West Poised To Join Forces With President Assad In Face Of Islamic State

[Purveyor]

Islamist forces are fighting their way into western Syria from bases further east, bringing forward the prospect of US military intervention to stop their advance. If Isis, which styles itself Islamic State, threatens to take all or part of Aleppo, establishing complete dominance over the anti-government rebels, the US may be compelled to act publicly or secretly in concert with President Bashar al-Assad, whom it has been trying to displace.

The US has already covertly assisted the Assad government by passing on intelligence about the exact location of jihadi leaders through the BND, the German intelligence service, a source has told The Independent. This may explain why Syrian aircraft and artillery have been able on occasion to target accurately rebel commanders and headquarters.

Syrian army troops are engaged in a fierce battle to hold Tabqa airbase in Raqqa province, the fall of which would open the way to Hama, Syria’s fourth-largest city.

Further north, Isis has captured crucial territory that brings it close to cutting rebel supply lines between Aleppo and the Turkish border. The caliphate declared by Isis on 29 June already covers the eastern third of Syria in addition to a quarter of Iraq. It stretches from Jalawla, a town 20 miles from Iran, which the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga are trying to recapture, to towns 30 miles north of Aleppo.

An Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighter taking position on the front line in Bashiqa, north-east of Mosul An Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighter taking position on the front line in Bashiqa, north-east of Mosul The question of possible US military action in Syria, such as air strikes, jumped to the top of political agenda on Thursday when the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, General Martin Dempsey, said: “Can they [Isis] be defeated without addressing that part of the organisation that resides in Syria? The answer is no.”

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/west-poised-to-join-forces-with-president-assad-in-face-of-islamic-state-9686666.html

[Igel]

1. Ironic if it happens.

Giving up hopes and ideology + spin for Realpolitik. And so soon, after only 200k or so dead.

Hopes and ideology had a much greater chance of succeeding in Egypt, and they were ceded to autocracy after only what? Perhaps a thousand dead?

[Dems to Win]

2. Bomb Riyadh. Take out the source of the problem, the Saudi royal family

Bomb Riyadh, site of weekly beheadings.

Bomb Riyadh, the source of ISIS funding. The source of salafism (fundamentalist Islam) and the money spreading this cancer all over the world.

If the US must go back to war in the mideast, at least bomb the right people this time.