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Thursday, August 3

Ah! A comprehensible map of the Syrian War status!

Shamelessly sequestered from AMN. For a compact large view of the map, visit AMN. A few notes:

> The "M" designations are names of major roadways; e.g., M1, M5. 

> Islamic State is referred to so many different ways in news reports, etc. that the map legend shows three of the prevalent terms (ISIS, Daesh, IS) but they're all the exact same organization. 

> There are so many Al Qaeda front groups that the mapmaker doesn't even bother with listing the names, which are always subject to change at a moment's notice anyhow. The important point at this time, which the map clearly conveys, is that Al Qaeda now controls Idlib City and the entire Idlib province except for a couple pockets in the south of the province controlled by the SAA.    

> See the caption below the map for a summary of the situation regarding who controls what. And see AMN (same link as above) for mapmaker Andrew Illingworth's expanded discussion of the battle situation as of August 2, 2017, but here's the good news in one sentence from his report:
BEIRUT, LEBANON (7:55 P.M.) – As the month of August commences it appears that the ISIS terrorist group will continue to suffer major military and territorial setbacks at both the hands of pro-government forces and the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
Yet as the map shows it's too soon to celebrate.

> As to the symbolism of the little white doohickies -- given the varying sizes and their placement at the most important cities, I'd guess they're meant to convey a population size?  

> As to the meaning of the numbers at the bottom, outside Syria, e.g., "65" -- you got me there. Some kind of coordinates, maybe, left over from another map?   


CAPTION #Syria Situational Map (August 2, 2017) - SAA and allies advance against ISIS terrorists in eastern #Homs, southeastern #Raqqa and #DeirEzzor Governorates. Advances also made by pro-government forces in eastern #Hama (too small to project on this map for the time being). Kurdish-led forces take control of about 50 percent of Raqqa city. Claims that pro-government forces took the T-2 area in southern DeirEzzor region are 100% false.


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