I suppose the pro-Assad “conservatives” (pro-Putin, too) will be along any moment to remind us that Assad is a great friend of the Christian faith, Jews too, in their minds.
It was to exchange for captured soldiers. Israel routinely frees convicted terrorist killers for the same purpose.
The regime in Syria has probably killed more al-Qaeda terrorists than everyone else together. Dozens are dying daily. On good days, the number is in the three digits. In all likelihood, this man will be dead soon, like several former Guantanamo guests in this war.
The regime is still on the ropes and has to do everything it can to preserve its manpower and moral. It’s an important morale issue for soldiers to know that if they are captured, their leaders will make a strong effort to free them, especially if they are being held by the head-choppers.
If the regime falls, al-Qaeda affiliated groups, who now make up an outright majority of the rebels, will control most of the country.
Assad just paid a million plus ransom to free Christian nuns who were being held by al-Qaeda too. That only happened because Hezbollah along side Christian National Defense Forces militia were closing in town of Yabroud where the nuns were being held and the captors decided to get something for them before they were freed by force. Meanwhile, our buddies in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait are funding and arming those same terrorists.
Couldn’t the US government, neoconservatives or churches in American have lifted a finger to free the nuns? None did.
Wake up. The cold war ended 25 years ago. The world is in a state of upheaval, old alliances are collapsing and new ones are being forged. Neoconservatives and their fellow travelers are on the wrong side of history, with dwindling support from the American people and have been wholly rejected by younger conservatives.
Neoconservatives have had their day and it’s done. We have tasted their fruit and it was bitter indeed.