Jihad is jihad is jihad, and support for it doesn’t come from regimes for the most part. Among regimes, Iran leads the world in support for jihad.
Qatar’s former ruler was deposed, he had been bankrolling various allies of Iran, working as a proxy for Iran at least as long ago as the Gulf War (two emirs ago). His biggest projects were the installation of Iran’s ally Morsi in Egypt (since deposed) and attempted overthrow of Assad in Syria (although that started without outside help).
Much of the cash that finances worldwide jihad has come from rich individuals in the muzzie world, and the thugs they recruit are fanatics who can operate on a shoestring budget. Thanks to the USSR in past decades and now Russia, the world is awash in automatic weapons and their ammo.
Turkey has backed the FSA, which probably accounts for its inability to get the job done. Turkey also has about 25% Shiite-related population, including Alawites, luckily for Turkey distributed across a number of different ethnic groups. The border with Iraq has been porous since the Gulf War, at least, so it’s no big surprise that the ISIS volunteers cross there. They also cross from Jordan.
The foreign Arabs fighting in Syria come from Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon (not counting the thousands of Hizzies), Russia (probably Chechens — btw, Chechens also fight on the side of the Russians against Ukraine), France, Libya, Britain, and bringing up the rear, Turkey. Those recruits are volunteers (that is, idiots) seeking paradise through jihad.
Of course, because funding comes from so many places, the opposition to Assad (and we all remember when al-Qaeda was the cry around here) is tremendously fragmented, with each group largely limited to a single enclave, and alliances switching back and forth in baffling irregularity.
By contrast, Iran sent 19,000 thugs to prop up Assad, and they’ve been there (other than those who got killed) for over three years. Iran’s proxy Hezbollah has been occupying southern Lebanon for 30 years, and occupying part of Syria for more than three years, doing a great deal of fighting.
Iran’s Shiite allies just took over Yemen a few months ago.
Iran has missiles and troops in Eritrea, overlooking the sea lanes where a big chunk of the world’s oil travels.
Iran recruits, funds, and trains terrorists throughout Africa, Asia, and South America.
Our best move would be to support the Kurds against not only ISIS, but in their drive toward their own national state, carved out of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. If we’re gung-ho on stability, we need to get rid of the Iranian mullahcracy and keep one foot on the private parts of the House of Saud, because they also like stability, but it’s a lot easier to trust but verify if the other guy can’t walk too far.
Our best move would be to support the Kurds against not only ISIS, but in their drive toward their own national state, carved out of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran.
Yes.