Why does nobody here care about this? This is big news....

It's literally the last major Government stronghold in the province.

EDIT: God, it's depressing how uninterested most people are with what's going on in the Middle East. I almost wish Sgt Maj were here despite the fact that he's incredibly biased towards the Rebels.

:/
Here I was hoping that the government forces were starting to turn the tide of the battle now that ISIS is facing heavy defeats in Iraq. I mean even with Isis distracted there are so many other rebel groups it's a mess.

So I take you're a Government supporter. If so, I got some bad news for you...

>Government forces lost Bosra (a city of ~30,000 people) in south-eastern Dara'a Governorate.

>Government offensive in the South against rebels has stalled.

>Rumors of IS attacks in as-Sukhnah on the Army supply route between Tadmur and Deir ez-Zor.

Though the Government has largely stabilized the Northern Aleppo front, and have retaken some areas they lost to the rebels in their February counteroffensive.

Quote from: GethKhilafah on March 26, 2015, 04:50:00 AM

Quote from: gats on March 26, 2015, 04:47:10 AM

:/
Here I was hoping that the government forces were starting to turn the tide of the battle now that ISIS is facing heavy defeats in Iraq. I mean even with Isis distracted there are so many other rebel groups it's a mess.

So I take you're a Government supporter. If so, I got some bad news for you...

>Government forces lost Bosra (a city of ~30,000 people) in south-eastern Dara'a Governorate.

>Government offensive in the South against rebels has stalled.

>Rumors of IS attacks in as-Sukhnah on the Army supply route between Tadmur and Deir ez-Zor.

Though the Government has largely stabilized the Northern Aleppo front, and have retaken some areas they lost to the rebels in their February counteroffensive.

I'd rather Assad be in power than Baghdadi or any other Islamist rebel group. If anything I'm with the civilians, those that aren't fighting and are trying live through these awful times.

Are there any 'good' groups fighting in Syria?

The YPG is by far the closest thing to a 'good' group, but even they aren't perfect, given their affiliation to the PKK.

And I've noticed in recent months that the argument used by most Gov-supporters to justify their beliefs is a big fat fallacy constructed by Assad's regime over the course of the entire Syrian war.

Assad is a very smart man, you see. He had a terrible hand, and he played most of his cards like a master. He manipulated the revolution from the very start so it would be exactly what it was today. Well, his game was working perfectly until last year once IS set its sights on Assad himself...

Quote from: GethKhilafah on March 26, 2015, 03:53:59 AM

Why does nobody here care about this? This is big news....

It's literally the last major Government stronghold in the province.

EDIT: God, it's depressing how uninterested most people are with what's going on in the Middle East. I almost wish Sgt Maj were here despite the fact that he's incredibly biased towards the Rebels.

Why should we care? Everybody fighting is fighting for their own selfish interests. Syria has been destroyed.

There's nothing interesting about any of this. It's just depressing.

Well, that's really obvious. And yeah, the country's been destroyed.

But everything else after that is completely opinion.

I find it very interesting since the destruction of one (relatively) small country has managed to affect and divide the world. And there will be a gigantic market for reconstruction once the fires die down.

....If they die down.

Quote from: GethKhilafah on March 26, 2015, 05:25:40 AM

Quote from: challengerX on March 26, 2015, 05:19:35 AM

Quote from: GethKhilafah on March 26, 2015, 03:53:59 AM

Why does nobody here care about this? This is big news....

It's literally the last major Government stronghold in the province.

EDIT: God, it's depressing how uninterested most people are with what's going on in the Middle East. I almost wish Sgt Maj were here despite the fact that he's incredibly biased towards the Rebels.

Why should we care? Everybody fighting is fighting for their own selfish interests. Syria has been destroyed.

There's nothing interesting about any of this. It's just depressing.

Well, that's really obvious. And yeah, the country's been destroyed.

But everything else after that is completely opinion.

I find it very interesting since the destruction of one (relatively) small country has managed to affect and divide the world. And there will be a gigantic market for reconstruction once the fires die down.

....If they die down.

The world was already divided. This war was just a reason to act on those divisions.

This war has sure as hell made things worse. Saudi Arabia and Iran are practically at eachothers' throats over this regional proxy war, while they were not nearly as bad before 2011. And Russia's economic decline can largely be attributed to this war since Saudi Arabia flooded the oil market to try to get Iran to reduce their support in Syria (and Yemen)  by starving their economy.

Quote from: GethKhilafah on March 26, 2015, 05:07:51 AM

Quote from: gats on March 26, 2015, 04:59:09 AM

Quote from: GethKhilafah on March 26, 2015, 04:50:00 AM

Quote from: gats on March 26, 2015, 04:47:10 AM

:/
Here I was hoping that the government forces were starting to turn the tide of the battle now that ISIS is facing heavy defeats in Iraq. I mean even with Isis distracted there are so many other rebel groups it's a mess.

So I take you're a Government supporter. If so, I got some bad news for you...

>Government forces lost Bosra (a city of ~30,000 people) in south-eastern Dara'a Governorate.

>Government offensive in the South against rebels has stalled.

>Rumors of IS attacks in as-Sukhnah on the Army supply route between Tadmur and Deir ez-Zor.

Though the Government has largely stabilized the Northern Aleppo front, and have retaken some areas they lost to the rebels in their February counteroffensive.

I'd rather Assad be in power than Baghdadi or any other Islamist rebel group. If anything I'm with the civilians, those that aren't fighting and are trying live through these awful times.

Are there any 'good' groups fighting in Syria?

The YPG is by far the closest thing to a 'good' group, but even they aren't perfect, given their affiliation to the PKK.

And I've noticed in recent months that the argument used by most Gov-supporters to justify their beliefs is a big fat fallacy constructed by Assad's regime over the course of the entire Syrian war.

Assad is a very smart man, you see. He had a terrible hand, and he played most of his cards like a master. He manipulated the revolution from the very start so it would be exactly what it was today. Well, his game was working perfectly until last year once IS set its sights on Assad himself...

Eh most of the Assad supporters I know support him because he's Shia. It's a shame he's turned to be such a terrible leader, he seemed a little promising at first given the fact that he wasn't much like his father and brother.

Oh dear god, have people analyzed the fuck out of the Damascus Spring as well.

There are theories stating that the Damascus Spring was just a ploy made by Assad designed to lure out any critics of his regime, so cracking down on them would be made a great deal easier.

They've been engaged in a shadow war since Iran created Hezbollah. Relations have been bad since the Islamic Revolution.

Never said they were good. But now they're without a doubt at an all-time low.

Actually that has a lot less to do with Syria and more to do with Ukraine. This is something Obama orchestrated with the Saudis to cripple Russia even further, and it has had it's side effects on Iran as well.

Really? From the sources I've been reading (BBC isn't my only source....), it's a lot closer to the other way around. Where the Saudi's primary target was Iran over their role in funding/supporting Hezbollah and Shi'ite militias, and Russia was merely collateral damage.

Quote from: GethKhilafah on March 26, 2015, 05:47:24 AM

Quote

They've been engaged in a shadow war since Iran created Hezbollah. Relations have been bad since the Islamic Revolution.

Never said they were good. But now they're without a doubt at an all-time low.

Quote

Actually that has a lot less to do with Syria and more to do with Ukraine. This is something Obama orchestrated with the Saudis to cripple Russia even further, and it has had it's side effects on Iran as well.

Really? From the sources I've been reading (BBC isn't my only source....), it's a lot closer to the other way around. Where the Saudi's primary target was Iran over their role in funding/supporting Hezbollah and Shi'ite militias, and Russia was merely collateral damage.

Russia and Iran are the targets. Russia more so because they're bankrolling Iran which is doing terribly economic wise at the moment.

A twofer basically.

That's plausible. Though I don't see how Russia could afford their war in Ukraine, expand their military greatly, bankroll Iran, and supply Syria all at the same time. Plus all of their other things they have to spend money on. The Russian economy has its limits.

Quote from: GethKhilafah on March 26, 2015, 06:27:59 PM

Quote from: challengerX on March 26, 2015, 06:10:23 AM

Quote from: GethKhilafah on March 26, 2015, 05:47:24 AM

Quote

They've been engaged in a shadow war since Iran created Hezbollah. Relations have been bad since the Islamic Revolution.

Never said they were good. But now they're without a doubt at an all-time low.

Quote

Actually that has a lot less to do with Syria and more to do with Ukraine. This is something Obama orchestrated with the Saudis to cripple Russia even further, and it has had it's side effects on Iran as well.

Really? From the sources I've been reading (BBC isn't my only source....), it's a lot closer to the other way around. Where the Saudi's primary target was Iran over their role in funding/supporting Hezbollah and Shi'ite militias, and Russia was merely collateral damage.

Russia and Iran are the targets. Russia more so because they're bankrolling Iran which is doing terribly economic wise at the moment.

A twofer basically.

That's plausible. Though I don't see how Russia could afford their war in Ukraine, expand their military greatly, bankroll Iran, and supply Syria all at the same time. Plus all of their other things they have to spend money on. The Russian economy has its limits.

Iran is supplying Syria with Iranian weaponry. It's just they get a boost from Russia and Syria gets a ton of support from Russia.

Though as we'd both know, Iran has supplied the regime with a great deal more weapons and manpower, and Iran doesn't seem to care about whether they will be able to afford continued support or not. Iran is so extreme, that they see the war as an existential crisis, and they've stated themselves that they would defend Damascus as hard as they would Iran. While I'm not debating whether both Iran and Russia are suffering greatly as a result of the Saudis, I am debating whether the main target was Iran or Russia. And there's more reason to believe it is Iran, since they also are competing against Saudi Arabia in a proxy war in Yemen, Iraq, and possibly Afghanistan.

arab coalition attacking the houthis in yemen.
I swear it's like any country Iran gets involved in goes to shit.

Oh shit, yeah.

I just saw an article (and posted it in Serious) of a unified Arab military force which was made almost certainly because of the Houthi shit going down in Yemen.

It's a total cold war between Saudi Arabia and the Axis of Resistance now.