Untangling the Overlapping Conflicts in the Syrian War ... · PDF file11.11.2015 · Untangling the Overlapping Conflicts in the Syrian War ... Untangling the Overlapping Conflicts

Untangling the Overlapping Conflicts in the Syrian War - The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/16/world/middleeast/untangling-the-overlapping-conflicts-in-the-syrian-war.html[03.11.2015 07:42:07]
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A Civil War
2
A War Against ISIS
The two conflicts have cast the United States and Russia as enemies in one war and nominal allies in the other.
MIDDLE EAST
Untangling the OverlappingConflicts in the Syrian War
By SERGIO PEANHA, SARAH ALMUKHTAR and K.K. REBECCA LAI OCT. 18, 2015
What started as a popular uprising againstthe Syrian government four years ago has becomea proto-world war with nearly a dozen countries
embroiled in two overlapping conflicts:
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MAINADVERSARIES
Syriangovernment
RebelgroupsALLIES
Russia, Iran, Hezbollah United States, Turkey,
ADVERSARIES
IslamicState
UnitedStates
KurdsALLIES
Foreignfighters
Australia, Bahrain,Canada, France, Jordan,
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Civil War
Rebel groups supported by the United States are focused on toppling the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, not rooting out the Islamic State.
The United States is focused on defeating the Islamic State. While it has attacked 2,600 Islamic State targets, it has not directly attacked the Syrian government and it is backing rebel groups only with money, arms and some training.
Russia, Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah want to keep Mr. Assad in power, for now. Russia, in coordination with Syrian ground forces, has aimed the vast majority of its airstrikes at rebel positions.
The Islamic State, meanwhile, wants to both unseat Mr. Assad and create a caliphate stretching beyond Syrias borders into Iraq and other countries.
Syrias territory has been fragmented after four years of war.The government now controls only a fraction of the country.
Syrian government Rebel groups
MAIN ADVERSARIES
SECONDARY
Russia, Iran, Hezbollahand local militias
U.S., Turkey, Saudi Arabiaand some Arab nations
Islamic State
Foreignfighters

Source: IHS Conflict Monitor
Rebel groups made majorgains in this area this year.
TURKEY
HasakaKURDISH CONTROL
Aleppo ISISCONTROL
RaqqaIdlib
IRAQREBELCONTROL
LatakiaDeir al-ZourS Y R I A
GOVERNMENTCONTROL
HomsPalmyraMediterranean
Sea
LEBANONThe government lostPalmyra to ISIS in May.
Control as of Oct. 9Government
Rebel
ISIS
Kurds
Damascus Sparselypopulated areas
ISRAEL
JORDAN50 MILES
Russian airstrikes,Sept. 30-Oct. 12
Aleppo Raqqa

Russia has bases and advisers in several government-controlled locations. It has mainly targeted rebels in areas where the government had been losing ground.
Rebels in areas targeted by Russian airstrikes have used antitank missiles made in the United States.
S Y R I AGovernmentareas
Damascus
Russian ground positions
AleppoRaqqa
S Y R I A
U.S.-made missiles spotted,Oct. 7-12
Rebelareas
Damascus
AleppoRaqqa
S Y R I AGovernment areas
Hezbollah presencein 2015
Damascus

Irans Revolutionary Guards Corps and Hezbollah have been advising and shoring up pro-Assad forces since 2012.
Most rebel groups supported by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are in western Syria.
Sources: IHS Conflict Monitor (control areas and Hezbollah incidents); Institute for the Study of War (Russian ground positions); Carter Center (rebel front lines)
War Against ISIS
AleppoRaqqa
S Y R I AFront lines of the fourlargest rebel groups
Rebelareas
Damascus
Islamic State United States
KurdsMAIN ADVERSARIES

The United States has been joined by Turkey and several Arab nations in its fight against the Islamic State. They all believe ISIS poses a threat to them in their own countries.
Most people are realizing now that the best way of dealing with the Islamic State is to contain them, said Columb Strack, an analyst at IHS Janes, a defense research firm. If you contain them and start hitting their economic sources, the idea is that in a few years they will collapse from within. That seems what the Americans are going for.
But because the war against the Islamic State is just one among many, cutting off the groups resources has been difficult. Porous Turkish borders and private Arab dollars have helped the Islamic States rise.
For Syrias allies, especially Russia, the Islamic State is just one of many insurgent groups that they have called terrorists. While some Russian airstrikes have hit areas controlled by the Islamic State, most have targeted rebels groups.
SECONDARY
Rebel fighters, Turkey, someArab nations and other allies.
Foreignfighters
Syrian government, Russia, Iranand Hezbollah

Kurdish ground forces have been Americas mainpartner in the war against ISIS in Syria. But the
partnership poses delicate problems for the United States.
Nearly 30 million Kurds live in territories divided across Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, and they want more autonomy in those countries, or even a state of their own. The conflict in Syria has given them an opening toward achieving those goals.
American airstrikes against the Islamic State, coordinated with Kurdish fighters, have helped the Kurds seize a broad stretch of territory along the Turkish border. Those gains have increased tensions with Turkey, a major American ally, which has been fighting a bitter war with Kurdish separatists for decades.
Kobani has been the focal point of the U.S.-Kurdishbattle with ISIS. American airstrikes have hit more than
Kurdish fighters Islamic State
MAIN ADVERSARIES
ALLIES
TENSE RELATIONS
UnitedStates
RebelfightersCONCERN
ALLIES
Turkey Syriangovernment

U.S. airstrike locations
1,000 targets there, almost half of all their strikes inSyria, helping the Kurds push back ISIS in the north.
Sources: IHS Conflict Monitor (control areas); U.S. Central Command (airstrikes)
In Overlapping Wars, the Danger of a Collision
As their offensives cross paths, all of these run the risk of their battles colliding. Experts say a misguided attack or an errant airstrike could escalate Syrias two wars and lead to an even wider international conflict.
United States vs. Russia
Kurdish territorialgains since JanuaryKobani
Hasaka
Aleppo Raqqa
LatakiaDeir al-ZourS Y R I A
HomsPalmyra
ISISareas
Damascus

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Untangling the Overlapping Conflicts in the Syrian War ... · PDF file11.11.2015 · Untangling the Overlapping Conflicts in the Syrian War ... Untangling the Overlapping Conflicts