Syria's Civil War, 2011-ongoing World • Page 4

I think Ben's opening post describes all the groups very well and about as concisely as can be hoped for. If you're looking for more context into larger implications or historical context, it would help if you could be a bit more specific, because every question tends to bring up a thousand more questions. This is largely the nature of global politics when imperialism is involved. tbqh I find it is very useful to assume that the US is the most evil aggressor in any conflict because it is good to give all parties carte blanche when first approaching and learning about a conflict that is new to you. Of course it turns out in this case that da'ish is fucking terrible and al-Nusra/al-Sham-esque fundamentalist rebels aren't really better. But again, I think the point that I was trying to make is that there are reasons for all of these groups to be acting the way they are, so it's really hard to explain why an event is bad. Conflicts in countries terrorised by imperialism and colonialism just tend to be incredibly complicated because racial, sectarian, national, ethnic, etc. lines have all been pushed and targeted over the years. All that to say I'm not trying to dismiss your question, but if a lot of these events and people's responses are confusing, it takes time and effort and a lot of reading to start unraveling them. There's just no way that a post's-worth of info can give all the context necessary. Again, Ben's first post is good. I'd say if I had to choose avenues for learning about this particular conflict, I would broadly suggest reading about the post-Ottoman carving up of the region, the monarchies in SA, Qatar, UAE, and Bahrain, US/UK/UN intervention starting-ish with the '52/'53 installation of the Iranian Shah and the later revolution inspired by Ayatollah Khomeini, US/UN conflicts in Somalia and Iraq in the 90s, W's war on Afghanistan (as well as the Uzbeki, Turkmeni, and Tajiki warlords in contrast to the largely Pashtun population in al-Qa'ida controlled territory as well as Pakistan's involvement) and probably the big one is his war on Iraq and then follow that forward to the Syrian crisis with stops to learn about all the nations affected in the Arab Spring, and then at that point read about the Assad family. At that point it will be easier to bring the Alawite minority-rule into the picture in a way that makes sense and gives more perspective. The conflict in Yemen is also connected. And a general knowledge of the belief systems and cultural customs of all the groups in the region is essential to form the framework. So yes, as you pointed out, there are a lot of groups. It's important to listen to and read what people from the groups are feeling and thinking just in general but even more so importantly because it is a region where people are often pushed to their breaking point to defend the lives of themselves and their families and there tends to be a relationship between violence that occurs and the people pushed to violence and/or supporting groups they believe will offer them a better chance of survival.

 

Syrian Democratic Forces: "We will resist the Popular Mobilization in the event of them entering Syria and we will not accept a corridor between Iran and the Syrian regime under any circumstances" • r/syriancivilwar

"handwritten by the US" indeed. getting harder and harder to downplay US influence here...bummer

 

White phosphorus used by either US or Iraqi army today.

 

PMU fucked up a da'ish technical. Posting for vid quality and solidarity.

 

The $1bn hostage deal that enraged Qatar’s Gulf rivals • r/syriancivilwar

latest from Raqqa:

 

We won't be hearing much more from him if his family supports the government

 

worth sharing:

AMAA Jihadi/Terrorist turned Atheist. • r/syriancivilwar

 

SDF storming Raqqa

 

Was just about to post that. I fucking hate the US so much.

edit. Also

 

and twice:

if this is the SyAF that might be veeeeeeeeeery bad

 

Yea, but also like....that's the secondary or tertiary conflict right? It's not that far out of the realm of plausible actions. SDF has some big guns especially with the recent US support. Doesn't seem too odd to me that the Syrian gov would be wary, least of all given 45's comments on Iran yesterday.

 

Being drafted and forced to die because some general has a war boner is gonna be so sick

 

Ah holy shit wait how'd I miss the SAA reaching the Iraqi border! Genius move

 

@armistice

 

Yea for sure. I know Kataib Imam Ali is going to push north along the border, so I'm wondering what the Hezbollah forces are going to do from there. Pretty decent position to put pressure on the rebels from. I don't actually know what groups are holding Al-Tanf and SE Homs though. al-Sham or other IF affiliates I'm assuming. I don't know much about the border with Jordan though I think Mafraq's population is like half Syrian refugees now. And just geographically speaking, proximity to SA is hard to ignore.

 

I'd totally be down if this is a thing. This is probably just reactionary vis-à-vis US coalition support of the YPG and proximal support of other rebel groups, but if they came out over aN I wouldn't complain.

edit:

The second tweet:

"We opposed Assad's oppression and we'll oppose HTS oppression. A criminal is a criminal whether he wears a beard or not"

The first I don't fully understand, but it seems to be a call to prayer and reverence as a vehicle of revolution in cooperation with the material violence of the struggle.

 

SAA captured Arak town and gas field. • r/syriancivilwar

Flat desert all the way to DeZ

 

This is tight. Like a fucking razor up into that shit. I'm all about this.