ISIS Captures Syrian Military Airport Of Raqqa In Crushing Defeat For Assad - 1/3 Syria, 1/2 Iraq Ha
32 replies, posted
[QUOTE]ISTANBUL — Islamic extremists captured a major government military airport in Raqqa, eastern Syria, on Sunday, completing their takeover of the entire province and dealing a humiliating blow to President Bashar Assad.
The victory is further evidence that the Islamic State is determined to widen its grip on the region. Since it launched its brutal assaults in June, the Islamic State has captured half of Iraq and one third of Syria and operates an Islamic caliphate armed with US weapons and financed by booty seized during its lightning raids.
The official Syrian news agency Sunday evening conceded the loss of the Tabka military base with a terse and euphemistic report that said Syrian forces had performed “a successful regrouping after evacuating” the airport.
Journalist Rafik Lutf, who’s close to the Assad regime, had earlier reported the loss of the airport and the death of about 150 troops.
An official of the conquering Islamic State said the group seized control after a four-day battle, in which 78 IS fighters were killed and 240 wounded.
Anti-government activists in the Raqqa area said the Syrian army flew combat aircraft from Tabka to Deir al Zour in eastern Syria and to another major desert base, and that 20 vehicles full of Syrian troops were seen driving out of the base.
The casualties may be a good deal higher. An Islamic State official, who demanded anonymity because he is not an authorized Islamic State spokesman, said the regime had stationed were 873 troops on the base.
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[url]http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/08/24/237522_islamic-extremists-seize-syrian.html?sp=/99/100/&rh=1[/url]
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That's a hefty chunk of land they have. But how much of it isn't just sand and desert?
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;45788981]That's a hefty chunk of land they have. But how much of it isn't just sand and desert?[/QUOTE]
I'd say they have probably a quarter of the beginning of civilization.
[QUOTE=Megadave;45789001]I'd say they have probably a quarter of the beginning of civilization.[/QUOTE]
A lot of sand, dood.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;45788981]That's a hefty chunk of land they have. But how much of it isn't just sand and desert?[/QUOTE]
Oil.
[editline]24th August 2014[/editline]
I'm shocked it took this long to cap that airfield. Raqqah is considered their capital city right now.
[editline]24th August 2014[/editline]
Oh, Raqqa province. That makes more sense.
ISIS controls almost the entirety of Syria's oil production at this point.
[QUOTE=OvB;45789061]Oil.
[editline]24th August 2014[/editline]
I'm shocked it took this long to cap that airfield. Raqqah is considered their capital city right now.
[editline]24th August 2014[/editline]
Oh, Raqqa province. That makes more sense.[/QUOTE]
I think in the Vice news thing some Syrian position was getting supplies by Air which was how they held out for so long, might have been the same at the airfield.
1/3 + 1/2 = ISIS is 73% a country, needs 27% more land to become a real country.
Trust me, I know my math.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;45789154]1/3 + 1/2 = ISIS is 73% a country, needs 27% more land to become a real country.
Trust me, I know my math.[/QUOTE]
I think I heard somewhere they occupy more land than Lebanon but I'm too lazy to calculate it for myself. And it probably changes every day and is impossible to confirm.
[QUOTE=OvB;45789194]I think I heard somewhere they occupy more land than Lebanon but I'm too lazy to calculate it for myself. And it probably changes every day and is impossible to confirm.[/QUOTE]
It would be believable simply because Lebanon is so small. Lebanon is smaller than half of Iraq alone.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;45789209]It would be believable simply because Lebanon is so small. Lebanon is smaller than half of Iraq alone.[/QUOTE]
It might have been Jordan. Or Lebanon and Jordan combined. I cannot remember.
[editline]24th August 2014[/editline]
Threy got a good sized chunk of land is what I'm trying to say
[quote]The victory is further evidence that the Islamic State is determined to widen its grip on the region. Since it launched its brutal assaults in June, the Islamic State has captured half of Iraq and one third of Syria and operates an Islamic caliphate[B] armed with US weapons [/B]and financed by booty seized during its lightning raids.[/quote]
For some reason I'm ridiculously upset by this. Such a huge chunk of US' budget goes into military production and they literally make more than they and ME countries need without even bothering to train people how to use them to cover up corruption. In the end it's again their indirect fault IS is this powerful and able to do this much harm. They wouldn't be as nearly as powerful if they didn't have US technology and Saudi budget. It doesn't help that US is being a fucking hypocrite by letting Saudis (and Israelis, but that's the other topic) get away with every single shit that they do.
Isn't Syria still busy with the rebels? How are they able to fight on a second front while they still haven't settled that several years old civil war.
[QUOTE=LtKyle2;45789399]Isn't Syria still busy with the rebels? How are they able to fight on a second front while they still haven't settled that several years old civil war.[/QUOTE]
IS is also battling some of the rebels too.
2nd fronts for all sides I guess.
[QUOTE=SonicHitman;45789441]IS is also battling some of the rebels too.
2nd fronts for all sides I guess.[/QUOTE]
If only they had Hitler in charge to screw it all up.
[QUOTE=LtKyle2;45789399]Isn't Syria still busy with the rebels? How are they able to fight on a second front while they still haven't settled that several years old civil war.[/QUOTE]
Every side in the conflict is currently fighting on 2 fronts. The Loyalists are battling the FSA and ISIS. FSA is battling Loyalists and ISIS, and ISIS is pretty much taking on half the middle east right now by themselves and in many cases, winning...(which means that isn't on 2 fronts, more on 3-4 fronts.)
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;45789154]1/3 + 1/2 = ISIS is 73% a country, needs 27% more land to become a real country.
Trust me, I know my math.[/QUOTE]
83% actually
You don't know your math.
[editline]24th August 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=SonicHitman;45789441]IS is also battling some of the rebels too.
2nd fronts for all sides I guess.[/QUOTE]
It's like Planetside 2 except without all the Sci-Fi stuff and the only continent is Indar.
It works so well. IS/ISIS is the extremely well equipped purple zealot guys, the Rebels are the not sow well equipped New Conglomerate, and the Dictator's forces are the Terran Republic.
If Scorpio was right.
To be precise. They are controling about 280,000 km^2 of land. or about 45% of syria and iraq combined.
Which is about the size of Nevada state or between Ecuador and Italy.
[QUOTE=TornadoAP;45791088]83% actually
You don't know your math.
[editline]24th August 2014[/editline]
It's like Planetside 2 except without all the Sci-Fi stuff and the only continent is Indar.
It works so well. IS/ISIS is the extremely well equipped purple zealot guys, the Rebels are the not sow well equipped New Conglomerate, and the Dictator's forces are the Terran Republic.[/QUOTE]
You had better be joking.
ISIS isn't even a quarter as sexy as the Vanu Sovereignty.
ISIS are the next mongols
[QUOTE=Araknid;45792167]ISIS are the next mongols[/QUOTE]
do we really need to consider that possibility though? The Mongols were so successful only because of their method of warfare and the terror they inspired in conquered territories, they only became better at what they did, especially in the learning of siegecraft, as they conquered more and more territory. The secret of Mongol warfare was in speed, misdirection, and sheer mobility. They also had a very efficient chain of command as introduced under Genghis Khan when he led the Mongols. All these tenets went directly against the methods used by the Mongols' enemies. And they also had the advantage of recurved bows and being able to shoot faster and more accurately than anybody else as a result. Combine all that and you had a solid thing going.
However ISIS have none of these things (by comparison), they're at a disadvantage compared to other forces, and now even the Kurds gave them a sound thrashing. If the joint task force enters the equation, ISIS is fucked. They'll very likely be shattered in the field so that they'll be reduced to guerilla warfare and IED strikes.
[QUOTE=OvB;45789061]Oil.[/QUOTE]
I wonder who they sell to.
[editline]25th August 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=Araknid;45792167]ISIS are the next mongols[/QUOTE]
Not even close.
[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;45792296] They'll very likely be shattered in the field so that they'll be reduced to guerilla warfare and IED strikes.[/QUOTE]
This is what worries me the most. ISIS won't really be that tough of a nut to crack on the battlefield if you have any semblance of an organized, disciplined and well-equipped fighting force; much less so if you add even the slightest bit of air support. However, they seem like the persistent bunch of chucklefucks, so they're prolly gonna get their asses handed to them on a plate, followed by them spending the next 20 years doing random, senseless and gainless IED and suicide attacks. Which ain't great.
[QUOTE=Riller;45792338]This is what worries me the most. ISIS won't really be that tough of a nut to crack on the battlefield if you have any semblance of an organized, disciplined and well-equipped fighting force; much less so if you add even the slightest bit of air support. However, they seem like the persistent bunch of chucklefucks, so they're prolly gonna get their asses handed to them on a plate, followed by them spending the next 20 years doing random, senseless and gainless IED and suicide attacks. Which ain't great.[/QUOTE]
This is exactly what's going to happen.
Same fucking shit happened with the Taliban and it's still going on to this day. It's going to be Afghanistan 2, Electric Boogaloo.
[QUOTE=InvaderNouga;45792827]This is exactly what's going to happen.
Same fucking shit happened with the Taliban and it's still going on to this day. It's going to be Afghanistan 2, Electric Boogaloo.[/QUOTE]
Which really makes it a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't situation. Genocide and complete oppression of the people in question on one hand, decades of bloody insurgency and terror attacks on the other. Whelp!
I'll say it again. The IS have grown too much for any westerner to say "We would crush them if we were to hop into the party". Yes, [B]meybe[/B] you would crush them but this fighting would be a huge crush on you guys. IS has vast supporters, shit ton of money and resources. Your usual terrorist group doesn't have supporters in millions, enough money to actually buy nearly every politician in the middle east and air bases with tanks.
[QUOTE=Zarfa;45792989]I'll say it again. The IS have grown too much for any westerner to say "We would crush them if we were to hop into the party". Yes, [B]meybe[/B] you would crush them but this fighting would be a huge crush on you guys. IS has vast supporters, shit ton of money and resources. Your usual terrorist group doesn't have supporters in millions, enough money to actually buy nearly every politician in the middle east and air bases with tanks.[/QUOTE]
All that money doesn't matter much when nobody's selling anything. They closest they have to any sort of ally would be Saudi Arabia, and they're not really the best of butt-buddies. At all.
[editline]25th August 2014[/editline]
Now, black market arms trade might work out for them, but ain't nobody gonna supply them any sort of jets, helicopters or any significant amount of tanks through that. Their only hopes of getting any sort of equipment of value would be capturing shit like they've done so far.
[QUOTE=Araknid;45792167]ISIS are the next mongols[/QUOTE]
As long as they don't get Elite Mangudai we should be alright.
ISIS isn't some second Mongol Hoard, literally they are one the most luckiest and opportunistic rebel factions out of the entire bunch. In some respects I believe they never thought they had a chance outside of Syria til they started noticing the Iraqi Army's soldiers weren't support of their country enough to stand their ground. So they took advantage of a shaky Iraqi Army who had good training and equipment to deal with these guys but lacked backbone to really do it, this in turn has given ISIS some the things other rebel groups WISH they could have. Armored vehicles,money,weapons,uniforms. Currently they're fighting a multiple front battle against other rebel groups,Assad,Kurds and Iraq. Most other rebel groups don't have the logistics to go out and assault ISIS, Assad does but they're more focused on stopping the other rebels,Kurds do but they're more defensive than offensive and Iraq kinda does but they don't have morale so to speak. Sooner or later ISIS is going to start to crumble under their own weight due they're losing territory in Iraq,receiving airstrikes from international enemies and managing to piss of the US.
I'm not gonna make another thread, but here's a video showing the photos they took
[video=youtube;lPQit-u5HEc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPQit-u5HEc&list=UUME81PohuzT1JMCsEtvsD2w[/video]
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