...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....
of Iraq and Syria holy warriors puts government forces at the heart of the fight against the jihadist group - and not just geographically speaking.
For
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Trampler of Homs...
, recapturing the historic town represents a strategic political coup through which he hopes to convince the West that the Syrian army is a credible partner in combating terrorism as it ramps up the fight against Islamic State.
It is an awkward argument that the U.S. has repeatedly rebuffed. Officials in Washington are quick to point out that it was Assad's brutal crackdown on his own people that created the kind of vacuum that allowed hard boyz like ISIS to flourish in the first place.
An alliance between the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS - similar to the assistance and training provided to the Iraqi military on the other front in the war - seems out of the question.