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WaPo: In Syria and Iraq, ISIS is on the retreat

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A

aeolist

Banned
It's nice to post good news about the fight against these shitheads.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...1-11e5-a2a3-d4e9697917d1_story.html?tid=sm_tw

In the latest setbacks for the militants on Thursday, Syrian government troops entered the outskirts of the historic town of Palmyra after a weeks-old offensive aided by Russian and U.S. airstrikes helped Iraqi forces overrun a string of Islamic State villages in northern Iraq that had been threatening a U.S. base nearby.

These are just two of the many fronts in both countries where the militants are being squeezed, stretched and pushed back. Nowhere are they on the attack. They have not embarked on a successful offensive in nearly nine months. Their leaders are dying in U.S. strikes at the rate of one every three days, inhibiting their ability to launch attacks, according to U.S. military officials.
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The Islamic State continues to defend when it is attacked and shows no sign that it is losing cohesion in its core territories — but it is starting to become possible to foresee the group's ultimate defeat, said Knights, who thinks that could come by the end of next year.

“They are starting to fall apart,” he said. “They're a small movement. If you bring them under pressure on half a dozen battlefields at the same time, they can't do it.”
Click to expand...

Hopefully this means that the support network for their cells in other countries will become more isolated and fail without funding.
 
C

Chairman Yang

if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
Good news, and a continued sign that the level of Western intervention is fine as-is.

I'm curious: what happens when ISIS-controlled territory is liberated? Have there been lots of reprisals by Shia/Kurds/government forces, or has the process been pretty smooth?
 
A

Aaron Strife

Banned
Front-line commanders no longer speak of a scarily formidable foe but of defenses that crumble within days and fighters who flee at the first sign they are under attack.

“They don’t fight. They just send car bombs and then run away. And when we surround them they either surrender or infiltrate themselves among the civilians,” said Lt. Gen. Abdul-Ghani al-Assadi, commander of Iraq’s counterterrorism forces, who is overseeing the latest Iraqi offensive to capture the town of Hit in the province of Anbar.
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lol sounds about right. Dirty cowards.
 
M

Mr. Giggles

Member
Good and while these cowards scurry like the human cockroaches that they are, perhaps you catch the ones trying to flee into EU too..
 
tfur

tfur

Member
This is good news, although...

“They don’t fight. They just send car bombs and then run away. And when we surround them they either surrender or infiltrate themselves among the civilians,” said Lt. Gen. Abdul-Ghani al-Assadi, commander of Iraq’s counterterrorism forces, who is overseeing the latest Iraqi offensive to capture the town of Hit in the province of Anbar.
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This is concerning. Considering how many EU citizens are part of this ISIS movement. I would think every country would want to step up their intelligence monitoring for their migration back to the EU countries.
 
T

Team Alucard

Banned
Unfortunately, the gains in Syria will probably be lost after Hillary gets in office and sends in ground troops to topple Assad.
 
A

Abinash117

Member
The Iraqis are making a move on Mosul and the SDF might hit areas around Raqqa too. ISIS has been losing since around the summer of last year gaining only temporary territory. Capturing Palmyra was the only significant victory in a long time.

But I guarantee there will be more terror attacks in many places.
 
G

Grover Cleveland

Member
The dirty secret of all of this is that ISIS has been losing ground, resources, and influence for a while now.

These terrorist attacks on Western soil aren't coming from a position of strength, but one of desperation.
 
D

DontBeThatGuy

Member
Grover Cleveland said:
The dirty secret of all of this is that ISIS has been losing ground, resources, and influence for a while now.

These terrorist attacks on Western soil aren't coming from a position of strength, but one of desperation.
Click to expand...

Weird, republicans been saying nothing is getting done, Obama sitting on his hands.
 
J

j_k_redtail

Member
In the latest setbacks for the militants on Thursday, Syrian government troops entered the outskirts of the historic town of Palmyra after a weeks-old offensive aided by Russian and U.S. airstrikes helped Iraqi forces overrun a string of Islamic State villages in northern Iraq that had been threatening a U.S. base nearby.
Click to expand...

Can you imagine this sentence being written thirty years ago? (Replace "Russian" with "Soviet.")
 
R

reckless

Member
But ISIS is an existential threat and we gotta invade Syria to stop them!

On a serious note it really seems like Kobane was a pretty big turning point, ISIS lost a lot of fighters and the aura of invincibility. Between that and the greater cooperation of anti ISIS forces they have been slowly been pushed back ever since.
 
F

Fularu

Banned
reckless said:
But ISIS is an existential threat and we gotta invade Syria to stop them!

On a serious note it really seems like Kobane was a pretty big turning point, ISIS lost a lot of fighters and the aura of invincibility. Between that and the greater cooperation of anti ISIS forces they have been slowly been pushed back ever since.
Click to expand...
Kobane wasn't the turning point, the Russian intervention was. To make things simple, Russia cut out all its easy access to weapons and militants through Turkey and has been bombing them prety hard for the past 6 months now (contrary to what western média has been saying)
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Member
Let me tell you something about ISIS - they're shitheads. I'm glad they're losing. But you have to wonder what's going to happen to all those young women that left their evil western democracies to become isis-brides...
 
Q

q_q

Member
Grover Cleveland said:
The dirty secret of all of this is that ISIS has been losing ground, resources, and influence for a while now.

These terrorist attacks on Western soil aren't coming from a position of strength, but one of desperation.
Click to expand...

Yep, but Republicans don't want you to know that. They need that boogey man to scare everyone with. And what's worse, they'd have to admit it happened under Obama's watch. GASP!
 
F

Fularu

Banned
OrbitalMatrix said:
You know what annoys me the most about ISIS? They're fucking pussy's. "They just send car bombs and run away". Cowards, all of them.
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This has been their strategy from the start.

ISIS and Al'Nusra took SAA checkpoints by running through them with heavy trucks filled with explosives and detonating them at the checkpoint with suicide bombers

There's just no weapon against that
 
F

FStop7

Banned
Front-line commanders no longer speak of a scarily formidable foe but of defenses that crumble within days and fighters who flee at the first sign they are under attack.

“They don’t fight. They just send car bombs and then run away. And when we surround them they either surrender or infiltrate themselves among the civilians,” said Lt. Gen. Abdul-Ghani al-Assadi, commander of Iraq’s counterterrorism forces, who is overseeing the latest Iraqi offensive to capture the town of Hit in the province of Anbar.
Click to expand...

Sounds like run of the mill guerrilla warfare to me.
 
F

fizzelopeguss

Banned
"Syrian government troops entered the outskirts of the historic town of Palmyra after a weeks-old offensive aided by Russian and U.S. airstrikes"

lol
 
H

Hydrus

Member
StifflersMum said:
But what do they do with all these ISIS fighters surrendering?

They can't keep these shitheads in jail forever.
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Idk, but they should probably be executed. I'm sure they wouldn't care one way or another. Your not gonna change their minds about their views and your just risking more innocent lives in the long run.

And now I await the defense force to tell me I'm a terrible person.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Hydrus said:
Idk, but they should probably be executed. I'm sure they wouldn't care one way or another. Your not gonna change their minds about their views and your just risking more innocent lives in the long run.

And now I await the defense force to tell me I'm a terrible person.
Click to expand...

i have no idea if you're a good person or a terrible one but summary execution of surrendering soldiers is a p. bad idea for a few reasons. i don't suppose mentioning international law, human rights, due process, mistaken identity, deception about identities of combatants versus locals held hostage, or dignity is going to change your mind so let me stick with cold hard rational cost-benefit economics: if enemy soldiers know that surrender results in immediate execution, they have no incentive to surrender. as a result, they will die fighting rather than surrender. thus, more of the "good guys" will die fighting. so in order to make surrender a better option then death on both sides, you need to be willing to make surrender a better option than death.

of course if you don't value minimizing bloodshed, why not drop ultra nukes everywhere, elect cyber john wayne president, and be done with it?
 
davepoobond

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
blackjaw said:
Lock them in a cell with a PS3 but only give them PS4 games
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good thing the 8th amendment only applies to US territory.


Hydrus said:
Idk, but they should probably be executed. I'm sure they wouldn't care one way or another. Your not gonna change their minds about their views and your just risking more innocent lives in the long run.

And now I await the defense force to tell me I'm a terrible person.
Click to expand...

it is an awful opinion.
 
P

Phantast2k

Member
Fularu said:
Kobane wasn't the turning point, the Russian intervention was. To make things simple, Russia cut out all its easy access to weapons and militants through Turkey and has been bombing them prety hard for the past 6 months now (contrary to what western média has been saying)
Click to expand...

That's simply not true. If you think the "western média" is lying, you can just hit open source information. For instance: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Syrian,_Iraqi,_and_Lebanese_insurgencies.png#filehistory

Russia started bombing for Assad at the end of September, 2015. Since then Assad's gains have been mostly at the expense of rebels held positions rather than ISIS.
Also note that since Putin's intervention ISIS still holds pretty much the same borderland with Turkey as it did before.
QqaLn5O.gif


The real game changer has been the formation of SDF and the open Western (coalition) support for it - and prior to that, the YPG, within Syrian borders. Down to A-10 ground attack BRRRRRRRRs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnwwzkk5lss&t=1m38s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83oGww3crx4&t=1m54s
 
M

Mii

Banned
I wonder if ISIS is crazy enough to attack and breach the Mosul dam if it looks like they'll lose Mosul.

I imagine they could spin the story to be that the western forces intentionally caused it.
 
H

Hydrus

Member
Stumpokapow said:
i have no idea if you're a good person or a terrible one but summary execution of surrendering soldiers is a p. bad idea for a few reasons. i don't suppose mentioning international law, human rights, due process, mistaken identity, deception about identities of combatants versus locals held hostage, or dignity is going to change your mind so let me stick with cold hard rational cost-benefit economics: if enemy soldiers know that surrender results in immediate execution, they have no incentive to surrender. as a result, they will die fighting rather than surrender. thus, more of the "good guys" will die fighting. so in order to make surrender a better option then death on both sides, you need to be willing to make surrender a better option than death.

of course if you don't value minimizing bloodshed, why not drop ultra nukes everywhere, elect cyber john wayne president, and be done with it?
Click to expand...

The question was what do you do with them? What would you do with terrorist who willing kill innocent lives and want to bring about the apocalypse? This isn't a war between two countries and are forced by their government to fight for their country. It's literally terrorist vs the world, including their fellow countrymen.
 
A

aeolist

Banned
Hydrus said:
The question was what do you do with them? What would you do with terrorist who willing kill innocent lives and want to bring about the apocalypse? This isn't a war between two countries and are forced by their government to fight for their country. It's literally terrorist vs the world, including their fellow countrymen.
Click to expand...
this doesn't change anything about what stump said

if you execute them then there will just be more death on all sides and a far more drawn out resolution to all this
 
W

Walpurgis

Banned
blackjaw said:
Lock them in a cell with a PS3 but only give them PS4 games
Click to expand...
That goes against the Geneva conventions.
Fularu said:
Kobane wasn't the turning point, the Russian intervention was. To make things simple, Russia cut out all its easy access to weapons and militants through Turkey and has been bombing them prety hard for the past 6 months now (contrary to what western média has been saying)
Click to expand...
I haven't been following Russia's strikes but I've gotten the sense that Putin is the only world power that has a realistic plan for Syria. Allying with Assadnto fight ISIS and dealing with him after that is the best strategy, imo. I did hear that Russia doesn't care about civilian casualties which is unfortunate but they have the best overall plan. Hebwho hunts two rabbits catches none.

I also read that it was a huge PR success for Putin back in Russia and on the world stage since he displayed leadership and showcased Russia's modern weaponry. Not only that, the whole campaign was basically free since Russia used its military training money on it.
 
A

Abinash117

Member
Fularu said:
Kobane wasn't the turning point, the Russian intervention was. To make things simple, Russia cut out all its easy access to weapons and militants through Turkey and has been bombing them prety hard for the past 6 months now (contrary to what western média has been saying)
Click to expand...

It was the turning point,
https://ianbachusa.wordpress.com/kobani-maps/

After the Kurds retook Kobane, they sealed of one of the two borders between ISIS and Turkey .


220px-Northern_Syria_offensive_(2015).png
 
R

RustyNails

Member
I'm following the reports and events, but I don't buy Iraqi commanders saying they drop their weapons and run. That sounds like typical propaganda. That's not what I'm hearing. As far as I know they are putting up fierce resistance.
 
A

Abinash117

Member
Walpurgis said:
That goes against the Geneva conventions.

I haven't been following Russia's strikes but I've gotten the sense that Putin is the only world power that has a realistic plan for Syria. Allying with Assadnto fight ISIS and dealing with him after that is the best strategy, imo. I did hear that Russia doesn't care about civilian casualties which is unfortunate but they have the best overall plan. Hebwho hunts two rabbits catches none.

I also read that it was a huge PR success for Putin back in Russia and on the world stage since he displayed leadership and showcased Russia's modern weaponry. Not only that, the whole campaign was basically free since Russia used its military training money on it.
Click to expand...


The Russian airstrikes was heavily criticized by nearly everyone that was involved in the conflict mostly because it was believed to not care about civilians and they seemingly purposefully struck hospitals. All them are allegations with some varying degrees of evidence. The Russian strikes mostly did not target ISIS only the opposition, but once they did target ISIS it was only if the government was under threat which has been said. The strategy was it was targeting anyone that was the threat to the government and it was mostly the opposition.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/30/politics/us-criticizes-russia-airstrikes-syria-civilians/
http://www.businessinsider.com/23-d...airstrike-on-hospitals-school-in-syria-2016-2
http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...orth-as-rebels-withdraw-from-kurdish-villages
http://www.voanews.com/content/amne...es-target-hospitals-deliberately/3217991.html
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-re...ed-hospitals-near-aleppo#.Vtfha0kwkrg.twitter
http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-in-syria-killed-2000-civilians-in-six-months
 
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