US Gunships Targeted AQ Operatives Inside Syria
A followup to yesterday's post about the probable hot pursuit raid of Al Qaeda operatives into Syr- wait, Al Qaeda's in Syria? Wasn't Biden obnoxiously smug about how they're only in Afghanistan? That's curious:
The US military incursion into Syria was aimed at the senior leader of al Qaeda's extensive network that funnels foreign fighters, weapons, and cash from Syria into Iraq, a senior intelligence official told The Long War Journal. US special operations hunter-killer teams entered Syria in an attempt to capture Abu Ghadiya, a senior al Qaeda leader who has been in charge of the Syrian network since 2005. US intelligence analysts identified Ghadiya as the leader of the Syrian network... The cross-border raid took place just three days after Major General John Kelly, the commander of Multinational Force - West, said Syria is "problematic." Kelly said the Syrian the government refused to secure the border and al Qaeda operatives are openly working inside Syria.
Go ahead and click through to the LWJ post. There're about a dozen paragraphs detailing the Syrian Al Qaeda network that the Democrats' top foreign policy genius doesn't think exists. Other US foreign policy academics are oscillating between explaining the attack as a Bush warmongering "freebie" or a ruthless neo-conservative plot. This leads them to cutting-edge analysis like "Syria will roll with it" and "gosh I hope Assad doesn't fall for this neocon bait." These people - and their intellectual ilk - are going to be running US foreign policy for the next 4-8 years. If I haven't made it clear, I'm pretty psyched about that.
In the meantime, the cyclical on again off again anti-Israel Syrian saber-rattling is probably off again in the near-term. Which brings up this bit of related reckless speculation, courtesy of Danger Room:
Lest we forget, there was also that Israeli air raid last September against a Syrian site that was supposed linked to clandestine nuclear activity. The site of this latest attack, according to the Los Angeles Times, is in the same vicinity as that strike.
Probably not the "improved ties between nations" that Europe's been after - though nothing that a little Obama-style Hope N' Change appeasement can't smooth over. It won't do much about the terrorists, as such. But the Syrians will definitely appreciate it.
References:
* US Gunships Attack Jihadists In Syria, Commandos Search Village [MR]
* Syrian strike aimed at al Qaeda's coordinator in Syria [LWJ]
* British Black Ops Taking Out Thousands Of The Bad Guys That Biden Says Don't Exist In Iraq (UPDATE: Biden Screws Up Brigades Vs. Battalions. Again.) [MR]
* Syrian-Based Palestinian Terrorist: Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, And Palestinians Prepared To Attack Israel [MR]
* Syrian MP denies escalation with Israel [JPost]
* U.S. Stages Raid Inside Syria? [Danger Room]
* French President, on Visit to Syria, Calls for Improved Ties Between Nations [WaPo]
Previously:
* State Dept: That Syrian Nuclear Reactor We Tried To Protect Was No Big Deal Anyway
* Of Course: Jimmy Carter To Meet With Hamas Leaders In Syria?
* Israeli Military Intel: Iran "Halfway" Toward Nuclear Weapon (Plus: Syria, Hezbollah, And Hamas All The Way Toward Every Other Kind Of Weapon)
