Who are the REAL terrorist in Syria ?

As we instruct at Police Science Institute … “one (1) nation's terrorist may be another's freedom fighter”.   As a perfect example of this long-held observation, we presently ask “other than the Islamic State group, who are the terrorists?”    Of course, the discussion immediately goes to the complex (and pragmatically confusing) situation in Syria.   Who are the real terrorists there, and, how long can Assad remain in power ?

Through more than four (4) years of a brutal and protracted civil war, world and regional powers have waged an intense public relations battle over these matters while concurrently providing military equipment and/or even direct intervention in order to support Syria's various, opposing camps.

Syrian President Assad's army is now backed by Iran's hard-line “Quds Force” and its proxy, Hezbollah, along with Russia.   The rebels include Western-backed "moderates" and Arab-supported Islamist groups, as well as al-Qaida-linked militias.    Somewhere, in the mix of all of this, we find the Islamic State, allegedly opposed by all … at least in principle.

Over the last months, countries have been increasingly trading lists of who they consider to be the regional terrorists, with the ultimate result being that absolutely no common understanding or agreement as to the matter has been achieved.

In a recent speech regarding Syria, U.S. Secretary of Defense John Kerry suggested …"we face an environment  now that bears little resemblance to the kind of black-white scenarios that make decisions relatively easy.   Put simply, there are bad guys all around and good guys who are not accustomed to working with each other”.

Don’t you think that President Obama’s failure to follow through on his “red line” of several years ago was the predominant factor leading to this present conundrum ?

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