Thursday, March 24, 2016 8:40:34 PM
Comparing the GOP candidates' ISIS strategies with Obama's
By Linda Qiu on Saturday, December 26th, 2015 at 10:00 a.m.
A motorcyclist travels through a heavily damaged neighborhood in Kobane, Syria, which was targeted by a series of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes aimed at the Islamic State. (The Washington Post)
How did Republicans describe President Barack Obama’s ISIS strategy at the most recent presidential primary debate in Las Vegas? "Wrong," "reckless," "left us unsafe," "leads from behind" and "feckless weakling."
Behind that rhetoric, however, the proposals offered by the GOP field contain little detail or largely follow the White House’s plan.
...http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/dec/26/comparing-gop-candidates-isis-strategies-obamas/
---
Lebaneseproud, am back here because of the move on Palmyra
Syrian state TV says troops enter ISIL-held Palmyra
Russian commando reported killed in Palmyra as Syrian army attempts to seize ancient city from ISIL's grip.
24 Mar 2016 21:01 GMT
Government troops backed by Russian air strikes fought to take back the ancient city, known as Tadmur in Arabic [Reuters]
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/03/syria-palmyra-160324104418510.html
---
oops .. this looks a heavily edited version .. no time to replace the one below ..
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/syrian-forces-enter-isis-held-palmyra-intense-clashes/
"You will be crushed": Syrian forces reach ancient city, battle ISIS
.. posted in full because it is an informative read ..
Last Updated Mar 24, 2016 2:52 PM EDT
18 Photos .. http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/syria-civil-war-destruction/
A view shows the Monumental Arch in the historical city of Palmyra, Syria, August 5, 2010. Reuters
DAMASCUS, Syria-- Syrian .. http://www.cbsnews.com/feature/syria-crisis/ .. government forces, backed by Russian airstrikes, on Thursday pushed into the ancient town of Palmyra, which has been held by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) since May, state TV reported.
The advance came after the troops managed this week to capture several hills and high ground around the town, famed for its priceless archaeological site and Roman ruins. Syrian troops have been on the offensive for days in an attempt to capture the town.
The state TV broadcast footage of its reporter, embedded with the Syrian military, speaking live from the entrance of Palmyra and saying that as of midday Thursday, the fighting was concentrated near the archaeological site on the southwestern edge of the town.
Maamoun Abdulkarim, who heads the Antiquities and Museums Department in Damascus, said he hopes that the "nightmare" of Palmyra is over at forces entered the city.
Cracks of gunfire and explosions echoed as the reporter spoke. The TV also aired footage showing soldiers walking and SUVs driving near a building that appears to have been a hotel.
An unnamed Syrian soldier told the station he had one message for ISIS: "You will be crushed under the feet of the Syrian Arab Army."
Recapturing the town, a UNESCO world heritage site, would be a significant victory for Syria's army and its Russian allies. Russia withdrew most of its forces and aircraft from Syria last week after a months-long bombing campaign that succeeded in turning the tide of the war again in President Bashar Assad's favor.
Turkey-based activist Osama al-Khatib, who is originally from Palmyra, denied that Syrian troops had entered the town. He said they were still on the edge of Palmyra and that the video seen on Syrian state TV shows teyh area about 3 miles from Palmyra.
Earlier in the day, Gov. Talal Barazi told The Associated Press from the nearby city of Homs that the Syrian army has determined three directions to storm Palmyra and was clearing all roads leading into the town of mines and explosives.
"We might witness in the next 48 hours an overwhelming victory in Palmyra," Barazi said over the phone, adding that "the army is advancing in a precise and organized way to protect what is possible of monuments and archaeological sites."
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian troops and Shiite militiamen helping them on the ground were facing tough resistance from ISIS extremists as they try to penetrate the town's limits.
The Observatory, which monitors the Syrian conflict through a network of activists on the ground, said the ISIS lost over 200 militants since the government campaign to retake Palmyra began 17 days ago. It did not have figures for government losses.
In neighboring Lebanon, the Al-Manar TV station, which belongs to the militant Hezbollah group that is fighting with Syrian troops, reported that Syrian government forces were in full control of the hotels area and farms on the western edge of Palmyra on Thursday.
Palmyra attracted tens of thousands of tourists to Syria every year and is affectionately known by Syrians as the "bride of the desert." In a big blow to the government, it was overrun by the Islamic State group last May.
In Palmyra, ISIS destroyed many of the town's Roman-era relics, including the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel and the iconic Arch of Triumph, and also killed dozens of captive Syrian soldiers and dissidents from IS in public slayings at the town's grand roman theater and other ruins.
Along with blowing up priceless archaeological treasures, among the first destructions IS carried out in Palmyra was the demolishing of the town's infamous Tadmur prison, where thousands of Syrian government opponents had been imprisoned and tortured over the years.
The advance on Palmyra comes against the backdrop of Syrian peace talks underway in Geneva between representative of the Damascus government and the Western-backed opposition. The talks, which have been boosted by a Russia-U.S.-brokered cease-fire that has mostly held since late February, were to adjourn on Thursday - without having achieved any apparent breakthroughs.
The negotiations are scheduled to resume later in April.
In Moscow, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Thursday for countries to boost efforts to fight ISIS in Syria, Iraq and beyond in the wake of this week's deadly attacks in Brussels. He said the Brussels attack should put nations on notice that the terror threat emanating from the Middle East must be stopped.
Kerry is in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Syria, Ukraine and the Brussels attacks. He will be seeking clarity from Putin and Lavrov as to where Russia stands on a political transition for Syria, particularly on the issue of Assad's future.
Despite its recent drawdown in Syria, Moscow has said it is keeping its bases in Syria and would continue to carry out airstrikes against the Islamic State group and other extremists. The Russian air force has supported the Assad government advance with a fierce campaign of air strikes.
Meanwhile, the U.N. chief arrived in Lebanon on Thursday for a two days visit during which he is expected to meet top Lebanese officials and discuss regional matters. Lebanon, which has taken in over 1 million Syrian refugees, is also host to a U.N. peacekeeping force that maintains security along the Lebanese-Israel border.
Ban is expected to address refugee support, youth unemployment, and private sector development. He will visit a Syrian refugee settlement in central Lebanon and the country's second-largest city, Tripoli, in the north.
The secretary general will be joined by World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank Group representatives on a five-day regional tour that will also take him to Jordan and Tunisia.
AP .. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/syrian-forces-enter-isis-held-palmyra-intense-clashes/
---
Why Republicans Are Stuck With Obama’s ISIS Strategy
02/05/2016 09:30 am ET | Updated Feb 05, 2016
Stephen Schlesinger
Author and Fellow at the Century Foundation
Pool via Getty Images
However much Republican presidential candidates may complain about President Obama’s strategy to defeat ISIS, they will end up embracing his policies in the end should any of them actually win the White House. Why? Because, given that the American public is against further military involvement in the Middle East, most of the contenders have already promised, as Obama earlier did, not to send U.S. ground forces into the conflict. This leaves all of them with the only strategy that can work — namely Obama’s approach.
Obama’s strategy has developed out of the military realities and regional constraints of the Middle East. First, he understood from the outset that, once there would be no American expeditionary forces, he could only employ air power to degrade ISIS troop strength and military assets. Since mid-August 2014, the U.S. and its coalition partners have flown more than 8,000 sorties against ISIS that have badly hurt the Islamic State militants, now estimated at 30-40,000 fighters.
Second, Washington is training both Iraqi troops and Free Syrian Army forces to handle most of the ground fighting, as a way to assure that the US does not have to intervene.
Third, Washington has emplaced US Special Forces in Syria and Iraq to instruct, assist and deploy with the Arab forces. It now has over 3,500 in the area, with another 1,200 to be sent in the Spring.
Fourth, the U.S. continues to exert pressure on the Iraqi government to include more minority Sunnis in its decision-making and has insisted that mostly Sunni soldiers lead the fight to retake the Sunni-majority cities.
Fifth, it is working to restart peace talks in Geneva to resolve the Syrian civil war and undermine ISIS’s raison-d’etre for existence. Its most controversial move is to veto any idea for a no-fly zone over Syria due to Turkish opposition, the danger of air clashes with Russia, and the high costs of the operation.
Much of what Obama is doing is showing signs of success. First, Obama obtained the necessary change of leadership in Iraq, helping to bring in a new Shiite Prime Minister who is willing to work with Sunnis. Next, his bombing campaign has gradually reduced the territory seized by ISIS by at least 25 percent. Obama has won back important cities, starting with a surprise victory in the Iraqi border city of Kobani, with the help of Kurdish troops, which forced an Islamic State withdrawal at a great loss of its fighting force.
Subsequently, Obama’s coalition has retaken the Iraqi cities of Tikrit and Baiji and has forced ISIS out of Sinjar in Iraq, cutting off the critical supply route between the two ISIS-controlled cities, Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq. US air-strikes killed the infamous be-header, Jihad John.
Last November, Obama launched “Operation Tidal Wave II” that took out ISIS oil fields, refineries and hundreds of tanker trucks in Syria. In December the alliance snatched back Ramadi in Iraq. The US Department of Defense released a slew of figures describing the breadth of the coalition destruction — some 119 tanks; 340 High Mobility Vehicles or high maintenance trucks that carry men and materials; 510 staging areas; 3,262 buildings; 2,577 fighting positions; 196 oil infrastructure facilities; and 3,680 other targets. Such blows have critically damaged the ISIS insurgency.
Last Christmas, the ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, released an audio address just days before Ramadi’s fall, revealing the extent of his group’s plight. Baghdadi blustered on about how well his Caliphate is doing, but he also delivered this stark message: “We urgently call upon every Muslim to join the fight...”
His plea comes at the same time that his monthly terrorist magazine, Dabiq, put out the word that ISIS needs more Sunni professionals, doctors, mechanics and computer programmers — an acknowledgement that highly trained Muslim technicians no longer are eager to enlist in ISIS.
Finally, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a humanitarian news organization that relies on a network of activists and non-traditional sources, announced that it had obtained an internal ISIS memo issued in January, stating that ISIS is cutting in half the salaries of all of its fighters.
ISIS is, indeed, in severe monetary distress. A Rand Corporation study in May 2015 estimated that ISIS had accumulated almost $875 million in assets by June 2014 and was receiving an annual income of more than $1 billion. Most revenues came from taxes on everyday life in the cities ISIS holds. But that income has plummeted as traumatized residents have fled.
So, too, ISIS’s oil sales to Syria, Turkey and Iran have gone down precipitously due to the alliance’s bombing campaign. And bank looting, once highly profitable, has slumped as ISIS has lost control of many cities. Further two US air strikes in January destroyed separate ISIS cash depots, one hitting a Mosul bank, wiping out over a half billion dollars in cash and gold. In December 2015, the UN Security Council passed an extra tough resolution hardening financial prohibitions on ISIS, exerting more pressure on its accounts.
There have been other moves to tighten the noose on ISIS. The Turks closed their borders to potential ISIS fighters crossing over into Syria. That was a surprise since Prime Minister Erdogen had weaved and bobbed and ducked on this border issue for months as he was more interested in defeating the Kurds than defeating ISIS. There is, too, the so-called Saudi Arabian coalition of Sunni forces that may potentially intervene against ISIS — though the Saudi’s home-grown pro-ISIS fundamentalists and its ongoing feud with Tehran may constrict its efforts. A shadowy hacking group, Anonymous, has pledged to disrupt ISIS’s on-line operations. Lastly, due to its supreme arrogance and unimaginable crimes, ISIS has rallied a mighty coalition of all the major nations on earth against it. These psychological hits on ISIS have dented its veneer of success. It can’t hold cities and can’t take new ones. It is losing followers.
This does not mean that ISIS’s collapse is imminent. Remember that ISIS is a death cult. It is willing to employ the bloodiest measures available to use against its enemies. It ruthlessly organizes super-sized car bombings, launches bulldozers stuffed with explosives driven by suicide bombers against its foes, mounts armed drones, uses tunnels to hide in or plant dynamite charges, sets off chemical weapons such as chlorine or mustard gas, and undoubtedly would use a dirty bomb if it could get its hands on one. In the remaining two large cities ISIS still retains, Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq, any battle to retake either city would result in the creation of municipal wastelands, as has already happened in Ramadi.
Victory against ISIS would, at best, be defined by disrupting its lethal activities, pushing it out of urban areas, sending it back to guerrilla warfare. This is hardly the most positive of reckonings. And, as well, the question will arise whether Arab troops can contain renewed underground insurgencies — or at least hold them to manageable levels. However, any coalition triumph that forces ISIS into retreat also effectively punctures a hole in the myth of its invulnerability and may open up new opportunities for peace in the Middle East. Even a Republican presidential candidate might well endorse such an outcome.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-schlesinger/why-republicans-are-stuck_b_9167236.html
See also:
Erdogan more isolated than ever on Syria
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=118808288
.. linked in that one .. Syrian No-Fly Zone: From Slogans to Details
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=117634115
Will There Be a Coup Against Erdogan in Turkey?
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/replies.aspx?msg=121002719
By Linda Qiu on Saturday, December 26th, 2015 at 10:00 a.m.
A motorcyclist travels through a heavily damaged neighborhood in Kobane, Syria, which was targeted by a series of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes aimed at the Islamic State. (The Washington Post)
How did Republicans describe President Barack Obama’s ISIS strategy at the most recent presidential primary debate in Las Vegas? "Wrong," "reckless," "left us unsafe," "leads from behind" and "feckless weakling."
Behind that rhetoric, however, the proposals offered by the GOP field contain little detail or largely follow the White House’s plan.
...http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/dec/26/comparing-gop-candidates-isis-strategies-obamas/
---
Lebaneseproud, am back here because of the move on Palmyra
Syrian state TV says troops enter ISIL-held Palmyra
Russian commando reported killed in Palmyra as Syrian army attempts to seize ancient city from ISIL's grip.
24 Mar 2016 21:01 GMT
Government troops backed by Russian air strikes fought to take back the ancient city, known as Tadmur in Arabic [Reuters]
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/03/syria-palmyra-160324104418510.html
---
oops .. this looks a heavily edited version .. no time to replace the one below ..
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/syrian-forces-enter-isis-held-palmyra-intense-clashes/
"You will be crushed": Syrian forces reach ancient city, battle ISIS
.. posted in full because it is an informative read ..
Last Updated Mar 24, 2016 2:52 PM EDT
18 Photos .. http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/syria-civil-war-destruction/
A view shows the Monumental Arch in the historical city of Palmyra, Syria, August 5, 2010. Reuters
DAMASCUS, Syria-- Syrian .. http://www.cbsnews.com/feature/syria-crisis/ .. government forces, backed by Russian airstrikes, on Thursday pushed into the ancient town of Palmyra, which has been held by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) since May, state TV reported.
The advance came after the troops managed this week to capture several hills and high ground around the town, famed for its priceless archaeological site and Roman ruins. Syrian troops have been on the offensive for days in an attempt to capture the town.
The state TV broadcast footage of its reporter, embedded with the Syrian military, speaking live from the entrance of Palmyra and saying that as of midday Thursday, the fighting was concentrated near the archaeological site on the southwestern edge of the town.
Maamoun Abdulkarim, who heads the Antiquities and Museums Department in Damascus, said he hopes that the "nightmare" of Palmyra is over at forces entered the city.
Cracks of gunfire and explosions echoed as the reporter spoke. The TV also aired footage showing soldiers walking and SUVs driving near a building that appears to have been a hotel.
An unnamed Syrian soldier told the station he had one message for ISIS: "You will be crushed under the feet of the Syrian Arab Army."
Recapturing the town, a UNESCO world heritage site, would be a significant victory for Syria's army and its Russian allies. Russia withdrew most of its forces and aircraft from Syria last week after a months-long bombing campaign that succeeded in turning the tide of the war again in President Bashar Assad's favor.
Turkey-based activist Osama al-Khatib, who is originally from Palmyra, denied that Syrian troops had entered the town. He said they were still on the edge of Palmyra and that the video seen on Syrian state TV shows teyh area about 3 miles from Palmyra.
Earlier in the day, Gov. Talal Barazi told The Associated Press from the nearby city of Homs that the Syrian army has determined three directions to storm Palmyra and was clearing all roads leading into the town of mines and explosives.
"We might witness in the next 48 hours an overwhelming victory in Palmyra," Barazi said over the phone, adding that "the army is advancing in a precise and organized way to protect what is possible of monuments and archaeological sites."
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian troops and Shiite militiamen helping them on the ground were facing tough resistance from ISIS extremists as they try to penetrate the town's limits.
The Observatory, which monitors the Syrian conflict through a network of activists on the ground, said the ISIS lost over 200 militants since the government campaign to retake Palmyra began 17 days ago. It did not have figures for government losses.
In neighboring Lebanon, the Al-Manar TV station, which belongs to the militant Hezbollah group that is fighting with Syrian troops, reported that Syrian government forces were in full control of the hotels area and farms on the western edge of Palmyra on Thursday.
Palmyra attracted tens of thousands of tourists to Syria every year and is affectionately known by Syrians as the "bride of the desert." In a big blow to the government, it was overrun by the Islamic State group last May.
In Palmyra, ISIS destroyed many of the town's Roman-era relics, including the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel and the iconic Arch of Triumph, and also killed dozens of captive Syrian soldiers and dissidents from IS in public slayings at the town's grand roman theater and other ruins.
Along with blowing up priceless archaeological treasures, among the first destructions IS carried out in Palmyra was the demolishing of the town's infamous Tadmur prison, where thousands of Syrian government opponents had been imprisoned and tortured over the years.
The advance on Palmyra comes against the backdrop of Syrian peace talks underway in Geneva between representative of the Damascus government and the Western-backed opposition. The talks, which have been boosted by a Russia-U.S.-brokered cease-fire that has mostly held since late February, were to adjourn on Thursday - without having achieved any apparent breakthroughs.
The negotiations are scheduled to resume later in April.
In Moscow, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Thursday for countries to boost efforts to fight ISIS in Syria, Iraq and beyond in the wake of this week's deadly attacks in Brussels. He said the Brussels attack should put nations on notice that the terror threat emanating from the Middle East must be stopped.
Kerry is in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Syria, Ukraine and the Brussels attacks. He will be seeking clarity from Putin and Lavrov as to where Russia stands on a political transition for Syria, particularly on the issue of Assad's future.
Despite its recent drawdown in Syria, Moscow has said it is keeping its bases in Syria and would continue to carry out airstrikes against the Islamic State group and other extremists. The Russian air force has supported the Assad government advance with a fierce campaign of air strikes.
Meanwhile, the U.N. chief arrived in Lebanon on Thursday for a two days visit during which he is expected to meet top Lebanese officials and discuss regional matters. Lebanon, which has taken in over 1 million Syrian refugees, is also host to a U.N. peacekeeping force that maintains security along the Lebanese-Israel border.
Ban is expected to address refugee support, youth unemployment, and private sector development. He will visit a Syrian refugee settlement in central Lebanon and the country's second-largest city, Tripoli, in the north.
The secretary general will be joined by World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank Group representatives on a five-day regional tour that will also take him to Jordan and Tunisia.
AP .. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/syrian-forces-enter-isis-held-palmyra-intense-clashes/
---
Why Republicans Are Stuck With Obama’s ISIS Strategy
02/05/2016 09:30 am ET | Updated Feb 05, 2016
Stephen Schlesinger
Author and Fellow at the Century Foundation
Pool via Getty Images
However much Republican presidential candidates may complain about President Obama’s strategy to defeat ISIS, they will end up embracing his policies in the end should any of them actually win the White House. Why? Because, given that the American public is against further military involvement in the Middle East, most of the contenders have already promised, as Obama earlier did, not to send U.S. ground forces into the conflict. This leaves all of them with the only strategy that can work — namely Obama’s approach.
Obama’s strategy has developed out of the military realities and regional constraints of the Middle East. First, he understood from the outset that, once there would be no American expeditionary forces, he could only employ air power to degrade ISIS troop strength and military assets. Since mid-August 2014, the U.S. and its coalition partners have flown more than 8,000 sorties against ISIS that have badly hurt the Islamic State militants, now estimated at 30-40,000 fighters.
Second, Washington is training both Iraqi troops and Free Syrian Army forces to handle most of the ground fighting, as a way to assure that the US does not have to intervene.
Third, Washington has emplaced US Special Forces in Syria and Iraq to instruct, assist and deploy with the Arab forces. It now has over 3,500 in the area, with another 1,200 to be sent in the Spring.
Fourth, the U.S. continues to exert pressure on the Iraqi government to include more minority Sunnis in its decision-making and has insisted that mostly Sunni soldiers lead the fight to retake the Sunni-majority cities.
Fifth, it is working to restart peace talks in Geneva to resolve the Syrian civil war and undermine ISIS’s raison-d’etre for existence. Its most controversial move is to veto any idea for a no-fly zone over Syria due to Turkish opposition, the danger of air clashes with Russia, and the high costs of the operation.
Much of what Obama is doing is showing signs of success. First, Obama obtained the necessary change of leadership in Iraq, helping to bring in a new Shiite Prime Minister who is willing to work with Sunnis. Next, his bombing campaign has gradually reduced the territory seized by ISIS by at least 25 percent. Obama has won back important cities, starting with a surprise victory in the Iraqi border city of Kobani, with the help of Kurdish troops, which forced an Islamic State withdrawal at a great loss of its fighting force.
Subsequently, Obama’s coalition has retaken the Iraqi cities of Tikrit and Baiji and has forced ISIS out of Sinjar in Iraq, cutting off the critical supply route between the two ISIS-controlled cities, Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq. US air-strikes killed the infamous be-header, Jihad John.
Last November, Obama launched “Operation Tidal Wave II” that took out ISIS oil fields, refineries and hundreds of tanker trucks in Syria. In December the alliance snatched back Ramadi in Iraq. The US Department of Defense released a slew of figures describing the breadth of the coalition destruction — some 119 tanks; 340 High Mobility Vehicles or high maintenance trucks that carry men and materials; 510 staging areas; 3,262 buildings; 2,577 fighting positions; 196 oil infrastructure facilities; and 3,680 other targets. Such blows have critically damaged the ISIS insurgency.
Last Christmas, the ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, released an audio address just days before Ramadi’s fall, revealing the extent of his group’s plight. Baghdadi blustered on about how well his Caliphate is doing, but he also delivered this stark message: “We urgently call upon every Muslim to join the fight...”
His plea comes at the same time that his monthly terrorist magazine, Dabiq, put out the word that ISIS needs more Sunni professionals, doctors, mechanics and computer programmers — an acknowledgement that highly trained Muslim technicians no longer are eager to enlist in ISIS.
Finally, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a humanitarian news organization that relies on a network of activists and non-traditional sources, announced that it had obtained an internal ISIS memo issued in January, stating that ISIS is cutting in half the salaries of all of its fighters.
ISIS is, indeed, in severe monetary distress. A Rand Corporation study in May 2015 estimated that ISIS had accumulated almost $875 million in assets by June 2014 and was receiving an annual income of more than $1 billion. Most revenues came from taxes on everyday life in the cities ISIS holds. But that income has plummeted as traumatized residents have fled.
So, too, ISIS’s oil sales to Syria, Turkey and Iran have gone down precipitously due to the alliance’s bombing campaign. And bank looting, once highly profitable, has slumped as ISIS has lost control of many cities. Further two US air strikes in January destroyed separate ISIS cash depots, one hitting a Mosul bank, wiping out over a half billion dollars in cash and gold. In December 2015, the UN Security Council passed an extra tough resolution hardening financial prohibitions on ISIS, exerting more pressure on its accounts.
There have been other moves to tighten the noose on ISIS. The Turks closed their borders to potential ISIS fighters crossing over into Syria. That was a surprise since Prime Minister Erdogen had weaved and bobbed and ducked on this border issue for months as he was more interested in defeating the Kurds than defeating ISIS. There is, too, the so-called Saudi Arabian coalition of Sunni forces that may potentially intervene against ISIS — though the Saudi’s home-grown pro-ISIS fundamentalists and its ongoing feud with Tehran may constrict its efforts. A shadowy hacking group, Anonymous, has pledged to disrupt ISIS’s on-line operations. Lastly, due to its supreme arrogance and unimaginable crimes, ISIS has rallied a mighty coalition of all the major nations on earth against it. These psychological hits on ISIS have dented its veneer of success. It can’t hold cities and can’t take new ones. It is losing followers.
This does not mean that ISIS’s collapse is imminent. Remember that ISIS is a death cult. It is willing to employ the bloodiest measures available to use against its enemies. It ruthlessly organizes super-sized car bombings, launches bulldozers stuffed with explosives driven by suicide bombers against its foes, mounts armed drones, uses tunnels to hide in or plant dynamite charges, sets off chemical weapons such as chlorine or mustard gas, and undoubtedly would use a dirty bomb if it could get its hands on one. In the remaining two large cities ISIS still retains, Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq, any battle to retake either city would result in the creation of municipal wastelands, as has already happened in Ramadi.
Victory against ISIS would, at best, be defined by disrupting its lethal activities, pushing it out of urban areas, sending it back to guerrilla warfare. This is hardly the most positive of reckonings. And, as well, the question will arise whether Arab troops can contain renewed underground insurgencies — or at least hold them to manageable levels. However, any coalition triumph that forces ISIS into retreat also effectively punctures a hole in the myth of its invulnerability and may open up new opportunities for peace in the Middle East. Even a Republican presidential candidate might well endorse such an outcome.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-schlesinger/why-republicans-are-stuck_b_9167236.html
See also:
Erdogan more isolated than ever on Syria
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=118808288
.. linked in that one .. Syrian No-Fly Zone: From Slogans to Details
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=117634115
Will There Be a Coup Against Erdogan in Turkey?
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/replies.aspx?msg=121002719
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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