The takeover also signals a new low in relations between the rebels fighting a civil war against Mr. Assad’s forces and international jihadists who have flocked to rebel-controlled areas to lay the groundwork for an Islamic state.
For much of the 30-month-old conflict, the rebels welcomed jihadist fighters for the know-how and battlefield prowess they brought to the anti-Assad struggle. In recent months, however, jihadist groups have isolated local populations by imposing strict Islamic codes, carrying out public executions and clashing with rebel groups.
In the eastern city of Deir al-Zour on Wednesday, extremist fighters took dozens of rebels captive after a gunfight near a rebel base, activists said.
Reached by telephone, a rebel commander who gave only his first name, Khattab, said that Wednesday’s violence in Azaz began when ISIS fighters stormed the town and tried to detain German doctors who were visiting a hospital.Turkey responded by closing one of its border crossings.
Elites continue to complain about Obama's decision to go to Congress for authorization to illegally attack Syria; it is considered a significant rollback of the imperial presidency. The story, "Former Defense Secretaries Criticize Obama on Syria," by Thom Shanker and Lauren D'Avolio, about comments by former Obama SecDefs Robert Gates and Leon Panetta regarding the commander-in-chief's handling of Syrian crisis, had the following lines that caught my eye:
Although Mr. Gates said that any unilateral military action against Syria would be a mistake, he also said it was unwise for the president to have sought Congressional authorization to use force, because of the risk to presidential prestige if he was rebuffed.
If Congress voted no, “it would weaken him,” Mr. Gates said. “It would weaken our country. It would weaken us in the eyes of our allies, as well as our adversaries around the world.”In other words, it doesn't matter that the most favorable outcome was achieved -- a wider war was avoided, large amounts of chemical weapons will be decommissioned, and the Constitution was honored -- because there was a risk to presidential prestige. This is what qualifies as sagacity in elite circles. Clearly it is insane, the product of a shit-sniffing, addled old courtier; but it is the conventional wisdom of the Washington smart set.
Having been on the losing side of a propaganda war that has raged since Monday when the United Nations released the Sellstrom report on the August 21 Ghouta chemical attack, Russia and Syria finally got off the ropes. For instance, Assad was interviewed on the Fox Network by former presidential aspirant and Congressman Dennis Kucinich, something of a public relations coup since Kucinich still has some chops, albeit waning, among progressives and Fox caters to an audience of hard-shell conservative know-nothing types. This is the type of "unholy alliance" that blocked Obama's AUMF in Congress and has elites like Panetta and Gates mewling about the diminishment of imperial prerogative.
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