...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....
fighters are preparing for a major battle in a critical war-ravaged province, where government troops have successfully driven out rebel forces.
IS has been fighting Syrian forces in eastern Homs province for weeks, gaining ground in villages with hopes for an assault on the beleaguered central city of Homs.
In a video released on social media over the weekend, IS warned government forces that its fighters will advance on central Homs, showing fighters doing training exercises for the battle. The video featured what IS said are the bodies of Syrian soldiers who died in battles with IS.
"Homs is a natural area of operations for (IS)," said Nicholas A. Heras, a Middle East researcher at the Center for a New American Security in Washington. "[Their] would-be caliphate already has a long-established military presence in the contested areas."
Homs has been decimated by war since 2012. The city was one of the first battlegrounds between rebels opposed to Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Horror of Homs...
and government troops. Thousands of soldiers, rebels and civilians have been killed and maimed in the fighting. Tens of thousands of residents fled, and those left behind faced urgent humanitarian needs as the embattled city was virtually cut off from international aid.