Syria Disintegrating: Part 2

[PJL]

I second the notion that Saudis are despicable in their own right, and it's a shame that we have to be allied to them.  If ISIS settled down and build a new country on their lands, I'm not sure that they're going to be that different from Saudi Arabia of today in a few decades.

Which is what I was saying earlier in this thread. Having looked at the history of Saudi Arabia over the last 300 years or so, to me ISIS looks like another one of those tribal /religious uprisings that always occur in the area.

But it's a transnational movement centered in Syria and Iraq

Who said that the Saudis have stopped doing it? They've got their own country secure and are now exporting their revolution elsewhere.

[jimmy olsen]

Maybe he should consider building a bomb with it to use upon his enemies? 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/08/us-syria-nuclear-idUSKBN0OO1O920150608

IAEA studies Syrian request to switch to lower grade nuclear fuel
VIENNA

The U.N.'s nuclear agency is studying a request from Syria to help convert an atomic reactor near Damascus to use lower grade nuclear fuel which would be harder to use in bombs, its head said on Monday.

The reactor is currently running on highly-enriched uranium (HEU) and Syria wants the help of the International Atomic Energy Agency to use low-enriched uranium (LEU) and to ship the higher-grade material abroad, Yukiya Amano told reporters.

"We have received a request from Syria early this year to convert the HEU fuel to LEU fuel and to repatriate the HEU to the country of origin. We are now studying this request," Amano told reporters, without giving further details.
ADVERTISING

Uranium enriched to less than 5 percent of fissile purity is usually considered low-enriched, while an atomic bomb would usually be based on 90-percent enriched uranium.

Chinese-designed so-called MSNR reactors, such as the one at the Syrian site, normally run on about 1 kilogram of 90-percent enriched uranium, according to the IAEA - far less than what is needed for an atomic bomb.

Still, any loss or theft of highly enriched uranium, plutonium or other types of radioactive material is potentially serious as militants could try to use them to make a crude nuclear device or a "dirty bomb", experts say.

Syria has suffered under years of civil war and jihadist militants have brought swathes of its territory under their control.

In the IAEA's latest assessment on Syria, it said that a "physical inventory verification at the MNSR would be postponed until the security conditions had sufficiently improved."

The Syrian case has been on the agenda of the IAEA board's quarterly meetings for over six years.

The IAEA has long sought to visit a Syrian desert site where U.S. intelligence reports say a North Korean-designed reactor was being constructed to make plutonium for nuclear bombs, before Israel bombed it in 2007.

Syria has said the eastern site at Deir al-Zor was a conventional military base but the IAEA concluded in 2011 it was "very likely" to have been a reactor that should have been declared to anti-proliferation inspectors.

"I renew my call to Syria to cooperate fully with us in connection with unresolved issues related to the (Deir al-Zor)site and other locations," Amano said.

(Reporting By Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

[Eddie Teach]

Maybe he should consider building a bomb with it to use upon his enemies? 

Where do you suggest setting said bomb off?

[DGuller]

Maybe he should consider building a bomb with it to use upon his enemies? 

Where do you suggest setting said bomb off?

Someplace controlled by the enemy.  I'm sure he'll be able to find a spot or two if he looks at the map for long enough.

[Eddie Teach]

Destroying his own country's cities isn't going to help him win the war.

[Malthus]

Destroying his own country's cities isn't going to help him win the war.

Heh it worked in the 1980s. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Hama_massacre

[derspiess]

Destroying his own country's cities isn't going to help him win the war.

But it might prevent the other side from winning.  And that's sort of like winning.

[Kleves]

Does he still have a bunch of chemical weapons he could use? I would guess that his stockpile of 'fucks given about American intervention' is getting lower every day.

[Valmy]

Does he still have a bunch of chemical weapons he could use? I would guess that his stockpile of 'fucks given about American intervention' is getting lower every day.

We are the least of his problems at this point.

[KRonn]

Does he still have a bunch of chemical weapons he could use? I would guess that his stockpile of 'fucks given about American intervention' is getting lower every day.

According to some stories he has been using chem weapons.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Does he still have a bunch of chemical weapons he could use? I would guess that his stockpile of 'fucks given about American intervention' is getting lower every day.

According to some stories he has been using chem weapons.

not enough apparently

[Tonitrus]

And probably not really all that effective in achieving their military goals anyway.  They're mostly just a terror weapon, and ISIS's own brand of terror has shown to be far more effective.

[LaCroix]

assad should use chemical warfare against ISIS

[citizen k]

Do I smell moderation?  A post- Assad Syria might not turn out to be as bad as the detractors of the revolution have predicted.

Syrian Nusra Front promises justice after shooting of Druze

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front acknowledged on Saturday that its members were involved in the killing of Druze villagers in northwestern Syria this week, saying they had violated orders and would face justice.

Twenty Druze villagers were reportedly killed in the village of Qalb Loze in Idlib province on Wednesday when Nusra Front members opened fire in an incident that spiraled from their attempt to confiscate a house.

The Druze community, which is spread across the Levant, practices a religion viewed as heretical by the puritanical brand of Sunni Islamism espoused by al Qaeda and Islamic State, the two most powerful insurgent groups in Syria.

In a statement, the Nusra Front said it had received with "great sorrow" news of the incident in which "a number of Nusra Front members" had taken part without consulting their leaders.

All those involved would face trial in an Islamic court, it added. "Everyone involved in this incident will be presented to a sharia court and held to account for blood proven to have been spilt."

The statement was circulated on a Nusra Front-affiliated Twitter feed. It did not give a casualty toll or describe what had happened in "the incident".

The Nusra Front is part of an alliance of insurgent groups that has been gaining ground from President Bashar al-Assad in northwestern Syria.

The shootings have triggered statements of concern for the Druze in Syria, including in the south where insurgents including the Nusra Front and Islamic State have been trying to advance towards Sweida province, a Druze stronghold.

Lebanese Druze leaders allied to the Syrian government warned the community faced an existential threat. Some have called for them to be sent arms.

Walid Jumblatt, an anti-Assad Lebanese Druze politician, said, however, the incident was more "personal" - indicating he did not see it as sectarian - and must be resolved through political contacts with local and regional players.

The Nusra Front said it had sent delegations to the village to investigate the incident and to reassure the people that it happened without the leadership's knowledge and that they remained safe in areas held by Nusra Front.

The insurgents in southern Syria include groups that profess a secular outlook who say they want a diverse Syria that protects minority rights.

[Admiral Yi]

Smells more like power politics to me.