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[martinuzz]

Oh my god the dumb fucks. What was already feared, namely that the Qatar boycot has a lot to do with Al Jazeera, is indeed true.
Four of the boycotting countries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrein and the UAE) have given Qatar a list with 13 demands, giving them an ultimatum to comply within 10 days.

One of the demands is that they dismantle Al Jazeera and take it from the air.

So yeah, backwater backwards arabs don't like any attempt at free media, even if it's in another country.

Other demands are that they cancel their relations with Iran, revoke their support for the Muslim Brotherhood, close down the Turkish military base in Qatar, deport all citizens from the boycotting countries back home, extradite a large number of 'terrorists', and 'pay financial compensation to the boycotting countries or damages suffered from the apst years of Qatar regime'.

In other words, blackmail, extortion, threat, more blackmail, some more extortion and an up yours.

It is not expected that Qatar will give in to the demands. It is unknown what will happen next.
Qatar has not officially responded to the demands yet, but they already made it clear earlier that they are not negotiation anything before all sanctions are lifted.
I do wonder how Erdogan is going to react to the 'remove Turkish base' part.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40378221
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/arab-states-issue-list-demands-qatar-crisis-170623022133024.html

[Sheb]

There is no way Qatar will accept that. It reminds me of the Austrian ultimatum to Serbia.


Edit: The consequence of discrespecting the ultimatum are not specified however.

If ten days pass and Qatar has failed to comply, the list becomes "void", the Reuters source said, without elaborating.

I mean. "Accept our demands. Else our demands won't be accepted!" sounds stupid.

[redwallzyl]

Peace in our time?

[Teneb]

Peace in our time?

Let's do a war to end all wars! We'll be back home by Christmas!

[smjjames]

I'm surprised they didn't add 'Remove American base!' to that unreasonable list. Also, no mention of the Pakistanis? They did send some troops to help in case of an actual attack.

Tillerson for his part did tell them (don't know how far it went to 'demand' in terms of tone') to come back with a reasonable list of demands.

I do wonder how Erdogan is going to react to the 'remove Turkish base' part.

Pretty calmly so far, both links say that they have no plans to review the base there and that any attempt at forcing the base would constitute an interference in Turkish-Quatari affairs. Which makes the demand to quit interfering in other countries 'internal affairs' (aka politics) pretty hypocritical as they're trying to manipulate the Turkish-Quatari affairs.

The total lack of any sort of stated threat if they didn't comply is pretty curious too, as if they intended it as more of a diplomatic F*-U and airing of grievances than an actual threat. Also, they'd have to open the airspaces and borders back up if they want their citizens back home.

[martinuzz]

The US has issued a stern warning to the Syrian regime of Assad, stating that they will pay a high price if they use chemical weapons again.
According to the WH, their intelligence suggests that the Syrian regime is actively planning another chemical attack.

Nikki Haley adds on Twitter: 'the blame for any further attacks on the Syrian people will be with Assad, but also with Russia and Iran, who help him murder his own people'.

http://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/aanwijzingen-vs-dat-syrie-aanval-met-chemische-wapens-plant-assad-zal-zware-prijs-betalen~a4502928/

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/us-issues-warning-to-syria-over-chemical-weapons-attack-potential-a3573676.html

[smjjames]

And it's apparently at the same airfield that was used last time.

It's definetly a pretty heavy red line all right and we'll see how well they actually keep it and what is defined as 'heavy military price'.

[martinuzz]

The end of the IS caliphate draws near, after Iraqi troops captured the (destroyed) mosque in Mosul that was used by al-Baghdadi to proclaim the caliphate, while at the same time, in Syria, the US backed SDF has finished completely surrounding Raqqa.

In Mosul, a few hundred IS fighters remain, holding an area about 2 square km in size. The US spokesman of the international coalition, Ryan Dillon, says it's a matter of days now, not weeks, until the last remaining IS fighters are eliminated.

Raqqa was already besieged from the east, north and west. Today, the SDF managed to capture the southern main road leading into the city. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed by US armed forces, the remaining 2500 IS fighters in Raqqa have no more escape routes, and can only surrender, or fight to the death.

[smjjames]

I hope everybody involved has a plan for after defeating ISIS because the question on everybody's minds is going to be "Now what?".

AFAIK, Trump (or anybody else) doesn't have a plan for what to do when Raqqa falls. Obviously there would still be the splinter cells and everybody else to deal with, but once ISIS isn't as much of a concern, the Syrian civil war is likely to ratchet up further.

[Teneb]

Unless al-Baghdadi is captured or killed, though, we shouldn't declare ISIS dead. Otherwise he can try to rebuild later down the line. (Though Russia and Iran both claim he is dead.)

[martinuzz]

With the aid of US airstrikes, Syrian fighters have breached the historical city wall protecting the inner city of Raqqa. The US promised to leave the 1242 year old wall intact, but it proved too good a defense for IS snipers to completely keep that promise. According to the US, two precision strikes cut two holes in the wall, about 25m wide, allowing the Syrian and Kurdish fighters to advance into the inner city, and avoid booby traps and snipers.

Also, dayum, that was close.
https://youtu.be/9c45ZQFp9qQ

[Akura]

Also, dayum, that was close.
https://youtu.be/9c45ZQFp9qQ

That sniper is awfully cheery about that bullet missing by an inch. Maybe she her aim was better.

[Baffler]

Also, dayum, that was close.
https://youtu.be/9c45ZQFp9qQ

That sniper is awfully cheery about that bullet missing by an inch. Maybe she her aim was better.

Is it me or does it look like the bullet hit the wall straight on, there? The dust flies straight out rather than to the side as you would expect, and the hole (and crater) it makes is a neat little circle.

[smjjames]

Also, dayum, that was close.
https://youtu.be/9c45ZQFp9qQ

That sniper is awfully cheery about that bullet missing by an inch. Maybe she her aim was better.

Is it me or does it look like the bullet hit the wall straight on, there? The dust flies straight out rather than to the side as you would expect, and the hole (and crater) it makes is a neat little circle.

Ricochet maybe?

Anyhow, Russia could send their military to patrol the 'de-escalation zone' borders in Syria. I wonder how that will affect US operations because that is going to put Russian forces and US forces pretty close together.

[Erkki]

Also, dayum, that was close.
https://youtu.be/9c45ZQFp9qQ

That sniper is awfully cheery about that bullet missing by an inch. Maybe she her aim was better.

Is it me or does it look like the bullet hit the wall straight on, there? The dust flies straight out rather than to the side as you would expect, and the hole (and crater) it makes is a neat little circle.

They tend to do that at quite large angles, the concrete chips away from a large area.

I'm not sure why someone would want to wear a blue beret like that, or why she stuck her gun out of the window/whatever it is like that. For supporting the gun yeah, but sticking the gun out is suicidal, you're supposed to shoot from the back of a room and in shade every time it is possible.