Aleppo now freed from the rebels!

[BmorePat87]

(12-14-2016, 12:20 PM)Bilbo Saggins Wrote: Supposedly the idea was to overthrow Assad, install a new government, and then have that government turn and fight ISIS.  Geographically the rebels are caught between Assad and ISIS, so funding them in a failed attempt to overthrow Assad effectively stopped both groups from going after ISIS.  There are even more strange happenings going on with Turkey fighting with the YPG and other Kurdish forces that are anti-ISIS but also have a rocky relationship with Turkey.  Had all of the anti-ISIS parties actually fought against their common enemy rather than fighting against each other, the conflict may have looked drastically different.

And, of course, the rebels themselves are a mixture of groups, some allied and some opposing each other. Some are al-Qaeda linked jihadists. Others seek democratic reforms. Some are just Kurds hoping for a Kurdish state.