| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Airstrikes Blunt ISIS in Syrian City, but Draw Civilian Ire |
| 2014-11-14 |
| [NY Times] American ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... 's self-proclaimed caliphate, have scattered its fighters and disrupted the harsh system they had imposed, residents and visitors there say. But they see no gratitude toward the United States. In that case, kiss our national ass. Rather, they suggested in interviews, many people are angry at the Americans. Food and fuel prices in Raqqa have soared, power blackouts have prevailed, and order is now threatened by a vacuum of any authority. For all their violence and intolerance toward disbelievers, the fighters of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, at least functioned as a government, providing basic services and some semblance of stability. "People don't want some outside power to attack," Khalid Farhan, a Raqqa resident, said during a recent trip to Turkey. The anger in Raqqa underscored the potentially destabilizing consequences of the United States-led military campaign, in a place where there was little desire to see the Syrian government or other rebel groups return to power. The campaign also risks further alienating Syrians in opposition areas in the north who were already angered by the Obama administrationâs narrow focus on destroying the Islamic State and refusal to counter attacks by the Syrian military. It was not that the militants were popular in Raqqa, according to nearly a dozen residents, who spoke in interviews in the city or across the border in Turkey. Rather, the Islamic State had become an indispensable service provider. Some people in Raqqa said they had seen a benefit from the American aerial assaults, which seemed to have halted the indiscriminate bombings by the Syrian Air Force. But for the most part, the American strikes had shaken âa sense of calm,â especially among conservative Sunni Muslims in northern Syria, who, despite their unease with the militants, had adapted, said Hassan Hassan, an analyst of Syria based in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. The rule of the Islamic State militants in Raqqa contrasted sharply with the chaos that had existed before, when there was âinfighting between rebels, or shootings, or warlords controlling oil fields,â Mr. Hassan said. After the Islamic State exerted its control, residents spoke more frequently about receiving their ârights,â he said. âPeople say ISIS is the first group that is able to take complaints seriouslyâ â for instance, arbitrating old property or financial disputes, Mr. Hassan said. The group also won favor by occasionally punishing its own members, and even leaders, who had been accused of abuses, Mr. Hassan and residents said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 more rubble less trouble |
| Posted by: lord garth 2014-11-14 09:48 |
| #1 If the people prefer ISIS then they are part of the enemy, not collateral damage. Bomb on. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2014-11-14 08:04 |