BREAKING NEWS! UPDATE! US Airstrikes Under Way in Syria

[czecherychestnut]

Captain_Tom said:

czecherychestnut said:

Scisca said:
Bomb the shit out of them!

US should also make sure that the new Syria government is pro-Western, so that Russia loses its only foothold in the Middle East.

 

Umm, the IS movement was a large part of the anti-government forces in Syria, bombing the IS forces is helping the Assad regime, not hurting them. Assad is from the Alawite religious sect that is aligned with the shi'ites, whereas ISIL (and the Saudi's) are Sunni, hence their hatred of Assad and the Syrian government. 

 

Yeah but we are aiding the "Good" rebels so eventually Assad is gonna be pushed out by stronger forces.

The anti-government forces in Syria have been slowly retreating over the past 6 months, despite the heavy involvement of the IS forces and rumoured assistance from the US government. Remember the Assad regime are backed by Russia and silently Israel (who don't want another radicalised Islamic country on their border). Losing a significant proportion of their forces will not help them in anyway. I do feel for the first true anti-government protestors who wanted Assad's and his cronies out and fair elections, however like many protest movements it got overtaken by far better resourced and sinister players who had ulterior motives, much like what occurred in Egypt. 

This is one of those 'an enemy of my enemy is my friend' situations, where the US have decided/realised that ISIS is a far bigger threat than the Assad regime ever was.  Of course, they can't openingly support Assad without having huge egg on their face, so this is the only remaining course of action, mop up from the air and leave Assad to fight the ground battle.