12-14-2016, 03:11 PM
(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.
It's a civil war. The rebels are trying to overthrow Assad. At least some of the Syrian rebels are fighting ISIS. ISIS is fighting Iraq, the Kurds, the Syrian Rebels, and anyone else who would interfere with their Sunni caliphate. Combating Assad and ISIS is why the US is supporting some of the Syrian rebel groups. We also support the Kurds to fight ISIS. The Kurds are fighting the Turks who are our NATO allies. Assad tolerates ISIS to a degree because they are combating the rebels which hope to over throw him. Iran is supporting ISIS, Assad, and the anti-Sunni Iraqi government to increase their influence in the region. Russia is supporting Assad so it doesn't create a post -Assad power vacuum ala post-Saddam Iraq for their interest in the region. Saudi Arabia has supported the rebels and ISIS to overthrow Assad and decrease Iran's influence. We support Saudi Arabia which means we are indirectly supporting ISIS which we are simultaneously trying to destroy in a Sunni-Shia proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
It sounds confusing, but it isn't even that simple. It's one of the great blunders.
I didn't even mention Isreal. LOL
