Syrian Army Pounds Militant Positions In Northern Lattakia

I’d say that if you asked the average Chechen where their loyalties laid and they answered you honestly they say this, Islam first, the Muslim Brotherhood second, Chechnya third, Ottoman Empire fourth, and Russia last. The people who control Chechnya now are very brutal people, they scare me just as much as the Chechen separatists who massacred more than 100 Russian school kids did, they’re not the sort of people who should be running the country, they should either be in jail or mental institutions, so I’m afraid I have a different opinion about the Islamic fundamentalists and the people Russia cooperates with to help contain them. You’re right the second Chechen war started in 1999 when Putin was prime minister but he was head of Russian intelligence during the previous conflicts from 1990 onwards. This is what the wiki has to say post 2000, ….

Guerrilla phase by year: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Although large-scale fighting within Chechnya had ceased, daily attacks continued, particularly in the southern portions of Chechnya and spilling into nearby territories of the Caucasus, especially after the Caucasus Front was established. Typically small separatist units targeted Russian and pro-Russian officials, security forces, and military and police convoys and vehicles. The separatist units employed IEDs and sometimes combined for larger raids. Russian forces retaliated with artillery and air strikes, as well as counter-insurgency operations. Most soldiers in Chechnya were kontraktniki (contract soldiers) as opposed to the earlier conscripts. While Russia continued to maintain a military presence within Chechnya, federal forces played less of a direct role. Pro-Kremlin Chechen forces under the command of the local strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, known as the kadyrovtsy, dominated law enforcement and security operations, with many members (including Kadyrov himself) being former Chechen separatists who had defected since 1999. Since 2004, the Kadyrovtsy were partly incorporated into two Interior Ministry units, North and South (Sever and Yug). Two other units of the Chechen pro-Moscow forces, East and West (Vostok and Zapad), were commanded by Sulim Yamadayev (Vostok) and Said-Magomed Kakiyev (Zapad) and their men.[85] On 16 April 2009, the head of the Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, announced that Russia had ended its “anti-terror operation” in Chechnya, claiming that stability had been restored to the territory.[86] “The decision is aimed at creating the conditions for the future normalisation of the situation in the republic, its reconstruction and development of its socio-economic sphere,” Bortnikov stated. While Chechnya had largely stabilised, there were still clashes with militants in the nearby regions of Dagestan and Ingushetia.

Im aware of that. But I dont see your point. Most Chechens are clearly pro Russian nowdays. They even had two Referendums and they voted both times to remain within Russia. Low level insurgency in the caucasus region is no different than the southern states in the U.S. dealing with Mexican drug cartels, about the same threat level. But in recent years most of them were eliminated or weakened to a point to pose minimal threat. If you were right Chechens werent fighting for Russia and for Syria against Turkey and wahabis and their supporters. But they do, and they won many battles. Helping to turn the tide of the war.

I checked out what you said about the Russians having Chechen special services in Syria and you’re correct, there were 1,000 Chechens deployed to Syria originally and they’re still there, I wasn’t aware there were any other Chechens in Syria apart from the terrorists in Latakia, thanks for letting me know. Both the article and my comments were directed at the Ajnad al-Kavkaz Chechen terrorist group, neither the SF article or my original comment mentioned the Chechen nation itself, this is what I said in the first part of my comment about the article,

“Russia’s favourite terrorists, Uighurs and Chechens”,

I don’t think there’s any other terrorist group the Russian hate more than the Chechens, the Moscow opera house siege and the school massacre are just 2 examples of why they do. And I’m not so sure most Chechens are pro Russian at all, it’s hard to tell what they think on the ground, that madman that Putin placed in power is killing anyone who dares oppose him. And he was once an Islamic terrorist too, he used to fight against the Russians before he switched sides you know.

I’m not sure you can compare drug traffickers to religious zealots though, drug traffickers don’t sacrifice their lives for a cause but fanatics do all the time, zealots scare me a lot more, they never give up.

Brutality is relative. Dropping a bomb on a wedding party killing a 100people is brutal. Killing traitors whom work for foreign entities trying to undermine Russia and Chechnia isnt brutal its a necessity.

You’re right, “Brutality is relative”, but I much prefer the sort of tact and humanity Assad employs to do the same thing, too many innocent people end up dead and tortured the other way.