Blake Hall
The Daily Beast has some unfortunate but not entirely groundbreaking news from the Middle East.
Because, once again, a group of rebels that the United States armed and supported once-upon-a-time to do their bidding in another land, to do their bidding to eradicate another enemy (in Iraq, way back when) are now using their weapons, vehicles, etc. to kill rebels America needs NOW, to pummel and put away another enemy (this time in Syria).
Do we have to go into the history of al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden? Don’t think we do. Because it’s the same old, same old.
This from the Beast:
Iraqi militias who once fought ISIS with U.S. help are now working with Russian and Iranian forces to crush American-backed rebels in the strategic Syrian city of Aleppo …
In other words: The forces the U.S. once counted on to take back Iraq’s cities are the same ones the Russians now are counting on to get Aleppo back. And those militias are fighting units of the American-backed Free Syrian Army—including the 16th Division, elements of Jaish al Nasr, and Sultan al Murad—according to Nicholas Heras, a research associate at the Center for a New American Security.
Many experts believe that without a steady influx of Russian and Iranian support, Aleppo would fall from Assad’s army’s hold. Which, is why this was probably announced Friday — the aid and promised cease-fire by both Russian and U.S.-led forces in Syria.
What a tangled web we, France, Jordan, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Kuwait (?), Qatar (??), Saudia Arabia, Russia and Iran (but not Israel!) weaves.