"Syrian Government forces take rebel territory..." Topic

….near Damascus.

"Syrian government forces and their allies seized territory from rebels outside Damascus, encroaching on a pocket of insurgent-held land east of the capital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and state media reported on Wednesday.

The advance took place overnight near the town of Hosh al-Fara area in the Eastern Ghouta suburb, the British-based monitoring group said.

Quoting a military source, Syrian state news agency SANA said government and allied forces took control of a farming area south-east of Hosh al-Fara during the day on Wednesday…"
See here
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Amicalement
Armand

Well as long as Assad [and his Russia allies and others] has to deal with the Anti-Assad forces. The longer it will take for them to retake Raqqa. And the longer Daesh has it's Caliphate's de facto capital.

And I think the West has to get used to the fact, that no matter how big an SOB murdering tyrant/dictator Assad is … The Syrian's are not committing terrorist acts in the West. As I have said before. He's the lesser of two evils. Compared to Deash, AQ, etc., … And Putin won't let anything happen to his buddy Assad.

ISIS is the greatest threat to us all , its grown like a cancer .. credit goes to Putin and his military for his efforts in shrinking the tumour … much more needs to be done .. and when Sky news says ''Turkey who have led the fight against ISIS '' – please do me a favour !!!

Not to mention the "moderate" anti-Assad rebels we support are not immune from exhibiting ISIS-like behavior too, like beheading 12-year olds: link

Yes, we know that, but they are not acting under our orders. To commit such heinous acts. We expect them to fight against Assad, Daesh and AQ. No one told them to do such acts. But it seems it's more of a "cultural" thing. So after the conflict if they survive they should be charged with war crimes. But based on what has been going on. The local survivors on all sides will have some war crimes to answer for ?

I agree with all that has been said above.

At some point the west has to accept that pretty much every decision the west has made in the whole area – in the last couple of decades and maybe more – has not helped anyone: not local people and not western powers.

We also have to accept, bizarre and counterintuitive as it may be to western ideals and principles – is that democracy is not for everyone all the time.

In extremis – for example when we are at war – the west often suspends theirs (not many UK elections during WW2*).

If the 'Arab Spring' and Libya taught us anything it's that those folks probably weren't quite right for democracy right there and then.

After all, they might vote for something we find unplatable!

Big dose of 'be careful what you wish for'!

John T

* to complex to take the day out tp vote wjen you're fighting for your very existence

…no matter how big an SOB murdering tyrant/dictator Assad is…

Really, by local standards, Assad is fairly mild. He doesn't publicly torture people to death or do mass executions in cold blood. He's western educated. He was trained to be an ophthalmologist. Probably one reason for the rebellion is that his people didn't fear him enough.

My problem with Assad is, he's irreconcilable. His position is that Lebanon and Israel are both lost Syrian provinces, and he wants them both back.

Maybe in another hundred years it will be possible to actually make peace. For now, a cease-fire is the best we can get.

Maybe in another hundred years it will be possible to actually make peace. For now, a cease-fire is the best we can get

Not ideal, granted, but it's worked for S Korea for over six decades.

Sometimes a man has to play the cards he's dealt…

John T