The Middle East. Once Again.

[Labster]

It looks to me like, once the "rebels" figure out what they all want, it's all over but the international recognition.

The quotes really should go around "they" instead of rebels, since there are many factions.  Calling them Islamists kind of glosses over the very large differences -- recall how Ukrainian nationalists fought with the SS during WWII -- you fight with the guys fighting your enemy.  There are the good guys, the Kurds, who want to create a multiparty democracy with religious freedom.  Of course, the Kurds will not win, because they have no friends other than the mountains.  (It doesn't help that Kurds are so fun to genocide if you're Turkey, and so fun to double-cross if you are literally any other country.)

Also Israel is attacking, because Hezbollah rushed to help Syria after the ceasefire inside Lebanon, trying to bomb them before they retreat back home.  Also the US is launching missiles at the patches of hardscrabble desert still controlled by Daesh -- last chance for bombing funni.  Russia still has its port, with "assurances" that they won't get attacked, which will only help with the one group that gave assurances.  Turkey is backing some of the militias as well.  Iran lost its land corridor to resupply Hezbollah and Palestinian rebels -- if you look at the dominoes, Hamas attacking Israel and taking hostages ended up handing Iran a massive geopolitical loss.

At least the memes are looking on the bright side now.  Let's hope something like these happened: