When US-backed Syrian fighters took full control of the city of Raqqa, it ended three years of rule there by ISIS.
A deal was struck to allow the thousands of hostages to live & several hundred ISIS fighters escape. Where did they go?
(4 votes)
Fall of Raqqa: The Secret Deal
Comments
(Long Spike)
wow, the deal didn't involve freeing the hostages? what good is the coalition doing there? wasn't there some controversy in 2016 when the program to train "moderates" ended up with trainees and weapons going to ISIS instead of the rebels?
(Old Spike)
The military coallition in Syria is made up of Syria, Russia & Iran.
My understanding is that there is no real coallition in Syria involving USA. US is leading what's called the "Syrian Arab Coalition" or "Syrian Democratic Forces" (SDF) which is a kind of re-brand of the YPG. YPG is a Kurdish group which puts US & Turkey (both NATO members) at odds.
US has around 2,000 troops in these locations:
The controversy I think you're referring to was the $500 million spent to train & equip 5 or 6 Syrians. It was pretty embarrassing, here's a hearing about it:
ISIS receives weapons in various ways covertly from their sponsors in Saudi Arabia, by capturing them from other groups that they defeat and when other groups join with them. There were hundreds of other groups with all sorts of covert state sponsorship but they've been boiled down to just a handful.
(Long Spike)
if you notice the trailer under the rubble apears more than once, are they just driving up and down the same street?