Syria jets hit Islamic State targets in Raqqa

[pampango]

Source: Aljazeera

Regime planes bombard Islamic State positions as fighters close in on Tabqa air base in northern Raqqa province.

Activists say Syrian jets have bombarded positions of the Islamic State group in the northern province of Raqqa as the self-declared jihadists close in on the last army base in the region.

Government forces have previously held off from targeting the Islamic State group, formerly known as ISIL - a strategy that has aided the group's battle against other rebels such as the Islamic Front coalition, the Free Syrian Army and al-Qaeda's affiliate in the Syrian war, the Nusra Front.

Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, has long painted the uprising in Syria as a foreign-backed conspiracy and his enemies say he has allowed the Islamic State to grow to promote that idea.

The attacks come after the Islamic State group on Thursday captured the headquarters of Syria's 17th Division, based in the Raqqa area. It posted a video online of its operation.

Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/syria-islamic-state-raqqa-201481812135189335.html

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Raqqa is in north-central Syria bordering on Turkey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ar-Raqqah_Governorate#mediaviewer/File:Ar-Raqqah_in_Syria_%28%2BGolan_hatched%29.svg

[Renew Deal]

1. Do we welcome the support of our new Syrian allies?

[ballyhoo]

2. No. From all I have read ISIS is sponsored by

Saudi Arabia and Quatar with funds flowing through Kuwait.

[karynnj]

3. Thanks for both the article and the link explaining where in Syria it is

My first thought was that ISIS could be getting squeezed on both sides.

Here is a regional interactive map (not completely up to date) - http://www.ft.com/ig/sites/2014/isis-map/
After reading your link and looking at the map of Syria, I then wanted to look for a map to see where in Iraq ISIS was. The geography was way more complicated than I had thought. The link is an interactive map where all the yellow (ISIS) and blue (Kurds) squares, black dots (cities), and "fires", when clicked, show the name of the location and the recent ISIS related events. It does not seem to have been updated to reflect what happened this weekend or today - which is unfortunate as it is an amazing source even without that update. (I suspect it will be updated as someone obviously spent a huge amount of work to create this.)

As to ISIS being squeezed on both sides, it is more they are getting some pushback on both edges and - with great effort - their expansion is beginning to be contained. While most of the focus has been their movement towards Irbil and Baghdad, they had also been taking over more land in Syria - land previously controlled by the non ISIS rebels ( sometimes called moderates). Here is a NYT article from 2 days ago that explains that the non ISIS rebels were being attacked by both ISIS and Syria - they ARE being ssqueezed by both sides. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/16/world/middleeast/syria-bashar-assad-aleppo-rebels-isis.html?_r=0

[cosmicone]

4. What is amusing is

that ISIS is not touching the Iranian border even though the Sunni ISIS hate the Shias and Kurds in Iran. They also curtailed their advances in the Shia areas of Iraq. If Iran gets involved, ISIS will be very short lived.

[ballyhoo]

5. What was the ISIS mission and who hired them? Follow

the money. Course, as the money may be flowing through Kuwait that may be hard to do. Who likes and who doesn't like Iran? Has ISIS been formed to act as a buffer to protect someone?

[PersonNumber503602]

7. It seems more likely that ISIS doesn't want to bite off more than it can chew...

They wouldn't have nearly as much local support in Iran and Shia parts of Iraq. Plus Iran wouldn't be a pushover like the Iraqi military was.

Hopefully the Iraqi government will come to terms with the Sunni tribes and they will work together to push out the extremists.

[ballyhoo]

8. Iran would kill IS on sight. The reason your second sentence won't happen

is the same as why al maliki couldn't do it. Tribal lords won't let it happen. It would mean the new US picked PM is calling the shots--not Sistani or the Tribal lords themselves. It's like Israel coming over here and picking our next President. Couldn't happen in a million years ........................... ................. Oh, wait...

[karynnj]

6. Amusing would not be my word

It is really not surprising - they have moved fastest in areas with mostly Sunni population under Shiite governments, where they have coopted the Sunnis to at least not hinder their progress.

I don't think that Iran would have much greater success in fighting ISIS in the SUNNI areas of Iraq and Syria than the Syrians have had or than the US or Kurds (with US air support)would have if that were there mission.

In fact, just as you blame the US for ISIS, it is possible to blame Iran for inadvertently helping create a situation where ISIS flourished. Iran supported Maliki when he eliminated any power for the Sunnis and Kurds in Iraq and allied with Iran. That helped lead to the disaffection of the Sunnis and their willingness to help rather than stop ISIS. In retrospect, inclusive governments where the Sunnis were not powerless in both Syria and Iraq could have prevented the vaccum that led to ISIS. It is not clear that moving to unity governments now would correct the damage done.

[KinMd]

9. The enemy of my enemy is my friend?

...we need a good flowchart to see who is on what side