When I saw a headline about Syrian rebels claiming a major victory, I had more in mind than seizing a helicopter base ten miles from the Turkish border. Honestly, who cares? But, there’s reason to care about who took the base and how they did it.
Syrian rebels say they have seized a military air base in Aleppo province, almost a year after they laid siege to the facility, one of the last remaining government holdouts in the northern Syria province.
The final thrust, they said, was kicked off by two suicide bombers – foreign fighters with the Al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham – who attacked loyalist soldiers with explosives-laden armored vehicles. A 12-hour firefight ensued and by nightfall Monday, rebel fighters from the Islamist group as well as several Free Syrian Army brigades claimed full control over the airport.
So, al-Qaeda fighters that we created when we invaded Iraq are working with the supposedly acceptable Free Syrian Brigades and using giant truck bombs. And then there is the sectarian flavor:
Minnagh [airport] “was a source of strength for the regime in the suburbs a[n]d we destroyed it and raised the morale of our fighters,” said First Lt. Adnan Sayade, a commander with the North Storm brigade. “And [Shiite villages] Nubil and Zahra have been supporting them, and we broke that link. And now we are coming for Nubil and Zahra.”
I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a beef with the people Nubil and Zahra, and I would prefer that they not be slaughtered by Syrian rebels who are now receiving arms with our tax dollars.
Maybe this makes clearer why I have opposed increasing our involvement with the conflict in Syria.
