www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall ISIS in disarray?

Russian attack jets have hit 51 Islamic State targets in Syria in the past 24 hours, including four command posts, six arms depots, a mortar battery, two underground bunkers, 32 field camps and six outposts.
The strikes took place in the Latakia, Aleppo, Hama and Damascus provinces.
The damage the Russian SU-34 jets caused to the underground bunkers was especially significant, Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said.
They hit the terrorists' underground infrastructure in Homs, which had allowed the militants to move undetected and increase their effectiveness in combat.
The well-funded Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) has been hiding whole weapons caches underground, which included explosive devices for carrying out terrorist attacks.
A small missile factory was among the objects destroyed. However, these underground bases and conduits are believed to be widespread across Syria, so more work needs to be done, Konashenkov says.
A frontline supply junction for transporting fuel, arms and food supply lines was also hit in the Damascus province.
The entire command infrastructure of one of the terrorist groups operating in the Hama province was disrupted by the strikes, sending the militants fleeing from the area, the Defense Ministry added.
According to information from the Russian armed forces, desertions on a massive scale are occurring amongst IS ranks in the north and north-east of the country. In the Raqqa province, IS has started a mobilization of everyone aged 14 and over.
In Idlib and Hama, field commanders with Al-Nusra Front are resorting to separating families at gunpoint in order to get their hands on ever younger child soldiers.
Fighting between different jihadist groups over territory control and funds are also on the rise, the Defense Ministry report states. Intercepted radio communications suggest that IS has targeted Al-Nusra Front with three car bombings in the past week.
IS leaders are demanding that their field commanders employ more car bombs and other home-made explosives against advancing Syrian forces, the report says.
https://www.rt.com/news/318985-syria-airstrikes-combat-report/

Finally! Good to hear the progress.

I hope that President Assad can regain control of his country despite our best efforts to topple him. Wouldn't it be in Europe's best interest for the refugees to have a stable country to go home to?

John McCain must be upset about his Al-Nusra terrorist pals,-- oops-- I mean the 'moderate rebels'!

Indeed!

Just a question - are there other sources than Russia Today carrying the same story?

Alex

This should not, of course, blind us to the fact that Assad is no angel and has the blood of his own people on his hands.

That is not to say that Christians wouldn't fare better under him than others.

No one, however, in the Middle East is safe if they oppose the authority in power and/or which obtains the greater military strength.

(Now, if either of you have nothing to say to me other than to characterize me as anti-this or anti-that - then that is not a discussion since, by that tone, you've shown yourselves to be 1) insecure in your own convictions - which I respect; 2) without any real argument with which to defend your own convictions. IF you want to continue to go that route, that is your right. IF you were in my class, I'd ask you to leave the room )

Alex

So you like to shut down free speech?

Did you ever think that there is a reason you are often characterized as anti-this or anti-that?

Uhmm... Because I am?

I would never shut down free speech. But, in the case of my Saturday classes, if someone began to characterize others during a debate "ad hominem" style, then that person lost the right to be part of the debate - and be part of the class.

That is how I was also taught throughout high school and university . . .

Alex

If someone is "anti-something"....and someone else states it....then I don't see it as ad hominem. However, they should explain why they feel the person is "anti-something."

Anyway, getting back to Russia's intervention in Syria....I will add one more post. This link is very interesting.

http://fatherjohn.blogspot.com/2015/10/franklin-graham-gets-it-on-russias.html?m=1

Thank you for that, Recluse.

Yes, one can be anti-anything but still be civil in discourse about it.

If a student of mine would refuse to debate based on arguments and went ahead to to say, "Hey, you're just anti-that . . ." - then that is not an argument but a way to make that person feel "not with it."

It is a way of arguing that left-wing profs like to use in university. I find it to be just ignorant and a way to try and get someone who doesn't agree with you to conform by being made to feel somehow "abnormal" for not agreeing with you.

We are all anti-something, one way or another.

As for the article re: Franklin Graham - he is most certainly right that U.S. foreign policy has led to the Middle East mess and to the slaughter of Christians and other minorities, today and for some time in the past.

Alex

Indeed. That are the real bullies. They are the real bigots. They are the true bearers of intolerance.

This famous quote becomes more relevant every day:

“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.'”
St Anthony the Great