One of Israel's rare and endangered Griffon Vultures was rescued by the commander of one of Syria's rebel factions and eventually returned to Israel.

Which rebel faction is not clarified in this report from NBC News, but it is evident from the course of the narrative that it was not ISIS. The media, as a rule, does not refer to the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria as a "rebel" faction or group. But the story itself makes it clear that ISIS had nothing to do with this small milestone in Mideast avian conservation efforts, except to pose something of an obstruction to the vulture's safe return to Israel.

Paul Goldman and Yuliya Talmazan for NBC News; September 8, 2017.
https://www.nbcnews.com/new...el-commander-n799741

When you say "Israel's rare and endangered Griffon Vulture" it made it seem like the bird was only residing in Israel. I looked it up, and the bird has an impressive range across the middle East and parts of Europe. It's not rare or endangered at all. To be fair, apparently they are reintroducing the bird in some areas.

Wikipedia article on the bird.

quote Originally posted by rbell2915: It's not rare or endangered at all.

It's Shadeball. He will twist it into whatever fantasy "fruits his loops".

[This message has been edited by randye (edited 09-08-2017).]

There aren't many of these griffon vultures that make their habitat in Israel. That's why the Israelis in this report were tagging the birds and trying to keep track of them.

It seems there is some "dissonance" between the NBC News report that I posted, and the Wikipedia content cited by rbell2915. This is from the NBC News report:

quote Four months ago, a griffon vulture nicknamed “S-98” was set free by staff at the Gamla Nature Reserve in the Golan Heights, northeast of Tel Aviv. The site is the largest nesting colony of griffon vultures in Israel and home to 40 birds. The griffon vulture is in danger of extinction, and S-98 was among some chicks sent to the reserve from Spain three years ago so they could be raised and released.

It's a small "feel good" story from Syria, where not much in the way of good news is being produced, and it has a few Syrians, or if not native Syrians, then foreign fighters who have come to Syria, and a few Israelis interacting with each other in a positive way.

The narrative helps to humanize these Syrian rebels at large. "At large", because the NBC News report does not provide any information about where this rebel commander was operating within Syria, or about which rebel faction(s) were involved and anything about their higher level allegiances. It could be a rebel faction that is sympathetic to Al-Qaeda. Or it could be a rebel faction that is not sympathetic to Al-Qaeda.

So, more to contemplate here than just the fate of a single predatory or carrion-eating bird.

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 09-09-2017).]

Interesting that the rebel would save the bird and yet, given the chance would most likely slit the Israeli's throat, don't cha think?

------------------
Ron

Isn't it strange that after a bombing, everyone blames the bomber, his upbringing, his environment, his culture, his mental state but …
after a shooting, the problem is the gun....
Open your frigg'n minds, think about all the other tools that can be made into WMDs.

I sincerely hope that life is never discovered on another planet because, sure as hell Progressives and Socialists will want to send them money.

quote Originally posted by blackrams: Interesting that the rebel would save the bird and yet, given the chance would most likely slit the Israeli's throat, don't cha think?

No. Actually I don't. Although without any more specifics on this rebel commander, or the group(s) that he's aligned with, there's not much to work from. I think if he actually had it in him to want to slit Israeli throats, then he wouldn't have connected with anyone from Israel to return the griffon vulture that he rescued.

From the NBC News report that I sourced this from:

quote After the successful handover, Eitan [Eldad Eitan, a manager at Israel's Gamla Nature Reserve] says he messaged the Syrian commander to personally thank him and express his hope that peace will prevail. “The Syrians answered me that they, too, hoped that the war will end soon and that they returned the bird as a ‘thank you’ gesture for Israel taking care of wounded Syrians," he said. They even suggested that they could all meet up one day.

Just before the end of 2015, I put up a Pennock's about some Syrian rebels who helped one of the few remaining Jewish families flee from the war-impacted Syrian city of Aleppo and cross into Turkey, where they reached Istanbul, and eventually, Israel. It's a very convoluted story. It's still online at CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/...orial&iref=obnetwork

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 09-09-2017).]

quote Originally posted by rinselberg: Just before the end of 2015, I put up a Pennock's about some Syrian rebels who helped one of the few remaining Jewish families flee from the war-impacted Syrian city of Aleppo and cross into Turkey, where they reached Istanbul, and eventually, Israel. It's a very convoluted story. It's still online at CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/...orial&iref=obnetwork

If people weren't being constantly attacked and killed by muslims, the rare instance of a muslim saving someone from other muslims wouldn't be noteworthy.

[This message has been edited by randye (edited 09-09-2017).]

Just because it Syrian rebel, doesn't mean they are enemies of Israel.
It just means the Israeli is doing his job at the border, and the Syrian how he should in making the contact.

Or is it a story contrived to make everyone here, think that all Syrian rebels have issues with Israel. Except those that like vultures.