U.S.-led airstrikes aid Al Qaeda affiliate against ISIS

[n2doc]

BEIRUT: U.S.-led aircraft have for the first time bombed ISIS fighters as they battled rival Syrian rebels including the Nusra Front, an activist group said Sunday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described the overnight raids in northern Aleppo as an intervention on the side of the rival rebels, which include forces who have been targeted previously by U.S.-led strikes.

“The coalition carried out at least four strikes overnight targeting ISIS positions in the town of Suran,” the Britain-based Observatory said.

“It’s the first time that the international coalition has supported non-Kurdish opposition forces fighting ISIS,” Observatory director Rami Abdel-Rahman told AFP.

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http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Jun-08/301045-us-led-airstrikes-aid-nusra-against-isis.ashx

[whatchamacallit]

1. Thus spake the prophet Orwell

Most sheep won't even bat an eye at this headline.

[n2doc]

3. We have always been at war with EurAsia n/t

[Betty Karlson]

2. So we invented a monstrous connection (WMD)

between a bogeyman (Saddam) and a dragon (Bin-Laden), which created a powervacuum that made the monstrous connection a reality; then we became monsters in an effort to combat the dragon's minions, only to see one become a demon (Baghdadi) who spreads Hell out all around, and right after killing the dragon in its lair we start bombing the Hell and now the dragon's offspring is profiting from the monsters' (us) works?

That's one clusterf*ck of a foreign policy.

[6chars]

4. this is getting complicated

what was that about my enemy's enemy or something like that?

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. Al Qaeda is our ally now? We have gone through the looking glass.

[stevenleser]

6. The article is an interesting interpretation. Nusra was one of the rebel groups ISIS was fighting

Here is the real money quote:

“Washington seems really determined to stop [ISIS] from advancing against the rebels in Aleppo,” said Pierret, a professor at the University of Edinburgh and a Syria expert. The strikes showed Washington’s “pragmatism,” he said, noting that the Al-Qaeda affiliate only constitutes a small part of the rebel forces that are fighting ISIS in Aleppo, with moderate forces holding more territory.

[Comrade Grumpy]

7. Okay, I feel better. We just kinda helping Al Qaeda a little.

Because we'd rather have the current huge mess in Syria than Assad.

This is a stupid, short-sighted, bloody-minded policy, as we have seen for the past four years.

[stevenleser]

11. So no matter what the facts are, you are determined to spin it to fit your narrative. Got it. nt

[Comrade Grumpy]

12. What are the facts (from the article)?

1. The US did air strikes in support of rebel fighters against ISIS.

2. The rebel fighters against ISIS include the Al Nusra Front.

3. The Al Nusra Front is an Al Qaeda affiliate

"“Washington seems really determined to stop [ISIS] from advancing against the rebels in Aleppo,” said Pierret, a professor at the University of Edinburgh and a Syria expert. The strikes showed Washington’s “pragmatism,” he said, noting that the Al-Qaeda affiliate only constitutes a small part of the rebel forces that are fighting ISIS in Aleppo, with moderate forces holding more territory."

4. It's not just Al Nusra our air strikes support, but also other Islamic radical groups like the nice guys in Ahrar Al Sham.

5. Al Nusra is the parent to the Khorasan cell, which the US has attacked and claimed was planning attacks against us (not in this article).

Those are the facts. You tell me how the US is not now helping an Al Qaeda affiliate (and other Islamic radicals) in Syria. Or tell me why it doesn't matter or is the right thing to do. Your pick.

[Comrade Grumpy]

13. Here's some more on our newest allies. They are no bit players:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Nusra_Front

Attacks

During the Syrian Civil War, the group launched many attacks, mostly against targets affiliated with or supportive of the Syrian government. As of June 2013, al-Nusra Front had claimed responsibility for 57 of the 70 suicide attacks in Syria during the conflict.[106]

One of the first bombings which al-Nusra was suspected of and the first suicide attack of the war came on 23 December 2011, when two seemingly coordinated bombings occurred in the Syrian capital of Damascus, killing 44 people and wounding 166.[107]

The al-Midan bombings of January 2012 were allegedly carried out by a fighter named Abu al-Baraa al-Shami. Footage of the destruction caused by the blast was released on a jihadist forum.[72] The video asserts that the "martyrdom-seeking operation" was executed "in revenge for our mother Umm Abdullah—from the city of Homs—against whom the criminals of the regime violated her dignity and threatened to slaughter her son," SITE reported. The video shows "an excerpt of allegiances, operations, and training of the al-Nusra Front" as well as a fighter "amongst the masses in a public demonstration, advising them to do their prayers and adhere to the rituals of Islam."[citation needed]

The al-Nusra Front announced the formation of the "Free Ones of the Levant Brigades", in a YouTube video statement that was released on 23 January. In the statement, the group claimed that it attacked the headquarters of security in Idlib province.[108] "To all the free people of Syria, we announce the formation of the Free Ones of the Levant Brigades," the statement said, according to a translation obtained by The Long War Journal. "We promise Allah, and then we promise you, that we will be a firm shield and a striking hand to repel the attacks of this criminal Al Assad army with all the might we can muster. We promise to protect the lives of civilians and their possessions from security and the Shabiha [pro-government] militia. We are a people who will either gain victory or die."[108]

The 10 May 2012 Damascus bombings were allegedly claimed by al-Nusra Front in an Internet video;[109] however, on 15 May 2012, someone claiming to be a spokesman for the group denied that the organisation was responsible for the attack, saying that it would only release information through jihadist forums.[110]

On 29 May 2012, a mass execution was discovered near the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor. The unidentified corpses of 13 men had been discovered shot to death execution-style.[111] On 5 June 2012, the al-Nusra Front claimed responsibility for the killings, stating that they had captured and interrogated the soldiers in Deir ez-Zor and "justly" punished them with death, after they confessed to crimes.[112]

On 17 June 2012, Walid Ahmad al-Ayesh, described by Syrian authorities as the "right hand" of the al-Nusra Front, was killed when Syrian authorities discovered his hiding place. He was reportedly responsible for the making of car bombs that were used to attack Damascus in the previous months.[113] The Syrian authorities reported the killing of another prominent member of the group, Wael Mohammad al-Majdalawi, killed on 12 August 2012 in an operation conducted in Damascus.[114]

On 27 June 2012, a group of Syrian rebels attacked a pro-government TV station in the town of Drousha, just south of the capital Damascus. The station's studios were destroyed with explosives. Seven people were killed in the attack on Al-Ikhbariya TV, including four guards and three journalists.[115] Al-Nusra claimed responsibility for the attack and published photos of 11 station employees they kidnapped following the raid.[116]

In mid-July 2012, Mohammed al-Saeed, a well-known government TV news presenter, was kidnapped by the group. On 3 August 2012, al-Nusra published a statement saying that al-Saeed had been executed.[68][117]

On 3 October, three suicide car bombs exploded at the eastern corner of the central Saadallah Al-Jabiri Square killing 48 people,[118] as it was announced by the Ministry of interior. More than 122 people were reported to be heavily injured.[119] Al-Nusra claimed responsibility for the attack.[120] The bombs targeted the Officers' club and the nearby buildings of the Touristic Hotel and the historic "Jouha Café". The hotel received major damage while the café was entirely destroyed. A small building within the Officers' club was ruined as well.[121][122]

The al-Nusra Front also claimed responsibility for attacking numerous Syrian military bases, including:
Aleppo district: an air defence base, on: 12 October 2012
Aleppo city: the Hanano barracks
Raqqah: the Suluq barracks

In the air defence base assault they reportedly destroyed buildings and sabotaged radar and rockets after over-running the base in co-operation with the al-Fajr Islamic Movement and a group of Chechen fighters. During the storming of the Hanano barracks 11 soldiers were killed and they held the complex for six hours before retreating. They also claimed killing 32 soldiers during the raid on the Raqqah base.[123]

In October 2012, they joined other rebels in an attack on the Wadi Deif base around Maraat al Numan, in a prolonged fighting that turned into a siege of the base.[124] They also led an attack on the Taftanaz Air Base in November 2012, an important and strategic base for the Syrian army, containing up to 48 helicopters.[70]

The group seized three army checkpoints around Saraqeb at the end of October 2012, forcing the Syrian Army to withdraw from the area the next day. In the battle, 28 Syrian soldiers were killed as well as five Nusra fighters. Some of the captured soldiers were summarily executed after being called "Assad dogs". The video of these executions was widely condemned, with the United Nations referring to them as probable war crimes.[125][126]

Members of the al-Nusra Front carried out two suicide attacks in early November 2012. One occurred in a rural development center in Sahl al-Ghab in Hama province, where a car bomb killed two people; while the other occurred in the Mezzeh neighbourhood of Damascus, where a suicide bomber killed 11 people.[127] The SOHR claimed a total of 50 soldiers were killed in the Sahl al-Ghab attack.[128]

Al Jazeera reported on 23 December 2012 that the al-Nusra Front had declared a "no-fly-zone" over Aleppo, using 23 mm and 57 mm anti-aircraft guns to down planes. This would include commercial flights which al-Nusra believed transported military equipment and troops. In a video sent to Al Jazeera, they warned civilians against boarding commercial flights.[129]

In February 2013, Al Nusra fighters were involved in fighting in Safira with government reinforcements, preventing these forces from reaching their destination of the city of Aleppo. A monitoring group claims this resulted in more than two hundred casualties over a period of two weeks.[130]

Though it was initially reported that Syrian Catholic priest François Murad was beheaded at a church in Gassanieh, he was actually shot dead.[131]

The group has taken part in military operations with the Free Syrian Army.[132] Abu Haidar, a Syrian FSA co-ordinator in Aleppo's Saif al-Dawla district said that al-Nusra Front "have experienced fighters who are like the revolution's elite commando troops."[133]
In December 2013, al-Nusra abducted 13 nuns from a Christian monastery in Maaloula. They were held in the town of Yabroud until 9 March 2014, The nuns reported they had not been harassed and could keep religious symbols.[134]

As of July 2013, al-Nusra controls Ash-Shaddadeh, a town of roughly 16,000.[135]

On 28 August 2014, militants from the group kidnapped 45 UN peacekeepers from Fiji from Golan Heights in the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force Zone.[136] The group demanded that it be removed from the UN's list of terrorist organisations in exchange for the lives of the peacekeepers. In addition to UN personnel, the group routinely captures UN vehicles to use as car bombs.[137] At the same time, two groups of UN peacekeepers from Philippines were trapped under fire in nearby Rwihinah.[138]

On 31 August, one group of 32 Filipinos soldiers was rescued and the other group of 40 soldiers escaped.[139] The rescue operation was carried out by Irish peacekeepers.[140] Colonel Ezra Enriquez of the Philippines, who oversaw the operations, resigned over disagreements with Indian Lieutenant General Iqbal Singh Singha. Singha had allegedly ordered the Filipinos peacekeepers to surrender arms to ensure the safe release of the Fijian soldiers.[141] On 8 September, Rodrigo Duterte, the mayor of Davao City, called for Singha's death after he allegedly called the Filipinos soldiers cowards.[142] On 11 September, the kidnapped Fijian soldiers were released.[143]

In late October 2014, al-Nusra began attacking the Free Syrian Army and other moderate Islamist groups that it was formerly allied with, in a bid to establish its own Islamic state in the cities it controlled in the Idlib Governorate and other neighbouring Governorates.[144][145]

External support

At least one Arab government[which?] has accused Qatar of helping al-Nusra.[146] The US Government has been sending weapons to rebels in Syria since at least late 2013, and perhaps as early as 2011, during the begininning phases of the conflict. These weapons have been reportedly falling into hands of extremists, such as al-Nusra and ISIL.[147][148] It has also been argued that the Iranian government has supported the group.[149]

al-Nusra has also been materially supported by multiple foreign fighters. Most of these fighters are from Europe and the Middle East, as pipelines to Syria from those locations are better established and navigable.[150] However, as of November 2013, there were also 6 publicly disclosed cases of American citizens and permanent residents who joined or attempted to join al-Nusrah in 2013 alone.[151]

The Independent reported that Saudi Arabia and Turkey "are focusing their backing for the Syrian rebels on the combined Jaish al-Fatah, or the Army of Conquest, a command structure for jihadist groups in Syria that includes Jabhat al-Nusra."[152]

[Rex]

8. The same AL Qaeda that flew two planes into the WTC?

Not surprised, we have a habit of making frenemies.

[hifiguy]

9. The Monty Python guys couldn't write this shit.

They would throw their hands in the air and head for the pub. Reality has even outstripped their absurdity.

[MisterP]

10. so Abbotabad was ... a particularly hostile takeover?