In Syria The U.S. Is Not Sure On Who To Back And Who To Bomb

A pair of U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles fly over northern Iraq after conducting airstrikes in Syria, in this U.S. Air Force handout photo taken early in the morning of September 23, 2014. (Reuters/U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Matthew)

Paul Wood, Spectator: In Syria we're not sure who we're backing, or who we're bombing

We’re backing more than one side – even when we don’t bomb the wrong one

Soon, soon, you will see a wondrous sight,’ says the Isis anthem, ‘for your destruction, my sword has been sharpened. We march by night, to cut and behead… We make the streets run red with blood, from the stabbing of the bayonets, from the striking of the necks, on the assembly of the dogs.’ The people of the Syrian town of Deir Ezzor were left in no doubt that they were the dogs in question. This nasheed — or chant — was posted on the internet, played over video from Syrian state TV of Deir Ezzor residents criticising the Isis siege. The message was clear.

That was at the beginning of this year, when fighters from Islamic State were closing on the city and seemed about to storm it. But Deir Ezzor held out: 100,000 people cut off and existing on the brink of starvation, sustained by airdrops from the regime, the Russians and the UN. Deir Ezzor survived for so long as the only government-held town in Syria’s east because the regime sent its elite Republican Guard to defend it. The bloody stalemate went on until last weekend, when there was a development so unlikely that Isis might have considered it a miracle.

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WNU Editor: Below is a short list on how confusing U.S. policy on Syria has become ....

U.S. Forces Chased Out Of Syrian Town By American-Backed Rebels Who Threatened To Slaughter Them (September 16, 2016)
The White House's Syrian Strategy is Unravelling As Feuding Allies Continue To Battle Each Other (August 30, 2016)
U.S. Contractors Are Now At War In Syria (August 9, 2016)
U.S. Backed Syrian Rebels Are Being Wiped Out As The U.S. Bickers On What To Do (June 9, 2016)
CIA Backed Syrian Militias Are Waging War Against Pentagon Backed Syrian Militias (March 27, 2016)