One cartoon that captures the horrible truth about Assad and ISIS
This horrific situation was, in part, brought about by Assad's deliberate design. This deeply sad cartoon, by prominent Iranian artist Mana Neyestani, illustrates the brutality and calculatin of Assad's plan.
IranWire/Mana Neyestani
The really sharp point in Neyestani's cartoon is that Assad is
bashing the protestors, but ignoring ISIS. That directly mirrors his real-life strategy of targeting moderate rebels, but only devoting minimal resources to rooting out ISIS.In essence, Assad and ISIS seem to have made an implicit deal: ISIS temporarily gets a relatively free ride in some chunks of Syria, while Assad gets to weaken his other opponents. The two sides still hate each other, but both benefit from the status quo.
In 2006, Neyestani was imprisoned by the Iranian government for a cartoon depicting a cockroach as ethnic Azeri; it sparked riots and a police crackdown. Today, he lives in exile in France, and IranWire — an Iranian diaspora website — regularly runs his cartoons. This one is a biting, depressing satire of Assad, whom the Iranian government backs to the hilt, and his cynical manipulation of the ISIS threat.
ISIS has a really important base in Syria
The crisis in Syria is
one of the most important reasons why ISIS grew capable of mounting such
an effective attack on the Iraqi government. To see why, take a look at
this map from March, paying special attention to the blue
ISIS-controlled areas in eastern Syria:
The chaos in Syria allowed ISIS to hold this territory pretty securely. This is a big deal in terms of weaponry and money. "The war gave them a lot of access to heavy weaponry," Michael Knights said. ISIS also "has a funding stream available to them because of local businesses and the oil and gas sector."
It's also hugely important as a safe zone. When fighting Syrian troops, ISIS can safely retreat to Iraq; when fighting Iraqis it can go to Syria. Statistical evidence says these safe "rear areas" help insurgents win: "one of the best predictors of insurgent success that we have to date is the presence of a rear area," Jason Lyall, a political scientist at Yale University who studies insurgencies, said.
The chaos in Syria allowed ISIS to hold this territory pretty securely. This is a big deal in terms of weaponry and money. "The war gave them a lot of access to heavy weaponry," Michael Knights said. ISIS also "has a funding stream available to them because of local businesses and the oil and gas sector."
It's also hugely important as a safe zone. When fighting Syrian troops, ISIS can safely retreat to Iraq; when fighting Iraqis it can go to Syria. Statistical evidence says these safe "rear areas" help insurgents win: "one of the best predictors of insurgent success that we have to date is the presence of a rear area," Jason Lyall, a political scientist at Yale University who studies insurgencies, said.
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