Bobby Sue caught up with them the very next day.
Gimme some good new!
-——They also demonstrated the long, slow war that lies ahead for the motley collection of ground forces on whom the West and its allies are relying to retake the swathes of Iraq and Syria the group has seized.-——
The author does not understand what is in progress. There is no intent by any one to retake the swathes of Iraq or Syria. Swathes is code for the land along the rivers and thus the highways.
The intent is to straighten up the various borders between the Kurds in the north of Iraq and the Shia in the south. Those Shia in the south have neither the desire nor the means to re establish the nation of Iraq. The Kurds have established a nation that will almost certainly extend into kurdish Syria.
The same is true in Syria where Assad lacks the ability and probably the will to re establish his former borders.
The states of Syria and Iraq established in 1917 or 18 to establish British and French control of former Ottoman territory are no more. Iraq and Syria are but brief historical entities now just memories.
The new nation now known as the Kurdish Autonomous region will likely seek and receive UN recognition. The status is now fluid while negotiations among the various allies determine the overall outcome are underway. It is still questionable that the USA is a real voice in the coalition having abandoned it a year ago.
The presence of Brit and French and UAE forces indicate the fluidity might be gelling. Obama is not the leaderbut merely a hanger on. He will fork out some money and take credit for the victory
If the Kurds said they got away, they got away. ;>)