It is really stupid to use a satellite phone in a war zone. The government would automatically assume that it was a call between rebel forces. The author of the article mentions that the rebel commander in Chechnya wanted him to keep his call brief - with good reason; Dudoyev, the rebel leader, was on the receiving end of two laser guided bombs in 1996 thanks to his own sat phone use.
As far as Chechnya goes what started as a separatist movement quickly became a criminal mafia movement followed by a war against jihadis in the second chechen war.
The chechens engaged in terrorism against ordinary Russians. There was the train bombing, the metro bombings, the theater disaster, the beslan atrocity, and the hospital atrocity. The jihadis continued resitance, a number of which were foreign, created a disaster in Chechnya with civilians caught between both sides. The end result of their efforts is a broken Chechnya led by a brutal strongman. In Syria, it is the Allawites and the Christians against the rest of the muslims who are religiously motivated. Of course it’s just what we need to have another islamic state in the region suppressing Christians and women.
Assad is learning well from the Putin/Russian handbook.
>>In Syria, it is the Allawites and the Christians against the rest of the muslims who are religiously motivated. Of course it’s just what we need to have another islamic state in the region suppressing Christians and women.
Things are not looking great for the Christian Copts in Egypt post-Arab Spring. I am certain this has not gone unnoticed among the Christians in Syria.
it’s Alawites, Christians, Shias and also Druze. Besides the minor Yezidis etc.