Why are we all so obsessed with ISIS ?
In Syria there are radical groups very similar to ISIS:
1. Jabhat Al Nusra - the alqaeda affiliate
- one of the most powerful groups in syria.
2. Ahrar Al Sham - worked closely with Al Nusra (part of the 'islamic front'
- a very powerful coalition.
3. Hardline salafi-jihadi groups.
Why on earth are we being told to only worry about ISIS, when the fact is the majority of the opposition (not all of them, many are 'moderate' but that's a minority), are actually terrorists ?
I'll tell you why:
Go through all the news in the early stages - from 2011, when we were told we needed to arm these people. We had calculated Assad would fall, we could weaken Iran, strenghten israel, strenghten our business ties in syria , but then like frankensteins monster, groups morphed out of our control.
Media outlets again and again focused purely on Assad - who has done terrible things. They then focused on ISIS. But there was minimal if not very underplayed coverage on the plethora of terrorist groups in Syria, because it would not toe the government narrative for regime change or any of the intervention they require purely and precisely because i hypothesize - it would not meet this image of '70'000' moderates or 'majority moderates' like Kerry and the oh-so-muslim-democracy loving John Mcain.
There have been users on this very forum who have glorified some of these groups. Some of them are banned, some of them remain (and no , it's not you brother , i'm refering to others).
1. Jabhat Al Nusra - the alqaeda affiliate
- one of the most powerful groups in syria.
2. Ahrar Al Sham - worked closely with Al Nusra (part of the 'islamic front'
- a very powerful coalition.3. Hardline salafi-jihadi groups.
Why on earth are we being told to only worry about ISIS, when the fact is the majority of the opposition (not all of them, many are 'moderate' but that's a minority), are actually terrorists ?
I'll tell you why:
Go through all the news in the early stages - from 2011, when we were told we needed to arm these people. We had calculated Assad would fall, we could weaken Iran, strenghten israel, strenghten our business ties in syria , but then like frankensteins monster, groups morphed out of our control.
Media outlets again and again focused purely on Assad - who has done terrible things. They then focused on ISIS. But there was minimal if not very underplayed coverage on the plethora of terrorist groups in Syria, because it would not toe the government narrative for regime change or any of the intervention they require purely and precisely because i hypothesize - it would not meet this image of '70'000' moderates or 'majority moderates' like Kerry and the oh-so-muslim-democracy loving John Mcain.
There have been users on this very forum who have glorified some of these groups. Some of them are banned, some of them remain (and no , it's not you brother , i'm refering to others).
(edited 8 years ago)
How it's apparently more acceptable to support the Islamic Front than Assad is worrying.
I find most people supporting the former are merely Sunni Muslims who care more about establishing Islamic rule in Syria than they do about the welfare of Syrians themselves.
I find most people supporting the former are merely Sunni Muslims who care more about establishing Islamic rule in Syria than they do about the welfare of Syrians themselves.
Original post by Tawheed
In Syria there are radical groups very similar to ISIS:
1. Jabhat Al Nusra - the alqaeda affiliate
- one of the most powerful groups in syria.
2. Ahrar Al Sham - worked closely with Al Nusra (part of the 'islamic front' - a very powerful coalition.
3. Hardline salafi-jihadi groups.
Why on earth are we being told to only worry about ISIS, when the fact is the majority of the opposition (not all of them, many are 'moderate' but that's a minority), are actually terrorists ?
I'll tell you why:
Go through all the news in the early stages - from 2011, when we were told we needed to arm these people. We had calculated Assad would fall, we could weaken Iran, strenghten israel, strenghten our business ties in syria , but then like frankensteins monster, groups morphed out of our control.
Media outlets again and again focused purely on Assad - who has done terrible things. They then focused on ISIS. But there was minimal if not very underplayed coverage on the plethora of terrorist groups in Syria, because it would not toe the government narrative for regime change or any of the intervention they require purely and precisely because i hypothesize - it would not meet this image of '70'000' moderates or 'majority moderates' like Kerry and the oh-so-muslim-democracy loving John Mcain.
There have been users on this very forum who have glorified some of these groups. Some of them are banned, some of them remain (and no , it's not you brother , i'm refering to others).
1. Jabhat Al Nusra - the alqaeda affiliate
- one of the most powerful groups in syria.
2. Ahrar Al Sham - worked closely with Al Nusra (part of the 'islamic front'
- a very powerful coalition.3. Hardline salafi-jihadi groups.
Why on earth are we being told to only worry about ISIS, when the fact is the majority of the opposition (not all of them, many are 'moderate' but that's a minority), are actually terrorists ?
I'll tell you why:
Go through all the news in the early stages - from 2011, when we were told we needed to arm these people. We had calculated Assad would fall, we could weaken Iran, strenghten israel, strenghten our business ties in syria , but then like frankensteins monster, groups morphed out of our control.
Media outlets again and again focused purely on Assad - who has done terrible things. They then focused on ISIS. But there was minimal if not very underplayed coverage on the plethora of terrorist groups in Syria, because it would not toe the government narrative for regime change or any of the intervention they require purely and precisely because i hypothesize - it would not meet this image of '70'000' moderates or 'majority moderates' like Kerry and the oh-so-muslim-democracy loving John Mcain.
There have been users on this very forum who have glorified some of these groups. Some of them are banned, some of them remain (and no , it's not you brother , i'm refering to others).
ISIS are partly a scapegoat chosen for their fear value and shock factor, but they are also the most dangerous terrorist group. Firstly, the shock factor is not an invention of the Western media: they are deliberately more violent and more oppressive than the other Syrian factions. That's not to say that both the Regime and the Rebel groups don't do the same things on a lesser scale, but not in the explicitly planned and publicised way that IS do.
Plus, ISIS is now the only terrorist group deliberately targeting civilians in western countries: no other Islamist group has the scope or the support these days to carry out an attack in Britain or the USA, except al-Qaeda, and they have come out against attacking civilians, preferring military and government targets.
Also ISIS is by far the largest rebel group: Jabhat al-Nusra, the FSA and the Islamic front etc are confederations of local and foreign batallions who rule a patchwork of divided areas. They don't control any major cities, and most of their territory is either small parts of cities or out of the way countryside at the moment. Whereas IS is a large, centralised state, with its own laws and currency: it governs and estimated 10 million people - that's more than the population of Ireland, N.I., Wales and Scotland put together. IS is objectively a much more dangerous and much more important enemy than any of the other rebel groups.
Plus you can rest assured that although Assad is guilty of more killing of innocent people and for much of the refugee crisis, if IS were ever to capture a densely populated area like Baghdad or Western Syria they would be doing equally as much damage.
I pity the Syrian people,almost all the armed groups and the govt forces are as bad as each other.
Original post by Illiberal Liberal
How it's apparently more acceptable to support the Islamic Front than Assad is worrying.
I find most people supporting the former are merely Sunni Muslims who care more about establishing Islamic rule in Syria than they do about the welfare of Syrians themselves.
I find most people supporting the former are merely Sunni Muslims who care more about establishing Islamic rule in Syria than they do about the welfare of Syrians themselves.
I've been pretty impressed with your analysis on a number of issues (through i profoundly disagree with you on others).
On this case, i again solidly agree that how on earth can we be supporting the islamic front ?
However, i can assure you, the majority of sunni muslims do care profoundly for the syrians. Sadly, due to propaganda by western and saudi/gulf state dictatorship governments, many are led into not having the correct idea of what is actually going on.
Ofcourse, there is a minority who don't really care about the syrians or the truth, their goals are secterian.
Original post by Copperknickers
Also ISIS is by far the largest rebel group: Jabhat al-Nusra, the FSA and the Islamic front etc are confederations of local and foreign batallions who rule a patchwork of divided areas. They don't control any major cities, and most of their territory is either small parts of cities or out of the way countryside at the moment. Whereas IS is a large, centralised state, with its own laws and currency: it governs and estimated 10 million people - that's more than the population of Ireland, N.I., Wales and Scotland put together. IS is objectively a much more dangerous and much more important enemy than any of the other rebel groups.
ISIS actually numbers less than some of these other groups in terms of their numbers in Syria. They survive by swimming among the population in their controlled areas - and are very, very well fiananced.
There's also Hezbollah and many sectarian Shia foreign fighters from multiple different countries.
They are all just as bad as eachother but evidently Daesh do a lot more beheadings and mass-shootings than the others do. I just feel sorry for the innocent Syrians stuck in the middle of this mess.
Original post by Tawheed
ISIS actually numbers less than some of these other groups in terms of their numbers in Syria. They survive by swimming among the population in their controlled areas - and are very, very well fiananced.
I don't know the numbers but that doesn't surprise me. But still, the population of the territory they hold is significant, because it means they have access to resources and lines of supply that just don't exist for the other rebels, their operation is on a different level to most of the other jihadi groups who are always shifting alliances and losing vital strategic locations.
So it's not because they recruit people from our country? It's not because of stuff like Paris? It's not because it's ISIS trying to establish a caliphate?
Part of it is simply because Syria is a complicated war, and if you start going into the different rebel groups, and start talking about AAS, JAN, Jaish al Islam, the Islamic Front coalition and all the other independent Islamist groups and the relationships between all of them, it can get confusing for someone who hasn't followed the conflict much. So the media tends not to go too far into that.
However, they do get attention. The spring-summer Idlib offensive this year was dominated by Islamists, and when it was reported on this fact was clear and prominent in a lot of the coverage.
However, they do get attention. The spring-summer Idlib offensive this year was dominated by Islamists, and when it was reported on this fact was clear and prominent in a lot of the coverage.
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