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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   3437 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 16, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Syria is a Russian ally, an Iranian ally, has a rivalry with Israel (from when they took the Golan Heights off Syria, Israel bombing their nuclear reactor). Syria's been a thorn in the US's side for some time, they let some jihadists out of prison and sent them into Iraq to cause problems for the US occupation back in the day. Plus the Assad family has been pretty bloody in the past and present - see Hama in the 1980s. Plus giving up on offing Assad would be embarrassing, an admission of defeat. As we see from Afghanistan, the Western multinational coalition often has a decade-long lag time before giving up on a lost war, so we can expect a US presence in Syria for years to come.

So it’s more about geopolitical grudges than something al-Assad is currently doing?

A mix of both, I don't know exact motivations.

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