LOL, ever since the ISIS over ran Mosul, they have been growing, Rather till the Russians actually went to Syria and started conducting operations, ISIS was growing. ISIS took over Raqqa in syria and made it capital, They took over Mosul and show the military recruits in cold blood, there are videos for it, but yes during that time there are no American or Western human rights groups shouting against ISIS. Say when a Force which captures Raqqa , and then Takes over city of Mosul which is 2 hours drive from Bagdad the Capital of Iraq and they were not growing? Well thanks to French and American incompetence, they were growing. But the Russians came and hit where it mattered0
Till 2017 ISIS were very much in control of large parts of northern Iraq and parts of Syria, but after Russians intervened, the ISIS were being destroyed, Not only by air strike, but by ground campaign which co-ordinated with air attacks.
The French and the Western Allies were supporting groups which sometimes were against each other. West was supporting ISIS and also supporting ISIS and also FSA which were many times again each other. So the west was often confused which targets to hit, and most often they hit Syrian army with the directive of "regime change"
The Russians on other hand had a simple rule " if you are against Assad, then you are against us ..."
So they clearly hit targets which were Anti assad in nature. And by the way. The Syrian govt which is still in power asked Russia for their help, The West and French, are uninvited..
Are you stupid? When does Air power avoids Ground losses? So what is the point in French using their smart missiles? The Fact is that French air strikes were useless and at best a Scam just to funnel off the taxes of French taxpayers to show " we are trying to get revenge for attack on Paris"
So just to put a final point.. 1 years of western intervention utterly useless as ISIS grew despite the Western intervention. 6 months of Russian intervention, ISIS almost destroyed, FSA trying to get West involved against Syria and Russia (which the west does not want) and ocassaionally claiming that Syrians were using Chemical weapons.. When the Attack strategy is gaining good results why would they use Chemical weapons? BTW maybe you are not aware but ISIS had their hands on Chemical weapons ...So the west never found ISIS as usual suspects?
French bashing is nice, whats wrong with French bashing?
1) I really don't see ISIS growing. Since 2016 they are reducing their territory.
2) The west air forces have strict rules to open fire. The russian ones far less... They don't care about civilians casualties.
3) West forces only use air force (to avoid ground losses). You never win a war only with air force (but without you can't also).
So it's not a question of intelligence, of firepower or stuff falling short (your legendary french bashing).
