Western politicians rarely acknowledge the schism between Shia and Sunni Islam. There is nothing remotely comparable to this schism in any other religion in the modern world.
Contents: Terrorist bombings in Damascus, airstrikes in Idlib, break Syria’s ceasefire; Russian troops join Americans, Kurds, Sunni rebels in Manbij, Syria; Syria’s Bashar al-Assad says that the Americans are invaders.
Contents: Al-Nusra descendant claims credit for massive terror attack in Damascus, Syria; Al-Nusra becomes Levant Liberation Committee (LLC) and gains at expense of ISIS
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Iraqi Shiite militia fighters are “pouring into Syria to reinforce the Assad regime’s siege of Aleppo, further complicating the tangled web of alliances the U.S. relies on to fight Islamic State, which can turn an ally on one side of the border into an enemy on the other.”
Contents: Death of Afghan Taliban leader complicates America’s relationship with Pakistan; Massive explosions in Syria target Bashar al-Assad’s heartland
Contents: Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict extremely dangerous, despite ‘unilateral ceasefire’; Syria’s Alawites threaten to abandon Bashar al-Assad
The Associated Press reports it has seen documents that show the State Department expects Syrian dictator Bashar Assad to remain in power until at least March 2017, which is “two months after President Barack Obama leaves office and more than five years after Obama first called for Assad to leave.”
Caged prisoners believed to be former army officers from dictator Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect were paraded through streets of a rebel-held suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus, apparently used as human shields to deter further bombardments in the area, according to video clips and images posted on social media.
The leader of the al-Nusra Front, Syria’s al-Qaeda offshoot, reportedly called on jihadists to intensify attacks on Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s minority Alawite sect of Shiite Islam in retaliation for Russia’s military intervention.
A sizable group of Saudi clerics has called for jihad against the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria, and by extension, Assad’s military allies Russia and Iran. The Islamist clerics praised the rebels Russia is currently bombing as “holy warriors of Syria” who are “defending the whole Islamic nation.”
Contents: Burundi’s Hutu government in violent crackdown on Tutsi protesters; Obama planning additional troop deployment to Iraq in new escalation; US-supported rebels capture key Assad regime army base in Syria
