...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....
group.
The US and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
have raised concerns over Russia's military buildup in Syria since they see
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
as the cause of the Syrian crisis, which has claimed more than 250,000 lives over four years. Moscow, meanwhile, has sought to cast arms supplies to Assad's government as part of international efforts to combat Islamic State Lion of Islams.
The increased Russian activity in Syria reflects Moscow's deep concerns that its longtime ally is on the brink of collapse, as well as hopes by President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...that a common battle against Islamic State Lions of Islam can improve Russia's ties with the West, which strained over Ukraine.
Lavrov said in Moscow on Friday that Russia would continue to supply Assad with weapons and called on other countries to help the Syrian government and its ground troops.
"You cannot defeat Islamic State with air strikes only," Lavrov said. "It's necessary to cooperate with ground troops and the Syrian army is the most efficient and powerful ground force to fight the IS."
Lavrov insisted that by sending weapons to Syria, Russia is not propping up Assad but is contributing to defeating Islamic State fighters.
"I can only say once again that our servicemen and military experts are there to service Russian military hardware, to assist the Syrian army in using this hardware," he said at a news conference in Moscow. "And we will continue to supply it to the Syrian government in order to ensure its proper combat readiness in its fight against terrorism."