ISIS on the offensive in Iraq

[Crandar]

Israel is supposed to hold a neutral stance concerning the Syrian Civil War, enjoying the fact that the Iranians and their allies are busy fighting the salafists.
Or maybe not, because it is hardly a coincidence that one of the rebels' strongholds is located near the illegally occupied by Israel Golan Heights.
Some say that the salafists use the occupied land to perform military manoeuvres, while Israel also provides them logistical support. After all, even Israel admits that injured Syrians, with rather long beards are admitted to her hospitals.

Well, Al-Nusra started an offensive against the pro-Assad Druze of Syria, resulting in a massacre of some Syrian citizens and the death of three terrorists, which was ended after an intervention of Israel, that tried to solve the misunderstanding.

An ambulance transporting some wounded Syrians was stopped by local Druze of Israel, who had its drivers, members of the IDF beaten, and its occupants lynched. Well, they had it coming, in my opinion...

http://www.timesofisrael.com/several...rying-syrians/

[HopAlongBunny]

The "blame game" has branched into fantasy:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/...-for-iraq-isis

Of course we knew this was all Clinton's fault all along...

[Shaka_Khan]

http://news.yahoo.com/u-woman-hostag...214409079.html

I want to see a successful rescue for a change.

[Tuuvi]

I found an article on the BBC that goes into more detail about the Turkey-Kurd-ISIS situation I was talking about: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33690060

[Tuuvi]

Here's a good map on the current situation in Syria/Iraq: https://twitter.com/LCarabinier/stat...51713509937152

And an interesting article on how ISIS' rise isn't mysterious and they've actually been very adept at using standard guerilla tactics: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...is-no-mystery/

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

http://news.yahoo.com/u-woman-hostag...214409079.html

I want to see a successful rescue for a change.

The UAE managed to rescue a British man recently.

Most American and British hostages are murdered because out governments refuse to pay, so unless your family are rich enough to be able to bypass the government you're better off fighting as hard as you can if they try to take you, hope you either get away or they end up shooting you dead because otherwise it's a couple of years on death row and a beheading.

On the other hand, if you're German or French you'll get released after your government pays.

[Husar]

For those who are late to the thread or have just lost overview of the situation:

[AE Bravo]

That British man was rescued in Yemen, he's now in the UAE.

I hate to admit it but I'm fairly certain that the UAE and the kingdom are in a tactical alliance with AQAP. Embarrassingly obvious. There is no way they could've deployed in Aden if this wasn't the case.

[rory_20_uk]

The UAE managed to rescue a British man recently.

Most American and British hostages are murdered because out governments refuse to pay, so unless your family are rich enough to be able to bypass the government you're better off fighting as hard as you can if they try to take you, hope you either get away or they end up shooting you dead because otherwise it's a couple of years on death row and a beheading.

On the other hand, if you're German or French you'll get released after your government pays.

Governments should try to rescue hostages and at the very least mean that there are a lot less of those who were guarding them even if the hostages get killed in the rescue.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Governments should try to rescue hostages and at the very least mean that there are a lot less of those who were guarding them even if the hostages get killed in the rescue.

That is the view of the UK and the US - other countries prefer their people alive.

I suppose it depends on what you want in the world.

[rory_20_uk]

That is the view of the UK and the US - other countries prefer their people alive.

I suppose it depends on what you want in the world.

I would rather that taking hostages is basically a variant of suicide as opposed to opening a bank account.