Civil War in Syria

[Californiadreaming]

The Syrian Army's Raqqa offensive seems to have turned into a costly desaster, due to strategic mistakes, a surprise Daesh counter-attack, lack of communication between different units and an un-coordinated retreat that left some units behind enemy lines. One might almost say 'business as usual'. While lifting the sieges of Kuweires and Nubl/Al-Zahraa has been a major moral boost for pro-regime fighters, recent events once again might give them the sentiment that in critical situations their commanders tend to waste their lives due to military incompetence.

Out of curiosity--did Russia help the Syrian Army in its failed Raqqa offensive?

[Californiadreaming]

     ISIS is finally giving way!

Yep, thankfully.

[Californiadreaming]

Syrian Civil War + Spillover, January 2016.


June 2016

What exactly explains the ISIS retreat in southern Syria and western Iraq, though?

[Californiadreaming]

What seems to be the loss of a huge territory by ISIS in Southern Syria and Western Iraq is just the loss of some desert outposts, sadly.
In Southern Syria the US-backed and Jordan-based New Syrian Army has captured the al-Tanf border crossing from ISIS, but overall success has been limited so far. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Syrian_Army
In Western Syria the Iraqi Army and allies have made progress in the densely populated parts of Anbar province (Ramadi, Fallujah etc.) which has allowed it to take back some desert outposts.

But maps like these can be really deceiving. Optically they give too much value to deserts and wasteland on the one side, and on the other side important devolopments like the encirclement of East Aleppo, the SAA progress in the Damascus suburbs or the future capture of Manbij by the YPG are barely visible.

Thank you very much for this information!

Also, though, off-topic, but out of curiosity--given your extremely large amount of knowledge about this topic, can you please respond to this question of mine here?:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=241654.0