United Earth
Did Elvis leave the building?
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Beware the Crazy Man.
So the Turks are shelling Afrin, taking great pains to mention how this is not the start of another ground offensive.
Any real news on this potential chemical attack beyond yesterday?
Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Nope, Syria of course denies it entirely and the US has yet to offer any concrete proof other than some preparation at an air base.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40413563
My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare
Iraqis fight house to house for costly victory in Mosul
Associated Press reporters accompanied his forces for three weeks in May as they battled Islamic State militants in neighborhoods around Mosul’s Old City, part of a massive offensive launched in October that Iraqi commanders hope to finally complete in the coming days.
Driving the Islamic State from Iraq’s second largest city would hand a major defeat to the extremist group three years after it swept across much of northern and central Iraq. But victory has come at a heavy cost for Mosul’s residents and the soldiers fighting to liberate them from the extremists’ rule.
On a hot afternoon, al-Aboudi helped a group of civilians — men, women and children — navigate a narrow escape corridor opened up by his forces.
“Thank God for your safety,” he said, over and over again, as he handed them bottles of water. “Lift your veils!” another soldier called out, signaling to the women that they were no longer bound by the IS group’s harsh interpretation of Islamic law.
A day after Iraq had declared the area liberated, there was still scattered gunfire and explosions from airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition. The streets were littered with the bodies of Islamic State militants who had fought to the death.
Al-Aboudi is the fourth commander to take charge of the unit since the Mosul offensive began eight months ago. One of his predecessors was killed in action and another was wounded.
“We have become more experienced in dealing with the civilians in an operational zone,” he said. “We rescue civilians during clashes between us and the terrorist gang.”
More than 850,000 civilians have fled their homes since the battle for Mosul began, but tens of thousands more have stayed despite the heavy fighting.
A few blocks away from the front line, Faisa Muhammed, her children and grandchildren sheltered in their home. The force of nearby explosions had blown out all their windows and wounded her grandson, Hadi, who protectively plugged his ears even when it was quiet.
“It is normal,” Muhammed said, taking stock of her family’s experience of three years of militant rule. “They destroyed us.”
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The article was accompanied by a 360' interactive video.
For all of Da'ish's incompetence and lack of manpower, they seem surprisingly good at city fighting. Or is it just because city fighting is so skewed towards the defender that even a complete idiot can give the attackers lots of trouble?
Edit - As a humorous aside, this reads exactly like Soviet propaganda. Right down to the word "heroic" coming from the writer.
edited 2nd Jul '17 1:04:46 AM by KnitTie
By default, it's generally thought that you need ten attackers for every one defender, conventionally speaking. With entrenchments, booby traps and knowledge of streets (above and below) the defender has all the advantages, leading to a city swallowing an inordinate amount of time and manpower.
The Sun is garbage of the worst sort.
edited 2nd Jul '17 1:06:07 AM by TerminusEst
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
Yes, but it's occasionally a very entertaining garbage.
Regardless, ISIS had planned for the siege well in advance with ammunition caches, tunnels and everything else. Can't say for the individual fighter, but the planning and drilling can make up for them to a degree.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
I see, thanks. How is ISIS doing in general nowadays? To me, they seem to be holding fast accross fultiple fronts so far.
edited 2nd Jul '17 1:20:17 AM by KnitTie
Mosul is almost gone, and in Iraq they have one more smaller city under their control. They have scattered holdings in Syria, but Raqaa is slowly being retaken.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Raqqah is full surrounded now, it's going to take some time to fall but fall it will.
Also apparently the SDF are punishing human rights violators, with two soldiers who carried out torture of ISIS fighters being punished.
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
Define "punished". Are they being tortured in public, for example?
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
All I saw was "punished", no details, I'm hoping serious jail time.
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
Speaking of torture, the Conflict Intelligence Team thinks that the Russian speakers found torturing a Daesh fighter in a recent video that surfaced online are members of the Wagner PMC.
Incidentally, members of said PMC have been showing up near oil fields that the Assad government has allowed Russian oil companies to develop. And in Ukraine.
I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
Those Wagner guys are basically our Blackwater by this point - mercs with rather low recruitment standards and nobody to punish them for breaking the laws of war.
Edit - Though in all fairness, it is hard to me to actually feel bad about torturing ISIS goons on a non-intellectual level.
edited 2nd Jul '17 3:08:49 PM by KnitTie
Blackwater levels of bad? So their recruitment base mostly consists of guys who washed out of or were expelled from the military/police (with good cause)?
United Earth
Just imagine a relative of yours joining ISIS. Picture the narrative that could lead them there while remaining sympathetic. It's not hard.
Their recruitment base is all over the place. From former (or current depending on how you look at it) first tier operators, to the ones you described. Black Water originally recruited from the SOF community, but as the functions got bigger, recruited people with appropriate expertise all over the security sector.
Now they're part of Constellis Ltd., which was originally created by former Delta guys and the entire recruitment base seems to be heavily to the SOF side.
Regardless of the karmic justice, can we maybe not celebrate torture?
Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.
X6 Said goons will often have had little/no choice in joining ISIS, hell even though he ones who did join willingly will include a number of locals who joined for very similar reasons to why people join their national militaries. As desire to get a job, a desire to make their land safe, a desire to drive off foreign invaders who destroyed their country and left it in ruins, a desire for revenge against those who killed their innocent loved ones.
A lot of ISIS soilders are remnants of the Saddam era military that the US left with only their guns but no jobs.
Handle - In all fairness, I think that a relative of mine who goes through all the trouble of reaching Syria just to join ISIS is much less likely to be sympathetic than a press-ganged local guy who gets forced to join at gunpoint.
I understand all that, and this is why I still am feeling intellectually against torturing ISIS troops. Though I would still say that it's an open question about how much moral responsibility needing to get a job really excuses.
edited 3rd Jul '17 1:05:05 AM by KnitTie
United Earth
To starve or to kill, to enslave or be enslaved.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
I honestly don't think that the dichotomy you described really exists in Syria: it's not a Conan the Barbarian novel setting, there're still plenty of opportunities for jobs in Syria for ex-military personnel that don't involve working for the craziest assholes around. You could always work for the not-so-crazy assholes, or hell, just do what the other ex-military folks who got laid off do and find a non-military job of one sort or another.
Methinks a lot of this working for ISIS thing has to do with the fact that the Da'ish are hardline Sunni and a lot of other hardline Sunni want to support them and/or hate the same guys they hate. Which, arguably, still works as an excuse of personal responsibility, but nowhere near to the same extent as having no other option to survive.
Edit - to immediately correct myself, joining ISIS really is excusable to those Sunnis who have no other option to survive, but how many such Sunnis really are there?
edited 3rd Jul '17 5:45:00 AM by KnitTie
Empty buildings, dirty and two guys who were sleeping on their shifts and didn't leave the building.
Inter arma enim silent leges