A Look At The Groups Fighting In Iraq And Syria

A Guide To The Many Groups Fighting In Iraq And Syria -- NYMag

Many of us, when we hear the term civil war, tend to picture a two-sided affair: the rebels and loyalists. Through most of history — whether in Rome under Julius Caesar, the U.S. in the 19th century, or Cuba in the '50s — that's how these things have played out. But Syria has a far messier, more confusing conflict. Depending how you count them, there are a dozen or more players, and among them an ever-shifting pattern of alliances and hostilities.

Martha Crenshaw, a senior fellow at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, has been collecting information on militant groups from around the world for the Mapping Militant Organizations project. She says keeping track of the various groups is one of the unique challenges of understanding what's happening in Syria. "What you’re seeing is not only independent groups changing their positions ... but also a lot of spinning and merging, and you're seeing groups disintegrate from within to a certain extent," she says.

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My Comment:When you add in national governments and the 60 nations that support the U.S. led coalition against the Islamic State .... this is becoming a very long list.