Syrian rebels 'seize key town Manbij from IS'

BBC ^ | 6 Aug 2016 | BBC

[BeauBo]

A US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters has seized most of a key Syrian city from so-called Islamic State (IS), activists and commanders say.

Small numbers of IS militants are still resisting, using civilians as human shields, the alliance says.

[cherry]

can somebody update me....are we for the Syrian “rebels” who apparently are against ISIS?...whatever happened to the Syrian govt soldiers?....are they playing any part?

[silentknight]

I am just confused as to who is bad and good. I don’t think any of them are good.

I wouldn’t be too thrilled about any of this. This is a very long battle. It will last beyond our lifetime.

Islam isn’t going away.

[Mariner]

I’m sure it’s been a real meat grinder.

[OldNewYork]

Good riddance.

[MIA_eccl1212]

these “rebels” are apparently the KURDS (the yellow flags denote that they are kurds)... and they are hated by our allies (pseudo that is) in Turkey and ISIS/ISIL... These are the ones that ISIS tries to wipe out... and turkey and iran, etc... do a google search for “kurd female soldiers fight ISIL” and see images of some Kurd fighters who are women.

the KURDS were helpful to the usa in the IRAQ war and seek autonomy in the nations where they stretch across the borders, Turkey, IRAQ, Syria and I suppose Iran.

Turkey HATES them. Supports ISIL and ISIS to kill them. and in that part of the world any arab muslim exists in a world of fluid alliances that involve constant betrayal... and the KURDS have been the most stable allies we have actually ever had. Obama does not support the KURDS. He supports Erdogan and Iran...

Kurds do a pretty good job of autonomous democracy, which is why the islamists in the region hate them. There are kurdish christians and jews... as the kurds are an ethnic group not a religion.

[MIA_eccl1212]

that my summary, but there are experts here on FR that can give you a blow by blow account of who is supporting who each day on an almost hourly basis.

[Jack Hydrazine]

There is a GoogTube channel run by some Russian guys who post several videos a day of the fighting going on in Syria from both sides. I have no idea how they are getting the footage from the rebels and Isis or how they are getting a internet connection to upload such.

Here is their latest video.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oFU-hGUv6LI

[MIA_eccl1212]

their women are not treated second class, they do not veil themselves and they do not segregate women from activities when it comes to being with the men. They are coed.
They also have jews, christians and I believe some yazidi amongst them... as they are more a ethnicity than they are a strict religious group.

[exit82]

Thanks, Jack.

I’ll check it out.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Here’s a better video. The first one is just a moderate terrorist spouting off.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w_EczBm-jhI

[exit82]

Oh, yeah, that was a great video.

Love the way they say Allah Akbar every time they fire off something.

AK-47s,pick-up trucks and dust everywhere.

Hardly no unscathed buildings.

Soldiers have minimal protective gear, probably even less medical equipment.

[Jack Hydrazine]

They do love getting tbeir snackbar on!

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

A US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters has seized most of a key Syrian city from so-called Islamic State

And now the legitimate government of Syria will have to take back the place from these American-backed headcutters.

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

can somebody update me....are we for the Syrian “rebels” who apparently are against ISIS?...whatever happened to the Syrian govt soldiers?....are they playing any part?

Syrian government soldiers will have to take back the place from these American-supported terrorists. The Arab muslim "rebels" are various forms of Al-qaeda while the Kurdish muslim "rebels" think this is a great opportunity to steal a lot of land for themselves, as they did when the genocided Christians 90 years ago.

[Jack Hydrazine]

I didn’t realize it but the R&U GoogTube channel has a second one called R&U II that is a war diary. They use that one to do reports from the front lines, interviews, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeDSNa_VcvSPJNa9_Q3VkJQ/videos

[Cronos]

that didn't happen -- the east of Syria and the west of IRaq are Sunni -- they support IslamicState.

The Shia are entrenched in western Syria and South-eastern Iraq and they defend those places very well. The Kurds are in the north and they defended their places very well also.

Now the Kurds are moving south