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Peace in Our Time?
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On Friday in Geneva, John Kerry announced a ceasefire in Syria to take effect today at sundown. Wait, haven’t they done this before? Yeah, they tried in back in February, and it fell to pieces in a couple of weeks. A major part of this agreement stops the Syrian government from using its air force, which Kerry described as the “main driver of civilian casualties.”
Speaking of which, since the ceasefire doesn’t start until sundown today, everybody just keeps on fighting. That includes airstrikes over the weekend on both Idlib and Aleppo that killed at least 90 people. The majority of those came in Idlib, where a crowded market was bombed.
So, wait, does this mean no more war on ISIS? Of course not. Once this ceasefire holds for a week, everybody is supposed to coordinate to fight ISIS and Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham (formerly the al-Nusra Front, the local al-Qaeda affiliate).
The problem, of course, with that neat, clean arrangement is that in Syria, nothing is neat and clean. The lines of allegiance between the many various fighting groups in Syria are blurry. So even if this ceasefire holds, and everybody gets together to fight the bad guys, it isn’t always clear who the bad guys are.
This is a preview from this morning’s The Daily Shot newsletter. Subscribe here free of charge.
Published in Foreign Policy, Islamist Terrorism, Military
It is almost as if the only reason people in the region are fighting is because they are acting on orders of people in Geneva.
I haven’t gotten my “shot” for at least a week.
If that ever happens, check your spam filter.
It goes out every morning, rain or shine.
If I ever don’t put one out, don’t call a doctor, call a mortician.
What if you’re trapped under a pile of National Geographics waiting for help? Should we call Fire/Rescue in that case?
(I may or may not picture you in a study with a huge collection of National Geographics; I have no basis for this mental picture.)