Syria Disintegrating: Part 2

[Berkut]

On Saturday, a Syrian opposition group, the al-Furqan Brigades, published footage of an Iranian officer killed in battle. Opposition news website Zaman al-Wasl identified the man as Haj Abbas Abdullahi, one of Iran's most decorated snipers and a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

A veteran of the Iran-Iraq war fighting in Syria? Let the poor guy retire already!

[Valmy]

Well I suppose he did in a way. RIP

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Tons of evidence regarding Assad's atrocities have been smuggled out of Syria

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/12/syria-truth-smugglers-bashar-al-assad-war-crimes

and still he's preferable over the ISIS-types

If Assad falls it will simplify the situation on the ground.  As long as he hangs around, the effort to coordinate vs. ISIS will be hampered by the perception that it benefits Assad.

as long as countries like Saudistan are around ISIS is not going to vanish

[KRonn]

Tons of evidence regarding Assad's atrocities have been smuggled out of Syria

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/12/syria-truth-smugglers-bashar-al-assad-war-crimes

How about the atrocities of ISIS? I'd rather Assad in there than Syria falling to ISIS control. Face it, Syria is not going to become any kind of Muslim democracy or some kind of moderate place like Tunisia. The best chance for it now is probably for Assad to prevail against the radical forces against him.

Turkey was supporting the rebels against Assad, sending weapons and allowing fighters to go in. Now many of those weapons and fighters are with ISIS. I wonder if Turkey feels they made a big mistake in pushing to overthrow Assad? For that matter, what is the US policy? We want Assad out but what takes his place? It'll make Libya look like a thriving democracy by comparison.

[KRonn]

Tons of evidence regarding Assad's atrocities have been smuggled out of Syria

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/12/syria-truth-smugglers-bashar-al-assad-war-crimes

and still he's preferable over the ISIS-types

If Assad falls it will simplify the situation on the ground.  As long as he hangs around, the effort to coordinate vs. ISIS will be hampered by the perception that it benefits Assad.

as long as countries like Saudistan are around ISIS is not going to vanish

Yep, lots of support from some Saudis but the government doesn't like ISIS being around. ISIS victorious in Iraq and Syria won't take too long to move on SA as one of their next conquests.

[citizen k]

I'd rather Assad in there than Syria falling to ISIS control.

I'll take option C, neither.



First U.S. fighter killed battling ISIS.

http://news.yahoo.com/american-fighting-kurds-killed-islamic-state-battle-175851993.html

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — An American fighting with Kurdish forces against the Islamic State group in Syria has been killed in battle, authorities said Wednesday, likely the first U.S. citizen to die fighting alongside them against the extremists.
   
Keith Broomfield of Massachusetts died June 3 in a battle in the Syrian village of Qentere, which is near the border town of Kobani, said Nasser Haji, an official with a group of Kurdish fighters known as the YPG. He had joined the YPG on Feb. 24 under the nom de guerre Gelhat Raman, Haji said.

Haji did not elaborate on the circumstances of Broomfield's death, nor did he know the man's hometown.

State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke confirmed Bloomfield's death, but declined to provide any details about the circumstances. He said the U.S. was providing consular assistance to his family.

The fight against the Islamic State group has attracted dozens of Westerners, including a number of Iraq war veterans who have made their way back to the Middle East to join Kurdish fighters, who have been most successful against the extremist group.

Many are spurred on by Kurdish social media campaigners and a sense of duty rooted in the 2003 U.S.-led military invasion of Iraq. And while the U.S. and its coalition allies bomb the extremists from the air, Kurds say they hope more Westerners will join them on the ground to fight.

Previously, a British citizen, an Australian and a German woman have been killed fighting with the Kurds.

Backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria have successfully pushed back Islamic State group militants from Kobani and scores of nearby villages. More recently, they have closed in on the Islamic State-held town of Tal Abyad near the Turkish border. The town is the Islamic State group's main access point to Turkey from Raqqa, the group's de facto capital in Syria.

[citizen k]

If Assad falls it will simplify the situation on the ground. 

And one less reason for Sunnis to join ISIS and al-Nusra.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

If Assad falls it will simplify the situation on the ground. 

And one less reason for Sunnis to join ISIS and al-Nusra.

or maybe a good reason to join them if it's either of them that topple Assad.

[Valmy]

Of course if Assad does fall what happens to the Alawites? Really there is no good outcome.

[Admiral Yi]

I expect Assad/the Alawites to hold out forever in their coastal enclave.  AFAIK they haven't lost any core Alawite territory yet.

[DGuller]

Can they secede to Lebanon? 

[The Brain]

I guess the Alablacks are fucked as always.

[Eddie Teach]

I guess the Alablacks are fucked as always.

[The Minsky Moment]

Another important army base has fallen to the rebels.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/moderate-rebels-take-key-southern-base-in-syria-dealing-blow-to-assad/2015/06/09/9d6ff9c2-0ea5-11e5-a0fe-dccfea4653ee_story.html

This is one is more significant. Deir Ezzor was just a matter of time, this one cuts off the Druze enclave on the Jordanian border from Damascus.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Well I suppose he did in a way. RIP

He had only one day left on his contract.