Al-Nusra Front fighters. Khalil Ashawi/Reuters
Washington Post: Obama directs Pentagon to target al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, one of the most formidable forces fighting Assad
President Obama has ordered the Pentagon to find and kill the leaders of an al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria that the administration had largely ignored until now and that has been at the vanguard of the fight against the Syrian government, U.S. officials said.
The decision to deploy more drones and intelligence assets against the militant group formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra reflects Obama’s concern that it is turning parts of Syria into a new base of operations for al-Qaeda on Europe’s southern doorstep, the officials said.
The move underlines the extent to which Obama has come to prioritize the counterterrorism mission in Syria over efforts to pressure President Bashar al-Assad to step aside, as al-Nusra is among the most effective forces battling the Syrian government.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: This is long overdue. It is also one of the long-standing demands that Russia has been telling the U.S. that they must implement if there is any hope of cooperation in Syria.
3 comments:
Wants them dead before the new administration. I wonder what they have on his administration supporting them?
Anon,
That is very interesting. You may be on to something here. Operative word "may." In any event, they are going to be VERY hard to find and kill.
Presumably the Russians have been trying to do this for quite awhile and apparently haven't succeeded. With much less strict rules of engagement and better intel services than the US has it seems the Russians would be in a much better position to actually destroy this enemy than the US would. As such, my first thought has been simply get US personnel out of the way while the Russians take care of the problem.
Since the Russians have obviously been lookin for these people for quite awhile to kill them, there is no logical reason to think the Americans are going to be able to "find and kill" these leaders before January 2017 when team Obama leaves office. Eventually yes they will be found and killed but not before Obama leaves office UNLESs there is a "smoking gun" in terms of intel on these individuals AND if there was the Russians would take them out long before American forces even got moving.
Finally a post we can agree on!
Post a Comment