Why is Russia such a cesspool?

[webfact]

Syrian army, allies, take last IS stronghold in Syria - commander

By Laila Bassam and Angus McDowall

 

A Free Syrian army fighter holds his weapon in Jubata al-Khashab in Quneitra province, Syria, November 4, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Faqir

 

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's army and its allies, spearheaded by Lebanon's Hezbollah, captured Islamic State's last stronghold in Syria on Wednesday, a commander in the alliance said, bringing the self-declared caliphate close to complete downfall.

 

"The last stronghold of Daesh (Islamic State), Albu Kamal, is free of the Daesh organisation," said the commander in the military alliance supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

 

Islamic State has been all but destroyed over the past two years. At the height of its power in 2015, it ruled an expanse of Iraq and Syria, eradicating the border, printing money, imposing draconian laws and plotting attacks across the world.

 

On Wednesday, after a months-long advance through central and eastern Syria, the Syrian army and allied Shi'ite militias encircled and attacked Albu Kamal.

 

Hezbollah was "the foundation in the battle of Albu Kamal", said the commander, adding that hundreds of the elite forces of the Iran-backed Shi'ite group took part in the battle.

 

Syrian state television declared "Albu Kamal is liberated". But a war monitor, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said it was not true that Albu Kamal was taken and there was still fighting in the area.

 

Albu Kamal is located on the border with Iraq on the bank of the Euphrates. During the battle, Hezbollah forces entered Iraq and the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces crossed into Syria to help capture the town, the commander said.

 

Islamic State retains control over some areas of desert and villages nearby, as well as a town and some other villages in adjacent areas of Iraq, and in scattered pockets elsewhere in both countries.

 

CONTINUING THREAT

 

Despite its losses, Islamic State still has a territorial presence in Libya and elsewhere, and many governments expect it to remain a threat even after it loses the caliphate it declared from Mosul, Iraq, in 2014.

 

It has already carried out guerrilla operations in both Iraq and in Syria, and has continued to inspire lone militants to attack civilian targets in the West.

 

In Syria, the end of major operations against Islamic State may only prefigure a new phase of the war, as the rival forces which have seized territory from the jihadists square off.

 

The Syrian army, alongside Hezbollah and other Shi'ite militias, and backed by Iran and Russia, have seized swathes of central and eastern Syria in the advance against Islamic State this year.

 

Russian official media have in recent weeks reported a surge of strategic bombing and cruise missile strikes on Islamic State targets in eastern Syria as the army advanced.

 

A U.S.-backed coalition has supported a rival campaign by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias that have pushed Islamic State from much of the country's north and east.

 

NEW PHASE OF WAR

 

The Syrian government has sworn to recapture territory held by the SDF, including Islamic State's former capital Raqqa and oil and gas fields east of the Euphrates.

 

In areas controlled by the SDF in northern Syria, Kurdish-led groups have established autonomy, announcing elections and setting internal policies.

 

On Tuesday, Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to Assad, described the U.S. forces aiding the SDF as illegal invaders.

Washington has not spelled out how its military support for the SDF would evolve after Islamic State's defeat.

 

Shaaban also pointed, in a television interview, to the example of Iraq, where the government retaliated against an autonomous Kurdish region after it held an independence referendum.

 

Iraqi military officials say small groups of Islamic State militants are still entrenched in the town of Rawa and the border desert strip with Syria. Scattered villages near al-Qaim, close to Albu Kamal, are still under militant control in an area called Rummana.

 

The Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), an alliance of militias, earlier  on Wednesday denied it had crossed the Syrian border and was attacking Albu Kamal.

 

"Our movements are carried out under orders from the commander in chief of the armed forces and our key objective is to liberate Iraq's territories from Daesh. We have no orders to cross the borders," PMF sp okesman Ahmed al-Asadi said.

 

(Reporting by Laila Bassam, Angus McDowall and Sarah Dadouch in Beirut, Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad and Raya Jalabi in Erbil; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-09

[ELVIS123456]

As each and every ahole who went to fight for and help ISIS, returns to western countries, arrest them and send them all to Gitmo for interrogation. Then once all the intel is 'removed', send them back to their home country and put them in jail for the rest of their lives (or at least 30 years - whatever is greater).  Human Rights rules and laws should only be applied to humans.  The best way to fight fire is with fire. 

[Scott]

28 minutes ago, ELVIS123456 said:

As each and every ahole who went to fight for and help ISIS, returns to western countries, arrest them and send them all to Gitmo for interrogation. Then once all the intel is 'removed', send them back to their home country and put them in jail for the rest of their lives (or at least 30 years - whatever is greater).  Human Rights rules and laws should only be applied to humans.  The best way to fight fire is with fire. 

Some time ago, I read an article about the foreigners fighting with ISIS and basically it said that the home countries are doing nothing to get them back, so most of them will face death.   The local ISIS fighters have the opportunity to blend in and make it home, but most of the foreigners do not and no effort is being made to insure their arrest.  

 

Unfortunately, I don't remember where I read about it, so I don't have a link.  

[retarius]

Good news....but....what is going to happen if/when the Syrian army, supported by Hezbollah and maybe Russia start to try to get their oilwells back from American sponsored al-Qaeda and the Kurds?

 

Personally I doubt Russia will involve themselves in this next phase.

[craigt3365]

1 hour ago, Scott said:

Some time ago, I read an article about the foreigners fighting with ISIS and basically it said that the home countries are doing nothing to get them back, so most of them will face death.   The local ISIS fighters have the opportunity to blend in and make it home, but most of the foreigners do not and no effort is being made to insure their arrest.  

 

Unfortunately, I don't remember where I read about it, so I don't have a link.  

A significant number of the foreign fighters are from Russia or former Russian satellite countries. I'll try to find the article.

[Rancid]

Ironic isn't it that as one country was organizing evacuations for ISIS members that they financed, armed and trained, the Russians, Syrians and Iranians were just killing the evil  b*stards. There are numerous reports supporting this, even government officials, but you will find no mention in the mainstream media.

 

And yeah, lets see what happens as all these trained and angry killers return to their home countries. Perhaps some anti anger counseling, or a nice brochure advising that it isn't PC to blow people up?

[Morch]

9 hours ago, retarius said:

Good news....but....what is going to happen if/when the Syrian army, supported by Hezbollah and maybe Russia start to try to get their oilwells back from American sponsored al-Qaeda and the Kurds?

 

Personally I doubt Russia will involve themselves in this next phase.

 

The oil fields are held by the SDF, which is USA supported and mainly made up of Kurds. As other topics detail, they seem to be holding on to territory gained with the aim of getting some concessions regarding self rule. Whether or not Assad is up for that is questionable. If things are not resolved and/or the Kurds do not retreat, they will be driven back. This part may happen regardless, if Assad wishes to make a point for future dealings. Doubt that anyone is much into a broader military operation against the Kurds on their own turf, at least not at this time. Russia, indeed, doesn't seem too interested in going there.

 

Al Qaeda, or whichever Syrian outfit stands for it, was not directly sponsored by the USA and is not exactly a major factor with regard to the issue raised above.

[Morch]

7 hours ago, Rancid said:

Ironic isn't it that as one country was organizing evacuations for ISIS members that they financed, armed and trained, the Russians, Syrians and Iranians were just killing the evil  b*stards. There are numerous reports supporting this, even government officials, but you will find no mention in the mainstream media.

 

And yeah, lets see what happens as all these trained and angry killers return to their home countries. Perhaps some anti anger counseling, or a nice brochure advising that it isn't PC to blow people up?

 

Which evacuations would these be? The ones I recall would involve a deal struck between Hezbollah and some Islamic organizations, which allowed Sunni extremists to retreat back to Syria from positions near Lebanon's border. Obviously none of these "numerous reports" cited, nor is their credibility clear.

[boomerangutang]

A few yrs ago, when ISIS started its campaign, I watched a video where ISIS fighters stopped at a river where young boys were playing in the water. The ISIS guys went down and played with boys, splashing, etc.  They were recruiting. That evening, they got the boys to go to an outdoor party with lots of food, candy.  Even after just 2 hours or so, the boys were already spouting ISIS garbage.  

 

Now, a few years later, those boys are old enough to hold and aim a gun.  Many of them probably got shot up in recent battles. I'm not lamenting it, so much as lamenting the dynamic that leads to boys getting their heads blown off before they reach 16.  

 

We, from the west, can say, 'what about parents?'  Sadly, parents have no part to play in that equation, unless they want a bullet to the cranium.  

[ELVIS123456]

10 hours ago, Scott said:

Some time ago, I read an article about the foreigners fighting with ISIS and basically it said that the home countries are doing nothing to get them back, so most of them will face death.   The local ISIS fighters have the opportunity to blend in and make it home, but most of the foreigners do not and no effort is being made to insure their arrest.  

 

Unfortunately, I don't remember where I read about it, so I don't have a link.  

Sounds like a great idea - let them rot where they are.

 

Probably a good idea to remove all links to the story - otherwise some PC correct libtard will lodge a complaint with the UN that not helping them return home is in breach of their 'human rights'.

 

And it will serve as an example to others ever thinking the same in the future.

 

Edited November 9, 2017 by ELVIS123456
spell

[craigt3365]

8 hours ago, Rancid said:

Ironic isn't it that as one country was organizing evacuations for ISIS members that they financed, armed and trained, the Russians, Syrians and Iranians were just killing the evil  b*stards. There are numerous reports supporting this, even government officials, but you will find no mention in the mainstream media.

 

And yeah, lets see what happens as all these trained and angry killers return to their home countries. Perhaps some anti anger counseling, or a nice brochure advising that it isn't PC to blow people up?

If it's not in the MSM, it means it's not properly vetted yet. No conspiracy theories please.

 

And how many civilians did the Russians kill?

[Scott]

Off-topic post reported and removed.