The collapsing IS caliphate has produced an interesting trend that flies in the face of Washington propaganda.

The Syrian government has recaptured massive amounts of territory from the jihadists.



The Syrian government has increased the size of the territory under its control by 2 ½ times in just two months, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Sunday, as Syrian forces backed by regional allies and the Russian air force seized thousands of square miles (kilometers) from the Islamic State group in the center of the country.

According to those who want war with the Assad government, this is a bad thing.

But what do the Syrian people think? The best way to measure this is by what the Syrian people actually do.



A rising number of Syrians who fled are returning to their homes, with more than 600,000 going back in the first seven months of this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.

...Aleppo governorate saw the highest number, at 67 percent, and Aleppo city was the most common destination there. In December, government troops recaptured the parts of Aleppo city that had been held by rebels for four years, though there are still portions of the governorate that are rebel-held.

...Nearly all of the returnees – 97 percent – were able to return to their own homes, with the remaining three percent living with hosts, in abandoned or rented accommodation, or in informal settlements, according to the IOM.

Aleppo. Remember when we were supposed to cry about the rebels being defeated in East Aleppo? It turns out that hundreds of thousands of Syrians fled for their lives those very same rebels that our news media and politicians championed.

Do Americans even care what the Syrian people want? Because if we do, then the Syrian refugee flows tell the story.



“While more than 4 million people have fled the country, the real problem is inside Syria, where 8 million have been displaced, many multiple times,” said Pawel Krzysiek, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Damascus.

“The only viable solution for those living in (war-torn) places is to leave them.”

Although nobody has exact figures on the whereabouts of the internally displaced people, or IDPs, aid officials and nongovernmental organizations say the vast majority have sought shelter in areas controlled by the government of President Bashar Assad.

“There is no doubt that many, many more displaced people are on the government side than on the opposition side,” Krzysiek said.

This is not to say that Assad isn't a bastard. That much is pretty obvious.

But it's also undeniable, based on what the Syrian people have done, that the rebels the United States (and Gulf Nations) backed were far bigger bastards.