01-23-2017, 05:05 PM
(01-23-2017, 11:42 AM)David Horn Wrote:(01-21-2017, 08:33 PM)TnT Wrote: Maybe if the various sects of Syrian "freedom fighters" could have abandoned their mutual distaste and come together agaisnt Assad, this whole thing could have been over a long time ago.
Yes, except for the unfortunate fact that many of those factions were either al Qaeda offshoots or ISIS. Having ISIS in charge of Syria would have been in no one's interest.
The freedom-fighters were some of the guys whom Assad was shooting, mowing and bombing down in the street while they were peacefully demonstrating in the streets in the Arab Spring Revolution of 2011. They include some defectors from Assad's army of thugs. For a while they were all alone, and later some Al Nusra fighters and various other groups came in to support them when others failed to do so. The IS is entirely different, and swept through eastern Syria in the vaccuum. The Free Syrian Army and the IS are enemies, and the US tried to use them against the IS, but that failed because the USA didn't support them in their fight against the one who was targeting them the most: Assad, and later Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia. It is not fair to put down the freedom fighters of Syria who have risked their lives for their country, by confusing them with the IS. That is only Assad's tactic, and buying into it only discourages people from supporting the Syrian people who just want to be free. The FSA is well-coordinated, and their representatives have been clear in the various peacetalks. The Syrian Civil War is not a battle between Assad and AlQaeda/ISIS. It is a battle between the Free Syrians and their monster dictator, which other allies and factions have taken advantage of. All this should be completely clear to everyone by now.