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US-backed forces in Syria race to capture Deir el-Zour

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Syrian state media said government forces have broken the “Islamic State” (IS) group’s siege of the airport to the eastern city of Deir el-Zour. The risk of a clash with US-backed Kurdish SDF forces has grown.

Syria’s SANA news agency reported on Saturday that government forces had broken the siege on two Deir el-Zour neighborhoods as well.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said it had reports that pro-government forces had opened an artery to the airport, besieged by IS militants since early this year.

The predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced Saturday they had launched military operations against IS in eastern Syria, increasing the possibility of conflict with rival, Russian-backed government forces running their own operations in the same area.

Control of the border

Control of the border will shape regional dynamics going forward. Since Syria descended into civil war in March of 2011, President Bashar al-Assad has relied heavily on Iran, which has sent thousands of fighters and advisers to help fend off multiple rebel groups seeking to topple him.

Washington, however, has considerable influence in northeastern Syria, where hundreds of US troops and advisers are aiding the SDF.

The US-backed fighters are still battling to liberate Raqqa from IS control.

After three months of fighting, the SDF has liberated about 60 percent of Raqqa, which lies about 85 miles (140 km) to the northwest of Deir el-Zour and 165 miles from the Syrian-Iraqi border.

Syrian forces have retaken a hospital in Deir el-Zour following an attack by “Islamic State” fighters, according to a monitoring group. The government forces and IS are battling for the province’s control. (15.05.2016)

While the SDF forces are expected to prevail in Raqqa, many experts believe more difficult fighting lies ahead.

Nawaf Khalil, a Syrian Kurdish representative based in Germany who frequently visits northern Syria, said the SDF no longer needed a large number of fighters in Raqqa, freeing them up for battle elsewhere.

“Deir el-Zour is a main connection point and a very important geographic area,” Khalil said.

The arrival of Syrian troops in Deir el-Zour this week ended a nearly three-year-old siege by IS militants on government-held parts of the city. The Syrian military issued a victory statement, saying the city would be used as a launching pad to liberate other IS-held areas along the Iraqi border.

Syria captures Turkish aid cargo heading to Daesh ISIS in Iraq

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A frame grab of Syrian intelligence forces inspecting a captured Daesh-bound lorry full of medicine in Aleppo

A frame grab of Syrian intelligence forces inspecting a captured Daesh-bound lorry full of medicine in Aleppo

Syrian intelligence forces say that they have captured a haul of medical supplies near Aleppo that came from Turkey and was destined for Daesh terrorists in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

In a video released by Russia’s RT television network on Friday, Hussein al-Omar, a colonel in Syria’s Military Intelligence Directorate, said that the lorry, loaded with some 25 tons of medicine and hospital supplies, including a number of dialysis machines, had entered Syria from Turkey’s Bab al-Hawa international border crossing, located on Syria’s northwestern border with Turkey.

He added that the lorry was planned to reach Mosul, Daesh’s de facto capital in Iraq, through the towns of Afrin, A’zaz, and Manbij in Aleppo province. According to Omar, the lorry, loaded in Turkey, bore a Syrian number plate and was driven by two militants from al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front terrorist group, who had received the cargo in the Bab al-Hawa border crossing.

“Through an intelligence operation, we lured them from Afrin to Nubl, arrested them, and brought them here. All of this proves that Turkey is supporting the terrorists, especially Daesh, with meds and all supplies, even with weapons,” the Syrian official further said.

The much-needed aid would be delivered to Aleppo’s local maternity hospital, which sustained damage in a recent shelling attack launched by the Takfiri terrorists, he added.

Turkey has time and again been accused of aiding and abetting militant groups operating in Syria with reports saying that Ankara actively trains and arms the Takfiri militants there, and facilitates their safe passage into the Arab country. Ankara has also been accused of buying smuggled oil from Daesh.

fb8ca0fb-e542-41c4-a406-1e24caa3ccdcLast year, Russia released satellite images showing long lines of trucks carrying oil from Syria’s Daesh-controlled parts into Turkey. Ankara, however, has rejected the allegations.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which has also displaced over half of the Arab country’s pre-war population of about 23 million.

Syria forces, allied fighters advance in Palmyra, capture citadel from Daesh

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syrian armySyrian forces made a major advance against terrorists in Palmyra Friday, capturing a citadel from Daesh Takfiri terrorists after closing in on the ruins of the ancient city in Homs Province.

“Our armed forces, in coordination with the popular defense forces, have taken control of the ancient Palmyra citadel after inflicting many losses in the ranks of the terrorist group Daesh,” state television said citing a military source.

Earlier, Maamoun Abdelkarim, the chief of Syria’s antiquities, said, “In the southwest, the army has liberated the district of hotels and restaurants as well as the Valley of the Tombs.”

“And in the west, the army has taken the Syriatel hilltop that overlooks the Mamluk fort built in the 13th century, which is still under IS control,” the official added, referring to the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group by its alternative name.

Daesh overran the “Pearl of the Desert,” the title the city is known with, in May 2015. The terrorists have blown up UNESCO-listed temples and looted relics that dated back thousands of years ever since.

Syria’s state TV aired live footage of airstrikes targeting the positions of terrorists near the fort.

Abdelkarim also stated that the Syrian army has advanced “600 meters from the Temple of Bel, but it is advancing slowly because of mines and above all to protect the city, which is an ancient treasure.”

In September 2015, Daesh claimed to have destroyed the Temple of Bel. UNESCO says the site is one of the best preserved and most important first century religious edifices in the Middle East.

Syrian forces allied with volunteer fighters entered the ancient city, located in Homs Province, on Thursday. The initial offensive for the city was launched earlier in the month with the aerial backing of Syrian and Russian fighter jets.

Russia has been conducting combat sorties against the positions of terrorists in Syria, particularly Palmyra recently, since September 31, 2015. The airstrikes came upon a request from the government in Damascus.

Heavy clashes between Syrian forces and terrorists were also reported in Deir al-Zawr, the seventh largest city in eastern Syria.

Meanwhile, a senior US official, whose name was not mentioned in the report, said the second-in-command of Daesh in Syria was killed in a US airstrike on Thursday.

US special forces kill Isis commander and capture wife in Syria raid

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Isis fighters marching in Raqqa, Syria. Photograph: Uncredited/AP

Isis fighters marching in Raqqa, Syria. Photograph: Uncredited/AP

US special operations forces have killed an Islamic State commander through a dramatic and secretive raid into Syria and have taken a woman prisoner, the first US-held detainee of the war against Isis and a move that places immediate stress on one of Barack Obama’s signature wartime policies.

Ashton Carter, the US defense secretary, confirmed on Saturday that Obama ordered the elite troops to raid a location in eastern Syria and “capture” an Isis figure, Abu Sayyaf. Unusually, Carter said the raid also targeted the man’s wife, identified as Umm Sayyaf.

Abu Sayyaf was killed in the raid, Carter said. Umm Sayyaf was taken prisoner – a rarity for the Obama administration, whose reluctance to add to the complexities of US wartime detentions has often led it to kill battlefield targets instead of capturing them.

A White House statement indicated the Iraqi government “contributed” to the operation, involvement that could signal Umm Sayyaf’s ultimate dispensation.

Bernadette Meehan, the National Security Council spokeswoman, said Umm Sayyaf was “in military detention in Iraq”. US officials did not immediately respond to requests for elaboration about her conditions and what they intend to do with her.

But the administration was portraying the overall operation as a success.

“The operation represents another significant blow to Isis, and it is a reminder that the United States will never waver in denying safe haven to terrorists who threaten our citizens, and those of our friends and allies,” Carter said in a statement.

Meehan said in a separate statement that the operation also freed a young Yazidi woman whom Abu Sayyaf and Umm Sayyaf kept as “a slave”. Isis members have committed human trafficking and slavery, particularly against the Yazidi minority whose persecution on a mountaintop in Iraq last year sparked Obama to begin airstrikes on Isis.
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Although the raid was described to reporters as a capture mission, Meehan indicated that the US was unsure what it would do now it has Umm Sayyaf in custody.

“We are working to determine an ultimate disposition for the detainee that best supports the national security of the United States and of our allies and partners, consistent with domestic and international law. We will follow our usual practice with respect to giving the ICRC notification and access to the detainee,” Meehan said, referring to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

A Pentagon spokesman said she did not know if Umm Sayyaf was being interrogated or would soon be. Nor did she know if Umm Sayyaf would be taken to Guantánamo Bay.

The 3,000 US military forces on the ground in Iraq, formally on an advisory mission, are not known to operate any detention facilities – an allergy in Iraq after the infamous Abu Ghraib torture scandal of the last decade’s US occupation. Transferring Umm Sayyaf to Iraqi prisons, a possible outcome of the raid, is also complicated by US and international injunctions against turning detainees over to abusive prison conditions.

Human Rights Watch has documented extensive abuse, to include rape, in Iraqi government jails.

In a 2014 report, the monitor organization determined that “security forces of the interior and defense ministries, and forces that operate unofficial detention facilities, tortured women in their custody”.

US warplanes bomb Isis positions in Syria daily. Raids by ground forces have been rare. A publicly acknowledged exception was a summer 2014 attempt to free western hostages from Isis captivity. By the time US forces arrived at their target location, the hostages had been moved. Some, including journalist James Foley, would later be beheaded by Isis.

Isis fighters capture Jordanian pilot after plane came down over Syria

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Image-released-by-Isis-pu-010Jordanian authorities confirm capture of pilot after first coalition warplane lost since air strikes began in Syria three months ago.

Fighters of the Islamic State (Isis) in Syria have scored a major propaganda coup by capturing a Jordanian air force pilot whose plane came down on Wednesday during an air raid by the international coalition near the northern city of Raqqa, the de facto jihadi capital.

Images posted on social media showed jubilant Isis gunmen, some of them masked, with a clearly frightened man, naked from the waist down and being dragged out of a lake. He was identified as the downed pilot and named on Twitter, which displayed his military ID card, as First Lieutenant Muadh al-Kasasbeh, 26. The Jordanian military immediately described him as a “hostage”.

The F-16 was the first warplane lost since the US-led coalition began air strikes against Isis in Syria three months ago. The group said it had shot down the fighter jet with a heat-seeking missile. It was not immediately clear whether it had indeed been shot down or suffered a technical failure. Another image on social media showing the plane’s intact cockpit canopy suggested that the pilot might have ejected.

Hundreds of coalition air attacks have helped stem Isis advances – though more successfully in Iraq than in Syria, where they have been criticised for weakening more moderate rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad.

The Jordanian military issued a statement confirming the capture by Isis and saying it “holds the group and its supporters responsible for the safety of the pilot and his life”. It did not name him. “During a mission on Wednesday morning conducted by several Jordanian air force planes against hideouts of the IS terrorist organisation in the Raqqa region, one of the planes went down and the pilot was taken hostage,”, the Petra news agency quoted a source from the military’s general staff as saying. The Jordanian government went into emergency session to discuss its response.

Turkey Court issues arrest warrant for columnist Emre Uslu, report says

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e-uslu-b-1A court has issued an arrest warrant for Today’s Zaman and Taraf columnist Emre Uslu as part of an ongoing trial against the columnist over claims that he slandered Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH) Chairman Bülent Yıldırım in a column he wrote for Taraf, a news report says.

The Vatan daily reported on its website that the 2nd Anadolu Criminal Court of First Instance issued the warrant upon the request of Yıldırım’s lawyer on the grounds that “the journalist could not be found despite all attempts to search for him.”

Uslu’s lawyer said his client is currently working at a university in the US and demanded Uslu’s testimony be taken via the Foreign Ministry.

The indictment seeks up to seven years in prison for Uslu on charges of “slander through the media” over his column dated Jan. 15, 2014, titled “Al-Qaeda, İHH, trucks, etc…” In it, he questioned the alleged ties between al-Qaeda and the İHH, which is the organization that organized the Mavi Marmara flotilla campaign to Gaza which was stormed by Israeli forces in international waters, resulting in the killing of eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American.

Emre Uslu is one the best Turkish Journalist that exposing Turkish Government crime

Baku hands over Armenian captive, Yerevan confirms

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182805Baku-captured Armenian citizen Sargis Ananyan who crossed the border to Azerbaijan on August 26, was handed over to Armenia today, Sept 25, Azerbaijani media reported.

The captive was handed over in the border village of Jafarli, Gazakh region, with representatives of Azeri State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons and International Committee of Red Cross present.

In a conversation with PanARMENIAN.Net Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhanniysan confirmed the report, noting that the ex-captive is on his way to Armenia.

Syrian troops capture key central town

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Syria-captured-moreGovernment forces have captured a central Syrian town that has changed hands several times during the civil war, the military and activists said Friday, The Associated Press reported.

By retaking the town of Halfaya in Hama province, troops will be better positioned to defend nearby Christian and Allawite communities that support President Bashar Assad. Central Syria is a communal patchwork, with large communities of Christians, Ismailis and Allawites, who mainly back Assad, himself an Allawite, and fear Sunni extremists among the rebels.

The al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front is known to be active in Hama province and has been behind attacks in recent weeks on the historic Christian town of Mahradeh, which is west of Halfaya.

The latest victory by government forces came two days after President Barack Obama said for the first time that he would authorize U.S. airstrikes in Syria against the Islamic State group. Syria has criticized Obama’s move because it was excluded from a coalition coming together in the battle against the extremist group.

The army command said in a statement that the offensive aims “to wipe out terrorists in northern parts of Hama.” It added that “a large number of terrorists were killed in the fighting, many of them foreign fighters.”

Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said Halfaya was captured by the army on Thursday.

Abdurrahman and a Hama-based activist who goes by the name of Yazan Shahdawi said the army offensive was commanded by one of Syria’s best-known officers, Col. Suheil al-Hassan, who is also known as “The Tiger.”

The army’s next target appears to be the rebel strongholds of Kfar Zeita and Morek, which are on the highway that links Hama with Aleppo, Shahdawi said.

Source: Panorama.am

ISIL recaptures Mosul Dam yet again, takes 200 Kurdish Peshmerga prisoners

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Mosul (IraqiNews.com) According to an informed source in Nineveh province, on Tuesday, that the militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant  took control of the 66Mosul Dam fully for the second time after fierce battles with the Peshmerga forces, while stressing that ISIL captured 200 elements  of those forces.

The source said in a statement for IraqiNews.com that “The violent clashes broke out yesterday night and continued until dawn today, between the militants of ISIL and Peshmerga forces in the region of Mosul Dam (50 km north of the city) , resulted in the control of the dam fully by the element of ISIL.”

The source, who asked not to be named, said: “the militants of ISIL announced the capture of 200 members of the Peshmerga during those clashes.”

The Ministry of Peshmerga issued a denial of these claims: Peshmerga denies ISIL’s control on Mosul Dam