I/III. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/as-us-attacks-islamic-state-syria-steps-up-assaults-on-moderate-rebels/2014/10/22/50f53ed2-2c6a-414e-93cd-ea5741ad51d5_story.html
As U.S. attacks Islamic State, Syria steps up assaults on moderate rebels Forces of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad walk near the glass factory in Jubaila village in the countryside of north-east Aleppo after regaining control of the area. (George Ourfalian/Reuters) By Hugh Naylor October 22 at 6:27 PM BEIRUT -- ***Syrian government forces have dramatically intensified air and ground assaults on areas held by moderate rebels, attempting to deliver crippling blows as world attention shifts to airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria***. [Emphasis added.] ***Since Monday, Syrian aircraft have targeted Aleppo in the north, the eastern suburbs of Damascus and southern areas near the Jordanian border, launching more than 210 airstrikes, said Rami Abdulrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that monitors the civil war.*** [Emphasis added.] Rebels in Aleppo say President Bashar al-Assad's military has escalated attacks in northern areas of the city, trying to cut the supply lines of opposition fighters inside Aleppo. "During the last three days, we have been hit by over 120 barrel bombs," said Ahmed Abu Talal, a rebel belonging to the Islamic Front group, referring to particularly deadly high-explosive bombs that are often dropped by helicopter. ***Syria's military has virtually encircled the city with the help of Shiite militias from Lebanon and Iran, the Assad regime's chief ally. Iranian and Iraqi news sites reported that a general from Iran's Basij militia, identified as Drisawi Jabbar, was killed fighting near Aleppo last week.*** [Emphasis added.] Men walk on the rubble of damaged buildings at a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes by forces of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Monday. (Bassam Khabieh/Reuters) Abu Talal said pro-government forces are trying to take the village of Handarat, which is located just north of Aleppo and next to one of the last roads connecting the city's rebels with reinforcements and food brought in from the Turkish border. The fall of that road would constitute a major blow to Assad's opposition in a three-year-old civil war that has killed nearly 200,000 people. "They are very close to the area now," said Abu Talal, speaking via Skype from northern Aleppo. Rebels and analysts say Assad's forces are increasing their attacks to exploit what the regime sees as a window of opportunity opened by a campaign that Washington and its allies launched last month against the Islamic State, a heavily armed al-Qaeda offshoot that is also known as ISIS or ISIL. The U.S.-led coalition, which includes Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against the radical Islamist group, which has captured swaths of territory from Iraq to north-central Syria. "The Assad regime senses opportunity at the moment because the world's attention is shifting to ISIS," said Emile Hokayem, Middle East analyst at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. The regime has stepped up aerial bombardment of the rebel-held suburbs of eastern Damascus, as well as in areas near the city of Idlib. Government helicopters have dropped some 45 barrel bombs in recent days in the countryside near Idlib to halt rebel movements near two military bases on a strategic road connecting Aleppo with Hama, to the south, said Abdullah Jabaan, a resident of Idlib and journalist for the Syria Live News Network, which supports the opposition. He said 55 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded in those attacks. Meanwhile, Assad's military has largely avoided territory held by Islamic State militants, instead striking moderate rebel factions that could be slated to receive weapons and military training from the coalition, said Riad Kahwaji, chief executive of the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis. "If the regime manages to fully besiege Aleppo at this time, they would block and undermine the plans of the alliance to use the opposition, or at least present the opposition, as the ultimate ground force to deal with ISIS," he said. A successful routing of those rebels could position the Assad regime as the only force in Syria capable of fighting the Islamic State, he said. Syrian officials have welcomed the coalition strikes on Islamic State fighters in the country, but the United States says it rejects any coordination with the Assad government. Many of those airstrikes have targeted Islamic State militants mounting an assault on the Kurdish town of Kobane, nestled along Syria's northern border with Turkey. Starting over a month ago, the coalition attacks have helped Kurdish fighters fend off the onslaught, although the jihadists persist. II/III. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/23/kobani-death-us-air-strikes-550-isis-syria US-led air strikes on Syria have killed more than 500 Isis and al-Nusra fighters More than thirty civilians along with over 500 militants killed in strikes over past month, says Syrian Observatory Associated Press in Beirut The Guardian, Thursday 23 October 2014 16.48 BST Kobani Smoke rises above Kobani, Syria, after an air strike by the US-led coalition on Thursday. Photograph: Levend Ali/AP **US-led air strikes on Syria have killed more than 500 people, mainly Islamist militants, since they began last month, activists said as fighting continued in the border town of Kobani***. [Emphasis added.] The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said 553 people had been killed since the air strikes began on 23 September, including 32 civilians. The civilians included six children and five women. The group said it has documented the deaths of 464 Islamic State (Isis) fighters, adding that the real number could be much higher. Another 57 fighters with the al-Nusra Front, which has links to al-Qaida, were killed in air strikes on the northern Syrian province of Aleppo and Idlib, the Observatory said. unidentified military plane flies over Kobani An unidentified military plane flies over Kobani. US central command says its forces have conducted more than 135 air strikes against Isis militants . Photograph: KAI Pfaffenbach/Reuters Many of the Isis fighters have been killed in or near Kobani, which has been the target of a massive jihadi offensive since mid-September. Isis fighters have captured dozens of surrounding Kurdish villages and forced more than 200,000 people to flee into neighbouring Turkey. Earlier this week, the US central command said its forces have conducted more than 135 air strikes against Isis militants in and around Kobani, killing hundreds of fighters. "Combined with continued resistance to Isil [another acronym for Islamic State] on the ground, indications are that these strikes have slowed Isil advances into the city, killed hundreds of their fighters and destroyed or damaged scores of pieces of Isil combat equipment and fighting positions," central command said in a statement. An Associated Press journalist on the Turkish side of the border said heavy machine gun fire could be heard on Thursday from Kobani, which is also known as Ayn al-Arab. "The fighting has been ongoing since last night on the eastern and southern fronts. It is some of the longest clashes in Kobani," said Kurdish activist Farhad Shami by phone from the town. "The fighting usually only takes place at night." Shami said Isis launched an attack from three fronts late on Wednesday but failed to advance. Kurdish fighters withdrew from the Tel Shair hill that overlooks parts of Kobani, he added. Isis fighters inspect a hill on the outskirts of Kobani Isis fighters inspect a hill on the outskirts of Syrian town of Kobani. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters The Observatory said Isis fighters had captured the hill, closing in on the town from the west. It said Isis forces were also trying to advance from the eastern side of the town, and that there were casualties on both sides. The hill was captured by the Kurds from Isis earlier this month. Idris Nassan, deputy minister for foreign affairs in a Kurdish civil administration controlling Kobani, said that although Isis fighters had moved on to Tel Shair hill, the heavy fighting there was ongoing. "Kobani has been witnessing fierce clashes since last night. It was one of the bad nights," he said. The Observatory reported four US-led air strikes on oil wells in the Jafra field in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour late on Wednesday. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist group, also reported the air strikes in areas held by Isis. The US-led coalition has targeted Isis-held oil facilities in Syria, which provide a source of income for the militants. But such strikes also endanger civilians, which could undermine long-term efforts to destroy the militant group. The attacks on the oil industry, including refineries, have also led to a sharp rise in the price of oil products in rebel-held areas of Syria. III. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29720384 22 October 2014 Last updated at 15:41 Syria conflict: '200 air force strikes' in 36 hours Aftermath of what activists said were government air strikes in the Douma district of Damascus (20 October 2014) The Damascus suburb of Douma was among the areas targeted by Syrian government aircraft on Monday ***The Syrian military has stepped up air strikes on rebel areas dramatically, carrying out more than 200 in recent days, opposition activists say.*** [Emphasis added.] The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the raids took place mostly in western areas between midnight on Sunday and noon on Tuesday. The UK-based group said there were many casualties, but did not give a figure. ***The intensified strikes come as US-led forces continue to bomb Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and Iraq***. [Emphasis added.] US and Arab jets have been attacking IS positions around the northern Syrian town of Kobane, where Kurdish fighters are under siege. In an interview with the BBC, the US special envoy for the global coalition to counter IS defended the airdrops of military supplies into Kobane despite some of them ending up in the hands of the jihadist group. Jump media player Media player help Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue. The BBC's Kasra Naji reports from the Turkey-Syria border on the battle for Kobane John Allen said only one of 28 bundles of small arms, ammunition and other weapons supplied by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq might have ended up in the hands of the militants. Shortly after he spoke, the Kurdistan Parliament approved the deployment of about 120 Peshmerga fighters to Kobane. Turkey signalled on Monday that it would allow Peshmerga to cross its border with Syria. It has refused to allow Turkish Kurds to do so. The BBC's Kasra Naji, who is on the Turkish side of the border, says it is unclear when the Peshmerga will arrive. Officials say they will bring heavy weapons - something Kurds in Kobane say they desperately need. IS jets 'destroyed' The Syrian air force's strikes targeted rebel-held areas in Quneitra, Deraa, the Damascus countryside, Hama, Idlib and Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory said. An injured child receives treatment at a field hospital after what activists said were air strikes in the Douma district of Damascus on 20 October 2014 The Syrian Observatory said many people were killed and dozens wounded in the air strikes Syrian rebels in a camouflaged lorry in the rebel-controlled area of al-Hajar al-Aswad, south of Damascus (19 October 2014) Analysts said the military might be trying to weaken rebels before they receive training from the US The provinces stretch from the country's south-west through the capital, Damascus, to the far north-west. The eastern province of Deir al-Zour, where government forces have been battling IS militants, was also bombed over the same period. At least eight people were also reportedly killed on Tuesday in an air raid on a rebel-held town along Syria's southern border with Jordan. The Local Co-ordination Committees, an opposition activist network, said government planes had dropped explosives-laden canisters on Nassib. On Wednesday, warplanes carried out 10 strikes on the towns of Murak and Kafr Zaita, in Hama province, the Observatory said. The Syrian Observatory says the air force carries out 12 to 20 strikes a day on average so the 210 that took place over 36 hours represent a rapid increase. Analysts said the military might be stepping up its air campaign in an effort to weaken rebel groups before they began receiving training and equipment from the US and its allies so that they can take the fight to IS on the ground in Syria. Air strikes In a separate development, Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said the Syrian air force had destroyed two of three fighter jets seized by IS. The jets were bombed as they landed on the runway of the Jarrah air base in the eastern Aleppo countryside, Mr Zoubi told Syrian TV late on Tuesday. The air force was searching for the third jet, he added. On Friday, activists said IS militants had flown the jets over Aleppo with the help of former Iraqi air force pilots. Mr Zoubi also said Syrian army and air force had been providing military and logistical support to the Kurdish fighters in Kobane, despite not being part of the international coalition fighting IS. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
