Syria Kicks Off Again

[naomi24]

//Rebel forces launched the largest offensive against the Syrian government in years on Wednesday.

By Sunday, they had taken control of "large parts" of the country's second-biggest city, Aleppo and were advancing towards Hama in the south.

The surprise offensive prompted the first Russian strikes on Aleppo since 2016, and saw Syria's military withdraw its troops from the city.

The attack was led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - which has a long and involved history in the Syrian conflict.//

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce313jn453zo

 

Is there no end to this?

[davebro3]

Must go check my shares in that Turkish rubber boat manufacturer! 🤣

[Peter Pedant]

Nope: the russians are involved

[mushroom25]

// the russians are involved //

they are, and they'll want to protect their base at Tartus at all costs - if it falls to the rebels the Russians will lose their warm water access to the med, and no possibility of strengthening their position with the Black Sea fleet without breaking the Montreux Convention.....

[Untitled]

if i were the USA i would be quite pleased if Russian forces were further entangled in Syria 

not that i am suggesting they would ever involve themselves with such groups for short-term political reasons of course. perish the thought. i'm sure nothing like that has ever happened before. 

[ToraToraTora]

"is there no end to this" - nope it's Islam, the religion of peace.

[Old_Geezer]

Perhaps the two "questionable" sides can go annihilate each other ?

[ynnafymmi]

Wishful thinking OG,but i have always regarded Syria as a largely secular state,Assad is another Hitler,of course,but i dont think he has any issues with the Jewish state,and as far as im aware there is no women being forced to wear burkas or any of that misogynistic Islamic keich.

[Khandro]

It's Isis/ al Qaeda/ Daesh in another name, it will never end. However, it happens to be useful in that it has stretched Putin's forces and resources even further.  

[Khandro]

ynnafymmi; The Assad family and the army are Alawites, not really considered to be Islam, though that is where their origins were.

They occupy only about 12% of the population and if this lot of cut throats  get to them they will slaughter every last one of them. 

 

[ynnafymmi]

Cut-throats every one of them Khandro,and if they bring down Assad they will go after the government of Lebanon,then after that Jordan.Hes a nasty bastrad,but compared to his(and our)enemies,he should be an ally of us in the West rather than old fascist in the Kremlin.

[Khandro]

y.  His wife;  Asma Fawaz al-Assad is the First Lady of Syria. Born and raised in London to Syrian parents, she graduated from King's College London in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in computer science and French literature.

She is a British citizen, quite lovely, [sez I]  and I read sadly, that she has recently been diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia. 

[davebro3]

The whole middle east is a cesspit. Were it not for the oil it should be razed to the ground.

[jourdain2]

The oil is underground, davebro3, does that help?

As long as there is militant Islam there will be no end - unless they win and then there will be peace, of course, under hard-line Islam. 

[youngmafbog]

Well yes but the means of extracting it isnt.

We need to stay out of it.  We should learn from Saddam and Gaddafi that sometimes these sorts are needed out there to maintain some sort of stability.