US-backed unit in Syria refuses to fight al Qaeda/al Nusrah
The unit is small, no more than fifty now. They claim they joined to fight ISIL, not al Nusrah. Furthermore, they oppose US airstrikes on al Nusrah. The US should have detected the lack of numbers in the program and also their limited objectives in Syria. Poor judgment by local US personnel and the Pentagon and White House.
ISIL on the offensive in Syria
ISIL is still capable of offensive actions, more so in Syria in my estimation. The town they took is near Homs which is south of where ISIL has been fighting most recently. Homs is maybe 100 miles from Damascus and Syrian troops may have to pull back to defend the capital.
Israeli politician calls for clampdown on settler extremism
In the aftermath of the arson attack that killed a Palestinian child, and the Lehava leader’s justification of burning Christian churches, opposition leader Isaac Herzog has called for greater watchfulness and the arrest of Rabbi Bentzi Gopstein who leads Lehava. Usually, the Likud tolerates or is lenient toward settler violence. However, PM Netanyahu called the recent arson attack “terrorism” and that raises the stakes. Also, Herzog is making it a national issue. He is the son of Chaim Herzog, a general and former president of Israel.
Former Rabin aide Shimon Sheves says that the extremist ferment is now stronger than to was in the buildup to PM Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination in 1995 by am Israeli ultra-nationalist.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan now part of ISIL
The IMU was driven out of Uzbekistan about twenty years ago. They fled to Afghanistan and served alongside the Taliban and al Qaeda as they fought the Northern Alliance, which oddly enough had a lot of Uzbeks in it (led by Dostum who was in yesterday’s news update). There aren’y very many but this event may signal a coming shift to ISIL from more Islamist militant groups in eastern Afghanistan and northwestern. I discussed this possibility in my Wednesday column.