The Current FReepathon Pays For The Current Quarter's Expenses?
Posted on 08/17/2014 11:15:05 AM PDT by GonzoII
At least 31 Islamic State militants and eight civilians died in Syrian air force raids on Sunday in the northern province of Raqqa, a stronghold of the jihadist fighters, a monitoring group said.
The air force carried out 16 raids on the city of Raqqa and several more on the town of Tabqa in Raqqa province, killing at least 31 jihadists and eight civilians, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Britain-based group's head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said the raids were the regime's "most intensive" against the Islamic State since the jihadists joined the more than three-year-old conflict in Syria in spring 2013.
The IS has held most of Raqqa province since February, after having ousted other rebel groups battling President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The Observatory said the regime has also carried out air strikes on the eastern province of Deir Ezzor as well as Akhtarin and Dabeq in Aleppo province, two northern towns which the IS seized from rebels on Wednesday.
The Syrian military has turned its firepower on the IS since the jihadists in June declared a "caliphate" straddling Syria and neighbouring Iraq, where the group has been targeted by US air strikes over the past week.
"The regime wants to show the Americans that it is also capable of striking the IS," said Abdel Rahman, whose group relies on information from opposition activists and medics on the ground.
(Excerpt) Read more at gulf-times.com ...
Looks like Basher is making some progress. Pretty sick “Arab Spring” if you ask me.
Go Assad Go!
Yeah, yeah he’s a bad guy and all, but it’s the Middle East.
“Yeah, yeah he’s a bad guy and all, but it’s the Middle East.”
The American narrative has always been good guy vs. bad guy. The Soviets went from being our enemy to the good guys overnight. Then, they became the bad guys. I think they should have been sold with a greater nuance but the powers that be want a simple picture. They reduce a huge work of art to a line drawing with no shading. In the Middle East it’s bad guy vs. worse guy. If you get involved at all it had better be for your national interest and you pick the one who is better for your national interest. In this case it’s Assad. (However, our voters here did not pick the candidate who is best for OUR national interest, so how can we expect him to chose the way we would over there?)
We made the same mistake with Saddam. And frankly if we really had to get rid of him, the Israelis could have made quick work of it.
“Yeah, yeah he’s a bad guy and all, but it’s the Middle East.”
I’m with you...in the Middle East, other than Israel, there are Bad Guys, and there are SAVAGES.
Bad guys still let ethnic minorities live in relative peace - savages do not.
“the Israelis could have made quick work of it.”
But, they didn’t. Probably for very good reasons, too. It is exceedingly dangerous to target the leader of a country as it makes your leaders legitimate targets.
The Current FReepathon Pays For The Current Quarter's Expenses?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.