Jihadist ISIS captures Fallujah from Iraqi forces

[Igel]

19. Let's not forget where they moved in from.

Eastern Syria is an an-Nusra base of operations.

If Syria hadn't been destabilized, it wouldn't have destabilized a barely stable Anbar province.

So we really get to blame those who destabilized Syria to loud huzzahs and rah-rahs.

While that would largely be Sa'udiyya and Qatar, they were enabled and facilitated by others. France and the US come to mind.

The Shi'a are likely to retake the towns--ISIS is probably thin on the ground and will hope for tribal Sunni support, through bribes, solidarity, or terror. Not sure they'll get it since the tribal leaders have seen both sides, and one is distinctly worse than the other.

I suspect having ISIS lose their base will have rather bad consequences for the rest of Iraq. Right now I'd root for the Kurds managing to set up a free zone for themselves.



Then again, it's also likely if Obama had succeeded in keeping troops in Iraq after the 2008 status-of-forces agreement stipulated they had to be all withdrawn that there'd be a better chance of quickly recouping (or never having had Falluja be claimed by ISIS).

Nobody liked his attempt, though. And most, as the poster upstream, attribute the withdrawal not to the SOFA signed before Obama was in office but to Obama himself.