Spanish journalists freed in
Syria after six-month ordeal'However, Syrian opposition and European officials say Isis can no longer command the influence it has had for much of the past year over parts of northern Syria.
"As strong as they are in numbers, they have taken several strategic blows recently," one senior western official said. "They have been defeated in much of the north, and they will not be coming back there. The battle has been won. The regular opposition can now get back to fighting Assad." '
That last line at the end is something that we never get from those worried about "intervention", whereby unwarranted fears that Barack Obama was going to re-enact the Iraq War or that he would be arming the very jihadists the regular rebels have been fighting, in reality meant that little pressure has been applied to enable the real revolutionaries in Syria to get the arms they need.