Quote:US-led coalition aircraft have carried out strikes to halt a convoy evacuating Islamic State militants from the Lebanon-Syria border area towards Iraq.

The coalition said it had not hit the convoy, but "cratered" a road in east Syria and bombed IS vehicles nearby.

Earlier, the US envoy to the coalition condemned the evacuation, which was negotiated by the Lebanese army, the Syrian army and its ally Hezbollah.

Brett McGurk insisted that "terrorists should be killed on the battlefield".

He also said the coalition would "help ensure that these terrorists can never enter Iraq or escape from what remains of their dwindling 'caliphate'".

Lebanese, Syrian and Hezbollah forces agreed ceasefires with IS militants near the town of Ras Baalbek last week, only days after launching simultaneous offensives on the jihadists' final foothold in the border area.

In exchange for turning over the bodies of several Lebanese soldiers captured in 2014, 670 militants and their families were allowed to leave for Albu Kamal, a town in the Syrian province of Deir al-Zour that is 6km (4 miles) from the Iraqi border.

On Wednesday morning, Lebanon's President Michel Aoun hailed the country's "victory over terrorism" and said its citizens could "be proud of their army".

His army chief, Gen Joseph Aoun, meanwhile defended the evacuation deal, saying he had wanted to find the missing soldiers and not risk any more lives.

"I had two choices - either I continue the battle and not know the soldiers' fate, or I submit to the situation and find out. Their souls are my responsibility," he said.

In a statement announcing the air strikes aimed at blocking the convoy, the coalition stressed that it "was not a party to any agreement" with the jihadists.

"In accordance with the law of armed conflict, the coalition cratered the road heading east between Hamaymah and Albu Kamal to prevent the further transport of [IS] fighters to the border area of our Iraqi partners, and struck individual vehicles and fighters that were clearly identified as [IS]," it said.

The coalition also said vows from the Syrian government and its allies to combat IS "ring hollow when they cut deals with and allow terrorists to transit territory under their control".

"[IS] is a global threat; relocating terrorists from one place to another for someone else to deal with, is not a lasting solution," it added.

Iraq's Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, also criticised the deal in a speech on Tuesday, calling it "unacceptable" and an "insult to the Iraqi people".

"We fight the terrorists in Iraq. We do not send them to Syria," he said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-41095619

Iraq has really stepped up to the plate when it came to fighting when it came to dislodging isis. It's a shame they cut and ran to begin with, but that was my personal experience with them as well. I guess the foreign policy takeaway here is that change is intrinsic and freedom isn't given it's earned.

These clowns caravaned town to town across the desert in the open like "Road Warrior" and Obama let Them go to wherever They needed then bombed empty buildings They left behind as a show of force. Bush sr gave Saddam the "Highway of Death"

They put family members along with the fighters in the same buses. Can't target the vehicles.

(08-30-2017 08:18 PM)WoodlandsOwl Wrote:  They put family members along with the fighters in the same buses. Can't target the vehicles.

Yet ISIS has no problem going around killing families.

(08-30-2017 08:18 PM)WoodlandsOwl Wrote:  They put family members along with the fighters in the same buses. Can't target the vehicles.

If someone has moral qualms with it, let me push the button.

ISIS could have put captives in among the convoy as well. We have to be careful with them because they are really evil.

(08-30-2017 08:18 PM)WoodlandsOwl Wrote:  They put family members along with the fighters in the same buses. Can't target the vehicles.

(08-31-2017 07:29 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  ISIS could have put captives in among the convoy as well. We have to be careful with them because they are really evil.

Collateral damage is part and parcel of war.

(08-31-2017 06:42 AM)Niner National Wrote:  

(08-30-2017 08:18 PM)WoodlandsOwl Wrote:  They put family members along with the fighters in the same buses. Can't target the vehicles.

If someone has moral qualms with it, let me push the button.

I don't think it's a morality issue so much as it'll be used by ISIS as propaganda if it happened. It'll be all over Al Jazeera with pictures of women/kids bodies which in turn will cause more people to join ISIS. The fact that it was filled with fighters will be "conveniently" glossed over.

(08-31-2017 09:28 AM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(08-30-2017 08:18 PM)WoodlandsOwl Wrote:  They put family members along with the fighters in the same buses. Can't target the vehicles.

(08-31-2017 07:29 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  ISIS could have put captives in among the convoy as well. We have to be careful with them because they are really evil.

Collateral damage is part and parcel of war.

Yup.

It sucks, but if you haven't the stomach for it, we shouldn't be there at all. THEY are the ones putting their "loved ones" in harms way, not us.

Put the wives and chillins on a bus with a big red + and we probably wouldn't touch it.

Until, of course, we discovered there were a hundred jihadis hiding in there as well...


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(08-31-2017 10:10 AM)JMUDunk Wrote:  It sucks, but if you haven't the stomach for it, we shouldn't be there at all. THEY are the ones putting their "loved ones" in harms way, not us.

Exactly. War is not some antiseptic evolution where nobody gets hurt. It's dirty, nasty, revolting, and people get killed and maimed.

If we want to go to war without hurting anybody, then we don't want to go to war. It's really that simple.

(08-31-2017 12:03 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-31-2017 10:10 AM)JMUDunk Wrote:  It sucks, but if you haven't the stomach for it, we shouldn't be there at all. THEY are the ones putting their "loved ones" in harms way, not us.

Exactly. War is not some antiseptic evolution where nobody gets hurt. It's dirty, nasty, revolting, and people get killed and maimed.

If we want to go to war without hurting anybody, then we don't want to go to war. It's really that simple.

Essentially, you have to fight until the enemy is so damn miserable, that they don't want to fight anymore. It's hard to make a person that is so miserable to start with give up. They have nothing, and never have, and don't respect human lives, including their own.

These azzholes just need to be killed until the only people left in the area want to build a better life. That has never happened in Afghanistan, and may never happen.

(08-30-2017 10:38 PM)CrimsonPhantom Wrote:  

(08-30-2017 08:18 PM)WoodlandsOwl Wrote:  They put family members along with the fighters in the same buses. Can't target the vehicles.

Yet ISIS has no problem going around killing families.

9/11. 'nuff said.

(08-30-2017 07:35 PM)jaredf29 Wrote:  Iraq has really stepped up to the plate when it came to fighting when it came to dislodging isis. It's a shame they cut and ran to begin with, but that was my personal experience with them as well. I guess the foreign policy takeaway here is that change is intrinsic and freedom isn't given it's earned.

Read this as an ebb and flow. ISIS gained traction in Iraq because the Shia-dominated central government was abusing Sunni regions of Iraq. "ISIS" was the rise of the Sunni locals against the Shia Army more than anything else. The Shia will continue to govern like crap and the Sunni will rise up again in some fashion within a few years. The US has to prepare either for brutality from the Iraqi central government or for Iraq to split in three like it probably should have 25 years ago. My bet is that we will be caught completely unawares, once again.

ISIS has held on in Syria only because the Assad and Iran left it to fester, and its presence in Syria gave Assad free reign to consolidate the rest of Syria and annihilate all of the other Sunni factions that were not ISIS, in addition to ethnically cleansing Syria of as many Sunni as he could (creating a refugee crisis and entangling Europe with that problem at the same time as he consolidated his grip on most of Syria).

The interesting development in all of this is that Kurds are fighting with Shia militia in Iraq alongside the Shia Army simply because those militia pay better than the Peshmerga. That puts an interesting spin on Kurdish nationalist efforts, but I suspect in a few months, those Kurds will return to the north and re-integrate with Kurdish factions.

(09-01-2017 08:25 AM)I45owl Wrote:  

(08-30-2017 07:35 PM)jaredf29 Wrote:  Iraq has really stepped up to the plate when it came to fighting when it came to dislodging isis. It's a shame they cut and ran to begin with, but that was my personal experience with them as well. I guess the foreign policy takeaway here is that change is intrinsic and freedom isn't given it's earned.

Read this as an ebb and flow. ISIS gained traction in Iraq because the Shia-dominated central government was abusing Sunni regions of Iraq. "ISIS" was the rise of the Sunni locals against the Shia Army more than anything else. The Shia will continue to govern like crap and the Sunni will rise up again in some fashion within a few years. The US has to prepare either for brutality from the Iraqi central government or for Iraq to split in three like it probably should have 25 years ago. My bet is that we will be caught completely unawares, once again.

ISIS has held on in Syria only because the Assad and Iran left it to fester, and its presence in Syria gave Assad free reign to consolidate the rest of Syria and annihilate all of the other Sunni factions that were not ISIS, in addition to ethnically cleansing Syria of as many Sunni as he could (creating a refugee crisis and entangling Europe with that problem at the same time as he consolidated his grip on most of Syria).

The interesting development in all of this is that Kurds are fighting with Shia militia in Iraq alongside the Shia Army simply because those militia pay better than the Peshmerga. That puts an interesting spin on Kurdish nationalist efforts, but I suspect in a few months, those Kurds will return to the north and re-integrate with Kurdish factions.

Iraq should be split into 3 states or a confederation of 3 states. Don't forget Isis is the splinter of al qaeda in Iraq and adopted the techniques and strategies of aqi . The disenfranchised Sunni tolerated Isis for awhile until the reality of a medieval caliphate came true. By then it was too late, also Assad now has to deal with the consequences of sheltering Isis for so long. If I were running the show, aside of special forces assets I wouldn't have any boots on the ground and just continue the air campaign to disrupt their power structure without the goal of overthrowing anyone's government.

(09-01-2017 11:48 AM)jaredf29 Wrote:  The disenfranchised Sunni tolerated Isis for awhile until the reality of a medieval caliphate came true. By then it was too late, also Assad now has to deal with the consequences of sheltering Isis for so long.

You say this as if the consequences are negative. Assad played the Obama administration like a fiddle and rather than suffering the fate of Ghadaffi with his head on a spike, he'll resume his dominion over the whole of Syria without the burden of having such a large Sunni minority population. I doubt he or any of his leadership cadre dreamed five years ago they would have it so good at this stage.