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Strategic Implications of Assad’s Victory at Kweiris
As I write this, news has just broken that President Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian Arab Army (SAA), backed by the Russian Air Force, has reached Kweiris Airbase east of Aleppo.
The long since defunct landing strip had been under siege for nearly
three years, with a small band of soldiers left to stave off a variety
of rebel groups. In 2014, the surrounding countryside came under the
sole control of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, which has since then
repeatedly tried to blast its way into Kweiris. Today, Assad finally
broke the siege, dealing a humiliating defeat to the Islamic State.
Anyone who follows Syrian politics will be aware of the controversies sparked by Russia’s September 30th military intervention in Syria. Moscow claims to be fighting the Islamic State on behalf of all moderate forces, but the Russian bombings have in fact mostly targeted other Sunni rebel groups. The operation is clearly more about strengthening Assad than about fighting jihadism.http://carnegieendowment.org/syriaincrisis/?fa=61941&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRons6TKZKXonjHpfsX57uQsW6Sg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YIITsp0aPyQAgobGp5I5FEIQ7XYTLB2t60MWA%3D%3D
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