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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Key Islamist group Shamiya Front dissolves itself

2015-04-19

[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Key rebel groups operating under Al-Shamiya Front in northern city of Aleppo have decided to dissolve their coalition as defections rise, well-informed sources told Zaman al-Wasl. The 4-month-old alliance reached an end as number of Islamist factions defected and formed a new group called Thuwar al-Sham (The Levant Revolutionaries). But activists said other reasons may stand behind that like the emerging power of Fatah Army, lack of coordination and conflict of interest. The front was formed on 24 December 2014 by Aleppo-based rebel factions after months of negotiations in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and northern Syria between the Islamic Front, Army of Mujahedeen, Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki, Fastaqim Kama Umirt and Authenticity and Development Front gangs. On 20 February 2015 al-Shamiya Front successfully forced the Syrian regime forces to retreat from rural towns in Aleppo; during the festivities 300 soldiers and mercenaries were killed and 110 were captured. Also, the Front played big role as a mediator between rebel groups as it did between the Nusra Front and dissolved-Hazzm movement last February.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

After Yabrud Capture, Syria Army Advances West

2014-03-19

[An Nahar] The Syrian army has taken a several hills southwest of the former rebel stronghold of Yabrud as they seek to secure territory between there and the Lebanese border, a security source said Tuesday. On Sunday, backed by fighters from Leb's Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... and local militia, they seized Yabrud after a month of shelling and air strikes. They are now moving to secure the area along the nearby border with Leb, which has been a key supply route for the opposition, allowing them to transport fighters and weapons. "The army is heading in the direction of Ras al-Ain," which is close to the border, the source in Damascus told AFP after taking the hills between there and Yabrud. They also plan to seize the villages of Rankus, south of Yabrud, and Flita and Ras al-Maara, to its northwest. Elsewhere, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime planes bombed the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least four people, including two children, in the Shaar district. The violence in Aleppo came as Marcell Shehwaro, a prominent female activist detained a day earlier by rebels for refusing to wear the Islamic headscarf, was released. The Army of Mujahedeen, which had detained Shehwaro and her friend Mohammad Khalili, issued a statement "apologizing in the strongest terms" for the arrests. Nearby, the Britannia-based Observatory said troops battled Islamist opposition forces, including the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front, leaving at least seven people dead on the two sides. In the Damascus area, five people were killed by opposition mortar fire in several districts, state news agency SANA reported. Four people were killed in the Jaramana suburb, southeast of the capital, and another in the city itself, SANA said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria's Islamic Front Issues Strong Warning to Qaida-Linked ISIL

2014-01-06

[An Nahar] Syria's Islamic Front, the country's biggest rebel alliance, issued Sunday a strong warning to jihadists, three days after a new front made up of local turbans emerged against them. "We fight against whoever attacks us and whoever pushes us to battle, whether they are Syrian or foreign," said the Front, an alliance that groups tens of thousands of rebels seeking to topple Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... . Since Friday, along with the Syrian Revolutionaries Front and the nascent Army of Mujahedeen, the Front has been engaged in fierce fighting with the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The focus of combat has been in opposition areas in Aleppo and Idlib provinces, but spread to Hama and Raqa provinces on Sunday. Scores of fighters have been killed on both sides in battle as well as in ambushes, car kabooms and summary executions by ISIL. ISIL has been accused of horrific abuses in areas where it operates, and also of seeking hegemony by taking key roads and checkpoints from its rivals. Some Assad opponents have even accused it of serving regime interests. "In our charter... we said we are grateful and thankful to the foreigners who came to help us" in the war against Assad's troops, the Islamic Front said in Sunday's statement. But "we will not accept any group that claims to be a state." Analysts say a key complaint against ISIL among rebels, including Islamists, is that its jihadists refuse to operate within the broader opposition dynamic. Instead, it commands its own institutions and rejects cooperation with other rebel groups. The Islamic Front's statement comes a day after ISIL distributed an audio statement warning rebels to stop pressuring it, or that it would withdraw from the front lines in Aleppo city and let in Assad's forces. ISIL also accused its rivals of waging a "media war" against it, and of "stabbing (it) in the back."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria rebels take on jihadists in fierce fighting

2014-01-05

[Al Ahram] Syrian rebels in opposition-held areas engaged in fierce battles with Al-Qaeda-linked elements Friday in what activists say is growing resistance to the jihadists' brutal grip in many places. Elsewhere in northern Syria, an unidentified group seized five people working for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) from a house, the Gay Paree-based humanitarian organization said. Protesters turned out in rebel areas chanting the strongest slogans yet against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, as tensions soar between the opposition and the Al-Qaeda affiliate. Ammar, an activist on the ground, described it as "the start of the revolution against ISIL" which operates in Iraq and Syria. Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the entire 614th quadrant searched. The Green Lensman must be found!... a key group within Syria's mainstream opposition National Coalition stressed Friday that it will not attend peace talks scheduled for later this month in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... . "After meetings with many international delegations in recent weeks... the Syrian National Council confirms it sees no reason to attend the Geneva conference," SNC member Samir Nashar told AFP by telephone. Nashar also forecast that the National Coalition, which has still not taken a definitive decision, would similarly not show up. After months of delays, a January 22 date for the peace talks has been set, but doubts remain about whether the conference will go ahead. The Coalition is set to hold its next general assembly meeting in Istanbul on Sunday and Monday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fierce fighting between rebels and ISIL in flashpoints of Aleppo city and province on Friday. In Aleppo and nearby Idlib, 16 pro-Qaeda gunnies were reported killed. In Idlib alone, at least 42 ISIL fighters were maimed and 20 other civilians hurt in the crossfire, while in Aleppo, a media activist was killed while covering the fighting. The Observatory and activists said a number of battalions united under the name "Army of Mujahedeen" and other rebel groups, including more moderate Islamists, were fighting ISIL. The fighting comes two days after ISIL reportedly tortured and murdered Doctor Hussein al-Sleiman, known as Abu Rayyan. His death was the latest in a string of beatings, kidnappings and killings that have enraged rebels and activists alike. It prompted protesters to take to the streets under the slogan: "Friday of the martyr Abu Rayyan". The Observatory and activists said ISIL fired on protesters in Aleppo city, who were chanting anti-regime slogans as they have every week since the outbreak of an uprising that has killed more than 130,000 people. Both the Islamic Front and the Syrian Revolutionaries Front, two key alliances formed last year that group tens of thousands of fighters, condemned ISIL. "We call on ISIL to withdraw immediately from Atareb... and remind them that those who freed Atareb (from Assad's regime) are those you are fighting today," said the Islamic Front. Abu Leyla, an Idlib-based activist, told AFP via the Internet: "I'd say about 90 percent of people in the opposition areas are against ISIL. "They use violence and abuses to crush dissent. They are only Islamic in name. All they want is power." Syria's revolt began as a peaceful Arab Spring-inspired movement demanding the end of the Assad family's four-decade rule that was met with a brutal crackdown by the regime. That sparked an armed uprising, and foreign jihadists soon flocked to Syria to join the rebels. The jihadists were welcomed at first, but "their abuses have made it impossible for them to stay here. We want freedom, not ISIL," said Abu Leyla. Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the entire 614th quadrant searched. The Green Lensman must be found!... five MSF staffers were taken from a house in northern Syria by an unknown group, "apparently for questioning," said Samantha Maurin, a spokeswoman for the international organization. It was unclear who had taken them, and MSF declined to release details about them or where they had been. ISIL has been accused of targeting both foreign and Syria journalists as well as aid workers and activists for kidnapping. In a separate development, Danish and Norwegian vessels left Cyprus and headed towards Syria to escort a delayed shipment of chemical weapons for destruction, said Norwegian army front man Lars Magne Hovtun. The ships are to be joined by Chinese and Russian vessels inside Syrian waters. The removal had been scheduled to take place before December 31, but the deadline passed and a new one has not yet been set. The year-end deadline was the first major milestone under a UN Security Council-backed deal arranged by Russia and the United States that aims to eliminate all of Syria's chemical arms by mid-2014.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

New Syria Rebel Alliance Declares War on Al-Qaida as Rebels Kill, Capture Scores of Jihadists

2014-01-05

[An Nahar] Syrian rebels have united to kill and capture dozens of jihadists in a new "revolution" against an al-Qaeda affiliate they accuse of worse abuses than the hated Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... , activists said Saturday. Three powerful rebel alliances have taken on fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant during two days of fierce combat in Aleppo and Idlib provinces that Syria's main opposition National Coalition said it "fully supports." And in new signs the nearly three-year conflict is spreading, ISIL seized the city of Fallujah in neighboring Iraq, and claimed a suicide kaboom in a Beirut stronghold of Hizbullah, whose fighters are battling alongside Assad's forces. "At least 36 members and supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have been killed since Friday in Idlib and more than 100 have been captured by rebels" in Idlib and Aleppo, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The reports come a second day into festivities in opposition areas of the northern and northwestern provinces between ISIL and rebel alliances, which include the massive Islamic Front and the Syrian Revolutionaries Front. Jihadists who flocked to Syria to join the rebels in their fight against Assad were at first welcomed by the armed opposition. But relations grew bitter after ISIL fought other opposition groups for control and committed systematic abuses against activists and rival rebels, as well as ordinary citizens. Assad's regime has branded both rebels and peaceful activists as "terrorists" since the start of an uprising against him in March 2011. But in the past 48 hours, anti-Assad activists have described the escalation against ISIL as a new "revolution" in Syria, given ISIL's increasing number of kidnappings and beheadings and other abuses. Rival rebels have "seized checkpoints, bases and weapons from ISIL" in Aleppo and Idlib, said the Observatory. ISIL was reported to have kidnapped, beaten and executed dozens of rival rebels and activists since it appeared in Syria, establishing a reign of terror in areas it controls. It has forced girls to wear the veil to school, and lashed and executed people -- including children -- on accusations of heresy. The escalation comes as the nascent Army of Mujahedeen, a new rebel alliance, declared all-out war on ISIL. "We, the Army of the Mujahedeen, pledge to defend ourselves and our honor, wealth and lands, and to fight ISIL, which has violated the rule of God, until it announces its dissolution," said the new alliance of eight groups. It demanded ISIL fighters either join the ranks of other rebel groups "or hand over their weapons and leave Syria". The opposition said it supports the rebels' efforts, while calling on "the international community to recognize the importance of supporting revolutionary forces as partners in the fight" against both al-Qaeda and Assad. The Coalition presidency said it "fully supports ongoing efforts by Free Syrian Army elements to liberate towns and neighborhoods from the authoritarian oppression" of ISIL. 'Syria, Iraq conflicts melting into one' On Saturday, ISIL gave the forces aligned against it 24 hours to stop their attacks, release their prisoners and remove checkpoints, or it would withdraw from Aleppo, allowing government forces to enter. "The withdrawal of the Islamic State from any of those points will mean the invasion... by the criminal regime," said an ISIL statement obtained by the SITE Intelligence Group. The Mujahedeen issued a new appeal for ISIL fighters to "defect and to join your honest brothers who are fighting Assad across Syria". It came after the Sunni bad boy group claimed the deadly bombing that killed four people Thursday in Haret Hreik, a southern Beirut neighborhood. The attack was the latest against the powerful Shiite party, whose fighters are aiding Assad in the civil war that pits his troops against a Sunni-led rebellion. The reports come as an Iraqi security official told Agence La Belle France Presse Fallujah had fallen to ISIL. According to Aron Lund, editor of Syria in Crisis website run by the Carnegie Endowment, "the two conflicts in Iraq and Syria are melting into one. The more conflicts you pull into the Syria war the harder it will be to stop it".

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Iraq-Jordan

Militants Groups in Iraq Name Spokesman

2005-07-04

Two militant groups said Sunday they have named a new spokesman to silence those who claim to speak for the insurgency. In a joint statement posted on an Islamic Web site, the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Army of Mujahedeen said they had chosen Ibrahim Youssef al-Shammari as their spokesman. The little-known al-Shammari appeared on the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera on Sunday "to silence all those who talk in the name of the mujahedeen," the groups said in a statement posted on an Islamic Web site. During an appearance on Al-Jazeera, al-Shammari said the resistance "has a realistic and truthful political project," adding that the groups were in talks with other armed factions to come up with a unified position. He did not elaborate. Al-Shammari argued that sectarian problems were created after the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq in order to prolong the presence of foreign troops. Last week, a Web statement issued in the name of The Islamic Army in Iraq, the Army of Mujahedeen and the Ansar al-Sunnah Army threatened the life of a Sunni Arab politician, Ayham al-Samarie, who announced the formation of a political group he claims represents the demands of an umbrella organization of insurgents. The three groups accused the dual U.S.-Iraqi national of spreading lies.

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Iraq-Jordan

2 insurgent groups agree to talks with the new Iraqi government

2005-06-07

A Sunni Arab politician claimed on Tuesday that two insurgent groups were ready to open talks with the government and eventually lay down their arms and join the political process. The disclosure by Ayham al-Samarie was the first time any Iraqi politician has publicly acknowledged contacting Iraq's militants. It also opened a new front in ongoing efforts to counter the Sunni-dominated insurgency wracking much of Iraq since 2003. They came at a time of growing complaints by Sunni Arab groups that counterinsurgency operations by US-backed Iraqi forces are unjustly targeting innocent members of the community. It was not possible to independently verify al-Samarie's claims and the government would not comment on them. A senior Shiite legislator, Hummam Hammoudi, said last week that Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's government has opened indirect channels of communication with some insurgent groups, exchanging messages through intermediaries to convince them to lay down their arms. Al-Samarie, a graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology who has a dual US-Iraqi citizenship, said the two groups were the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Army of Mujahedeen, or holy warriors. He said he had not met any of their field commanders but began contacting their political leaders about five months ago. He did not name them. Speaking to The Associated Press in an interview, he said the two factions represented more than 50 percent of the "resistance," the term used by many in Iraq to exclude militant groups working with Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi of Al Qaeda in Iraq and others who target civilians as well as Iraq's security forces. The Islamic Army in Iraq has claimed responsibility for several attacks and is believed to be responsible for the kidnapping and slaying of several of the more than 200 foreigners taken hostage over the past 18 months. Little has been heard from the Mujahedeen Army in recent months, but it claimed responsibility for scores of attacks in 2003 and early last year. Al-Samarie, a former electricity minister in Iraq's two former postwar interim governments, said there was no agreement for the two groups to lay down their weapons or declare a cease-fire, but that a truce with a limited duration could possibly be arranged to prove their goodwill after talks get underway. "We told them that no one knows what you want. You say you want the occupier to leave Iraq but what do you want after that? You must have a political agenda. You must come out to the political arena and make clear what you want'," said al-Samarie. "They set no conditions and we agreed with them that the time has come for them to come out," he added, but would not disclose who else was involved. Al-Samarie also announced the news about the two groups on the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite TV station, saying their representatives would be part of an umbrella group he is forming. Several Sunni Arab organizations and political groups, like the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, have long been suspected of having links with the insurgency. "The new thing here is that the resistance has decided to come out in person rather than have others speaking on its behalf," said al-Samarie, who spoke at his home in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood. He said he had run the idea of bringing insurgency factions into the political fold past several US officials during a visit to Washington last month. He claimed to have discussed it with National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and senior State Department official Richard Jones, who served as a deputy to Iraq's former US governor L. Paul Bremmer. He said he was encouraged by their reaction. "The Americans are very practical. They don't want the loss in Iraq of their sons and daughters to continue," said al-Samarie. "I don't think we will have a problem with the multinational force either," he said, alluding to the US-dominated, 160,000-strong multinational force in Iraq. He said he had sometime ago informally told members of al-Jaafari's Shiite-dominated government of his intentions to contact the insurgents. "I have received various reactions from them, but none were too strong," he said. There has been no public reaction from the government to his announcement on al-Arabiya. "I think they'll bless this move. The government must take this initiative seriously and start talking to these brothers (from the insurgency) to solve Iraq's problems," he said, adding that the government was divided over whether contacts should be made with insurgents. Laith Kuba, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, declined to comment on the report, saying he only became aware of it through the media. A spokesman for the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the largest Shiite political party and a key part of the governing alliance, would only say that his party was prepared to talk to any group - except terrorists and remnants of Saddam's regime. He said representatives of the two insurgency groups would attend a meeting of his new umbrella group later this month in restive Anbar province, and that he planned to ask Iraqi and US military authorities to guarantee their safety.

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