac Military Council, to unite their fight against the Assad government and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).[8]
At the outset of the civil war, the FSA operated throughout Syria, both in urban areas and in the countryside,[30] in the northwest (Idlib, Aleppo), the central region (Homs, Hama, Al-Rastan), the coast around Latakia, the south (Daraa and Houran), the east (Dayr al-Zawr, Abu Kamal), and the Damascus area, with their largest concentration of forces, nine battalions or more, in Homs, Hama and surrounding areas.[31][32] By November 2014, a growing coalition of 58 US-backed groups, the Southern Front of the Free Syrian Army, was gaining territory south of Damascus in southern Syria.[33][34] In addition to its stronghold in the south, the FSA is active in pockets of Aleppo,[35] takes part in the ongoing offensives in Idlib,[36] and is aligned with the YPG in the defence of and ongoing combat near Kobanî.[37]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Syrian_Army
If the FSA is secretly Al-Qaeda or ISIS, I'm not seeing it.
Looking on Wiki for political info is no better than Wapo so I’m not surprised.
As usual, Greetings posts are accurate.
The New American published an article asking if ISIS has roots in Russia: http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/asia/item/20321-the-russian-roots-of-isis
I think ISIS is mainly the remnants of Saddam’s army and maybe some elements of AQ combined; got a foothold in Syria where there was widespread dissatisfaction.
55% of the French want a military operation against ISIS in Syria: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/05/24/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-france-idUKKBN0O80N120150524?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
Former UK military chief wants UK to send up to 5000 troops to battle ISIS: http://www.itv.com/news/update/2015-05-24/ex-army-chief-uk-must-consider-ground-troops-in-syria/
So, the above are clear-thinking. Hope we can have the same or at least, a more invigorating air campaign.
Nope. Any special character codes force HTML in the entire post.
Mega-props for fixing it.