Sun Oct 7, 2012, 12:10 PM

Rebels 'cement gains' in northern Syria

Source: Al Jazeera

October 7, 2012

Syrian rebels have cemented their control of the country’s northern frontier with Turkey, as their bastions in other parts of the country came under heavy shelling.

Activists on Sunday said that opposition fighters seized the town of Khirbat al-Joz in the northwest province of Idlib after fierce clashes with regime forces.

"The fighting lasted more than 12 hours and resulted in at least 40 dead among the regular forces, including five officers, and nine fighters," the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

-snip-

AFP news agency correspondents have passed through large swathes of territory in the Idlib and Aleppo provinces of northern Syria that have fallen outside government control, with residents managing their own affairs.

Read more: http://aje.me/QHrJA7

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6 replies	Author	Time	Post
Rebels 'cement gains' in northern Syria (Original post)	UnrepentantLiberal	Oct 2012	OP
Damascus is reportedly willing to give them a 6 mile-wide swath along the border as a way of	leveymg	Oct 2012	#1
looks like the false flag mortar shots have paid off for the rebels n/t	cqo_000	Oct 2012	#2
Any link to that?	arewenotdemo	Oct 2012	#3
That's a general suspicion	dipsydoodle	Oct 2012	#4
Excellent point on Turkish Kurds.	arewenotdemo	Oct 2012	#5
I'd just like to ask Obama.	arewenotdemo	Oct 2012	#6

Response to UnrepentantLiberal (Original post)

Sun Oct 7, 2012, 04:15 PM

leveymg (26,339 posts)

1. Damascus is reportedly willing to give them a 6 mile-wide swath along the border as a way of

Last edited Sun Oct 7, 2012, 04:39 PM USA/ET - Edit history (2)

avoiding further direct military conflict with Turkey. That suggests that the civil war is for all intents and purposes at an impasse, and that regime change isn't going to happen anytime in the near-term.

It doesn't look like "cementing gains" for the rebels, at all. More likely, some sort of accommodation is being reached between the US, the regional powers, and the regime will survive for a while, at least. The only alternatives are either an ongoing meat-grinder, or military intervention. The former would be tragedy, the latter would prove that Obama's claims to a moral difference from Bush are a farce.

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Response to UnrepentantLiberal (Original post)

Sun Oct 7, 2012, 10:20 PM

cqo_000 (207 posts)

2. looks like the false flag mortar shots have paid off for the rebels n/t

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Response to cqo_000 (Reply #2)

Mon Oct 8, 2012, 11:18 AM

arewenotdemo (2,104 posts)

3. Any link to that?

It's what I suspected. Al Qaeda activists are an enterprising lot.

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Response to arewenotdemo (Reply #3)

Mon Oct 8, 2012, 11:26 AM

dipsydoodle (32,657 posts)

4. That's a general suspicion

given they are the only group who benefit from stray mortars crossing the border. With a 6 mile zone in place they couldn't pull the same stunt - mortars can't be fired that far.

In some some respects Turkey is shooting itself in the foot because it will the Kurds to their front doorstep.

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Response to dipsydoodle (Reply #4)

Mon Oct 8, 2012, 11:28 AM

arewenotdemo (2,104 posts)

5. Excellent point on Turkish Kurds.

The whole policy is insane, IMO.

We should be backing Assad, period.

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Response to dipsydoodle (Reply #4)

Mon Oct 8, 2012, 11:33 AM

arewenotdemo (2,104 posts)

6. I'd just like to ask Obama.

Why are you helping to make the nightmarish fantasies of Paul Wolfowitz reality?

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