I've read a few articles on Syria, and I have a basic understanding of what led the conflict to start. But I can't seem to find a clean, direct and simplified synopsis on the situation.
>Who's fighting who?
>Who's on what side and why?
>Where's Al Queda and the Taliban in all of this?
Now that I've read about pic related, I don't know why the U.S. wouldn't wait until ISIS neutralized Assad before eliminating them and helping the Rebels take over.
Any knowledge or wisdom would be appreciated.
>>29530389
Probably the same reason why Russia went into Syria to unfuck the incompetent Syrians, exhausted Iranian and Hezbolla just as the US went to Iraq to unfuck the incompetent Iraqis.
Sandmonkey jihadis vs. semi civilized Russian aligned dictator
Russia and Iran are on Assad's side
all the west are supporting the jihadis, because muh realpolitik
Taliban is way the fuck in Afghanistan, taking over now the Americans are gone
Al Qaeda is one of the main forces against Assad
Despite what American and Western European media may say, there are honestly no "moderate" or "democratic" rebels left. Among Assad's opposition, Al-Qaeda's JAI are the relative moderates if that tells you anything
>>29530389
One simple thing you have to understand:
American foreign policy in the Middle East is owned by Israel.
As a result, everything America does there is directly or indirectly on behalf of Israel.
The Assad clan has been a thorn in the side of Israel for decades now. They were plotting to "bring democracy" to Syria since 2003, but only decided to initiate an uprising using Muslim Brotherhood pawns in 2011.
Ever since it's been a shitfest, neither side has the capability to win decisively.
A side benefit was launching millions of displaced Mudslimes in Europe, which helps the globalist agenda.
>>29530803
Or maybe half of the Syrians were tired of Assads reign as a dictator and wanted change. Meanwhile the other half saw him as a puppet of shia puppet Iran which he was and fought to break his hold on the Country.
Syrian girls are petty as fuck why is that???
>>29530389
/pol/-kun made this. Kinda helps but I'm sure it's biased towards Russia. Somehow.
>>29530803
>American foreign policy in the Middle East is owned by Israel.
Ebin meme bruh
>>29532097
Lots of assumption as pro regime/russian facts, leaving out vital info...
Like why and where the russian plane was shot down
>>29530389
>>29530389
The US wants to overthrow Assad in order to build a oil pipeline across Syria, so we supported 'moderate rebels' to do so.
>>29530803
The U.S. Israel relations aren't that great under Obama. We've helped spread Saudi/wahhabists influence. Libya was given to the muslim brotherhood ahead of a constitutional movement. I think the Saudi cables exposed them lobbying the vatican to support overthrowing Syria.
>>29532054
No just that one syriangirlpartisan on YouTube the rest are nasty
>>29532097
>Pipe line going through Iraq
You do realize the US could just tell Iraq to say no
or
Just have the pipe line go though Iraq
>>29532097
>Shooting down that aircraft was a planned event and not just some split second decision by the air boss in an AWACS
>But I can't seem to find a clean, direct and simplified synopsis on the situation.
Easy. Because there isn't.
>>29530389
>the Taliban
>Syria
Are you fucking retarded
>>29530803
>American foreign policy in the Middle East is owned by Israel.
>why Israel?
>because jews!
How to detect a clueless /pol/tard
Lemme give you a brotip: replace Israel with KSA and you're closer to the truth. Israel doesn't affect world oil markets the way the Saudis can. Israel is one little bitch in the ME whispering into Uncle Sam's ear, out many little and not-so-little bitches in the ME whispering into Uncle Sam's ear. They're an annoying "friend", but they are a minor annoying "friend" compared to states like KSA, Egypt, Turkey, and even Qatar and Bahrain.
Jew magic is not enough to outweigh the fucking gigantic influence that Saudi Arabia wields.
>>29531323
lol, no on actually thinks that. Unless you're a little baby, with a little baby brain, or a bewildered woman.
>>29532097
Pipeline conspiracy theories are always cheap and lazy explanations and fail the basic smell test.
There was always a pipeline conspiracy for every conflict since 2003. They all failed.
>>29537143
It is possible to reduce it down to 3 major factions.
1. Sunni jihadists controlled/supported by Sunni states and the West - FSA, Al-Nusra(Al-Qaeda), various separate brigades and divisions
2. Sunni jihadists acting towards independent goals - ISIS
3. Shi'ite powers backed up by Russia - Assad government, IRGC, et cetera
>>29537113
Like Iraq said no to Iranian help against ISIS?
Or told Iran they couldn't use their airspace to get to Syria?
Or told Russia to GTFO their airspace on the way to Syria?
lol
US has lost all control over the Iraqi State. Iraq is playing both sides and hoping to god that the entire region doesn't explode into more violence.
Obama tried to get a US invasion in 2013, failed
Boom! ISIS pops up immediately
Now they can frame the Syrian invasion as "anti isis mission"
Then Russia gets involved and is now cleaning up ISIS with the SAA
The US and turkey wanted so bad to pipe gas from the gulf to Europe, and turkey had already completed their section of the pipe. Just needed to get Assad out for it to happen
Like your image says, it's a complicated multi-way conflict which is tied up in some other conflicts. I'll really briefly sum up the current situation, there's too much to fit in the whole history of it.
Firstly, there's the government, allied with Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah. Very roughly they control 50% of Syrian territory and perhaps 55-60% of the population. Their ground forces are the SAA (Syrian Arab Army), NDF (National Defence Forces i.e. local militias), Hezbollah, and a variety of Iran-backed foreign militias (Shia Afghans seem to be the most common). They're fighting a variety of rebels and ISIS.
The rebels are not a single force but a mix of dozens of armed groups, making them the most complicated to write about. Some of these are FSA (Free Syrian Army) which is not an organisation but more of a label which doesn't mean much except "Give us weapons, America". In the south, many FSA groups are under the umbrella of the Southern Front coalition. There are also a variety of islamist groups which have come to dominate the northern rebels. The largest of these is Ahrar al-Sham. Also of note is Jabhat al-Nusra, a branch of al-Qaeda who split from ISIS after the latter left al-Qaeda. These rebels are only united by their desire to overthrow Assad's government. Being so mixed, their foreign support is complicated. The USA officially endorses only "moderate" groups, usually meaning FSA, but since they're allied with islamist groups it's debatable how effective this vetting is. The USA is hostile to Jabhat al-Nusra and has bombed their meetings several times. Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries favour the islamist rebels, and seem friendly with Ahrar al-Sham. Turkey support Turkmen rebels and whoever else will cause problems for the kurds (more on them later). Aside from occassional infighting (usually Jabhat al-Nusra vs FSA) the rebels mainly fight government forces, but also fight ISIS. (1/2)
ISIS started as al-Qaeda in Iraq, and took advantage of the chaos in Syria to get involved. At first they were allied with the rebels but split in early 2014. They were expelled from western rebel areas but established control in the east. They fight everyone and have no official allies. They prompted direct US involvement during 2014 when they launched successful campaigns against the kurds in the north and came close to capturing the major city of Kobane. Since then, the USA has supported the kurds as an anti-ISIS force.
The kurdish military force in the north is the YPG/J (People's/Women's Protection Units), the militia of the PYD, a left-wing syrian kurdish party. They have created an umbrella organisation called the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) to include some arab group on their side. They rebelled against the government at first but are now neutral towards them. Their only contact with rebels in the north west, where they are mainly hostile and recently fought. Their main enemy is ISIS due to proximity and ISIS's incredible hostility to everyone. Their goal is to unify "Rojava" (syrian kurdistan) and enact local autonomy. They are vehemently opposed by Turkey, who have their own rebellious left-wing kurdish party (PKK) and don't want them to have a strong ally across the border. As mentioned they're support by the USA when fighting ISIS, but not when fighting the rebels.
(2/2)
Acronym city up in here
>>29531323
Nice source
Even at the peak of the rebellion in 2012 most (70%) of Syrians lived in Government territory. They could fuck off and vote with their feet, but they didn't.
The fact the SAA is still around and WINNING, is proof you're a faggot.
>>29537326
You're forgetting the huge and probably most important group to the outcome of the war.
The Kurds.
>>29537504
As of today it's closer to 75-80% of Syria's population in nominally government controlled territory.
>>29537636
ISIS was officially Al-Nusra 2011-2014. There was a schism in November 2013 that led to massive jihadist infighting and ISIS's eventual formation.
This is such a key point Westerners and Turks love to omit because a lot of Turkish aid went to Al-Nusra.
>>29530803
It is more so a matter of Saudi influence, if we were executing Israeli policy we would have bombed Assad and been out. I also suspect major natural gas companies in Northern Europe of playing a lobbyist like role in order to stop the friendship pipeline's construction, which would have flooded the Mediterranean with cheap natural gas. It does not seem like a coincidence to me that a pan Syrian pipeline due to be constructed in 2011 would be stopped by a civil war that same year
