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Turkey begins face-saving anti-IS attack to be replaced with new Terrorist

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Turkey-attack-isSyrian government condemns Turkish incursion

Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned Turkey’s military incursion against an Islamic State-held Syrian town near its border, aided by aircraft from a U.S.-led coalition, as a breach of its sovereignty, Syrian state television reported.

It added that any counter terrorism operations inside its borders had to be conducted in coordination with Damascus and accused Ankara of launching the incursion to replace Islamic State with “other terrorist groups”, a reference to rebels.

he Turkish military has launched an operation to clear the Syrian border town of Jarablus of so-called Islamic State (IS) militants, the BBC reports quoting officials as saying.

Turkish special forces inside Syria were supported by US-led coalition air strikes, the government said.

The operation comes as Syrian rebels backed by Turkey prepare to launch an assault on the town.

Turkey has vowed to “completely cleanse” IS militants from its border region.

“The Turkish Armed Forces and the International Coalition Air Forces have launched a military operation aimed at clearing the district of Jarablus of the province of Aleppo from the terrorist organisation Daesh,” said a statement from the Turkish prime minister’s office, using another term for IS.

It blames IS for a bomb attack that killed dozens of people in the south of the country at the weekend.

The Turkish army began shelling Jarablus at about 04:00 local time (01:00 GMT), the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Syria war leaves 100 children dead in Aleppo in August

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100 chirldren deadAt least 100 children have been killed in airstrikes and combat in Aleppo in August, a monitor reports. On Saturday the older brother of 5-year-old Omran, whose image shocked the world last week, became one of them.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that 448 people have been killed in attacks by the regime and rebel groups in Aleppo since the beginning of August. Government and allied Russian warplanes have attempted to put down a push launched by rebels on July 31 to break a regime siege of districts under their control.

According to the Observatory, a Britain-based operation with opposition sympathies, about two-thirds of the deaths were the results of airstrikes and shelling by regime and Russian forces on rebel-controlled districts. The Observatory, which relies on a network of correspondents within Syria, reported that 163 noncombatants, including 49 children, were killed by shells launched into government-controlled areas.

More than 290,000 people have died as a result of Syria’s multifront war, which started as a series of peaceful protests against the government in March 2011.

On Saturday, the Observatory also reported that 10-year-old Ali Daqneesh had died from injuries sustained in an airstrike on Wednesday. An image that circulated last week of Ali’s 5-year-old brother, Omran, temporarily cast new international attention on the conflict and the siege in Aleppo.

“He was martyred while in hospital as a result of the same bombardment that their house was subjected to,” said Besher Hawi, the spokesman for the local council of Aleppo.

 

Syria: Startling picture of five-year-old Syrian captures horror of Aleppo conflict

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syrian-childA photograph of a five-year-old boy who survived an airstrike in Aleppo has highlighted the extent of the civil war in Syria. The image has gone viral around the world.

Covered in dust from head to toe after being pulled from the rubble caused by an airstrike, a young boy sits dazed and bewildered in the back of an ambulance. The survivor of the airstrike in Aleppo on Wednesday has been identified by Syrian doctors as five-year-old Omran Daqneesh.

The photograph is a still taken from a clip posted by the Aleppo Media Center on YouTube late on Wednesday.

The footage shows young Omran being rescued from the wreckage in Aleppo’s Qaterji neighborhood before being taken to the ambulance.

Within hours of being posted on Twitter, the startling image has been shared tens of thousands of times, prompting a huge response across social-media platforms.

President and CEO of the International Rescue Committeee David Miliband tweeted: “The stunned, bloodied face of a child survivor sums up the horror of Aleppo.”

Aleppo has been in a state of siege since government forces, led by President Bashar al-Assad, closed in on the Castello Road, the last route into rebel-held areas of the city. The road was severed nearly a month ago, sparking food shortages and sending prices skyrocketing in the eastern districts.

But in a major push earlier in August, a coalition of rebels, Islamists and jihadists fighting against government-led forces cut off the regime’s own main access road on the southern edges of the city, leaving millions of civilians trapped without electricity or water.

Russia, which has sent troops to help its longtime ally Assad, last week announced three-hour humanitarian pauses over three days in Aleppo.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier slammed the move, saying that the three-hour window did not provide enough time for the necessary aid to be transported into the city. Echoing calls made by the United Nations (UN), Steinmeier demanded a complete ceasefire.

More than 290,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011. Millions have been displaced leading to a refugee crisis across the region and into Europe.

Russian long-range bombers strike ISIS from Iran’s Hamadan base

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long-range-bomberRussia’s long-range Tu-22M3 bombers delivered their first airstrikes on terrorist targets in Syria operating from an Iranian airbase. Moscow and Tehran signed a military agreement allowing Russian aircraft to station at Hamadan Airport in western Iran, Russoa Today reports.

According to the source, the long-range bombers with full bomb payload took off from Hamadan Airfield to attack Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and Al-Nusra Front facilities in Aleppo, Deir-ez-Zor and Idlib provinces.

The strikes have eliminated five major terrorist weapons depots and training compounds in the area as well as three command posts and a big number of terrorists, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The long-range bombers were covered by Su-30sm and Su-35s jet fighters, which took off from Russia’s Khmeimim Airbase in Syria.

The number of military aircraft deployed at Hamadan Airbase has not been disclosed.

 

Source Panorama.am

US-backed Syrian Arab-Kurdish alliance retakes key border town of Manbij

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manbij-retakenAn Arab-Kurdish alliance with support from US air strikes has retaken the strategic town of Manbij near the Turkish border. The fate of some of the 2,000 civilians who fled the crumbling ‘IS’ stronghold remains in doubt.

Kurdish television showed jubilant civilians in Manbij, including smiling mothers who had shed their veils and women embracing Kurdish fighters.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) began its assault on Manbij, about 40 km (25 miles) from the Turkish border, in May. It had been held by IS since 2014. A member of the SDF told the AFP news agency on Saturday: “There are no more IS fighters” left in Manbij.

The capture of Manbij from IS represents the worst defeat for the extremist group in Syria since July 2015, when it lost the town of Tal Abyad on the border with Turkey.

The town lies on a key supply route between the Turkish border and the city of Raqqa, the center of the IS group’s declared caliphate.

Fate of civilians in doubt

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organization, said hundreds of civilians who fled the town on Friday had escaped while “others were freed.”

Rami Abdel Rahman the director of the Observatory added that not all the civilians were hostages: “Among the civilians taken by IS there were people used as human shields but also many who chose voluntarily to leave the town due to fear of reprisals” by the SDF, an alliance of Arab Sunnis and Kurdish fighters backed by US airpower. Some may have gone to the ‘IS’ held frontier town of Jarabulus.

The Observatory reported that 437 civilians, including more than 100 children, were killed in the battle for Manbij and surrounding territory.

IS fighters have left behind hundreds of mines and booby traps in the town.

bik/jm (AFP, dpa)

Eastern Europe and the lucrative Middle East arms trade

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balken weaponsRobert Stephen Ford, the US ambassador to Syria from 2011 to 2014, told BIRN and the OCCRP that the trade is coordinated by the American secret service, the CIA, and expedited via Turkey and the Gulf States. By shipping to destinations that initially appear unsuspicious, he said, suppliers can circumvent all mandatory approval procedures. Furthermore, many of the flight documents investigated by BIRN contained no information whatsoever on cargo that weighed thousands of tons. Arms shipments from Bulgaria and Slovakia were flown out as “unidentified cargo.”

Weapons like these from eastern Europe are in use in Syria, not only by the rebels of the Free Syrian Army, but also by the Islamist fighters of Ansar al-Sham and the al-Nusra Front (now Fatah al-Sham), which until recently was allied with al-Qaida, as well as the group calling itself “Islamic State.” The two organizations BIRN and OCCRP have provided evidence of this, primarily photos and videos and images from social media.

Many eastern European countries supply arms to the Middle East. The trade is said to be worth more than a billion euros, with the majority of goods going to Saudi Arabia. But the weapons don’t stay there. Their ultimate destination is the war in Syria.

War-torn Syria is full of arms: thousands of AK47 assault rifles, machine guns, mortar shells, rocket launchers and anti-tank weapons, aging T-55 and T-72 tanks. Most are believed to come from the following countries: Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Montenegro, Serbia and Romania. They reach Syria via a circuitous route. First, they are sent by air or sea to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates or Turkey – then on from there to the war zone. The trade is worth 1.2 billion euros.

Years gathering proof

Journalists from the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) researched for years to expose these arms transport routes. They analyzed export data and United Nations reports. They watched hundreds of videos and looked at hundreds of photos; they traced the movements of ships and planes, read arms contracts, and followed up on numerous tips from the arms dealers’ milieu.

A couple of examples: In a confidential document from 2013 obtained by BIRN and OCCRP, a high-ranking official in the Serbian defense ministry describes how arms shipments to Saudi Arabia were rerouted from there to Syria. And a detailed analysis of cargo planes provided evidence of more than 70 plane movements that were related to the indirect delivery of weapons to the conflict zone.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/eastern-europe-and-the-lucrative-middle-east-arms-trade/a-19459840

 

 

Syrian families start leaving rebel-held areas of Aleppo

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aleppo-familiesDozens of Syrian civilians have started exiting opposition-held areas of Aleppo to government territory through safe corridors. The crossings were the first major movement of people after Russia announced the passages.

After opening “humanitarian corridors” for residents in opposition-controlled areas of Aleppo, dozens of people crossed over into government-held side, reported Syrian state media on Saturday.

Images on state television showed multiple civilians, mostly women and children, walking through the corridor. Syria’s state news agency SANA said the residents later boarded buses and were transported to government-run shelters on the western side of Aleppo.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said that “a number” of civilians entered government territory on Saturday.

Russia’s defense ministry said 169 residents so far were able to get out, adding that that four additional safe routes will be opened.

‘Armed men’ surrender

It was the first major movement of people in Aleppo since Russia’s announcement on Thursday that safe passages would be opened for civilians and surrendering opposition fighters.

SANA reported that “armed men from eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo” turned themselves over to government troops, but did not provide further details.

A statement from Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday said that 69 rebels have laid down arms while another 59 received medical treatment.

Syria’s President Bashar Assad has offered amnesty to opposition fighters who surrender within the next three months.

Criticism of ‘humanitarian corridor’

Government forces closed off the main road into rebel-held parts of Aleppo on July 17, blocking aid and raising fears of a humanitarian crisis for the estimated 250,000 who live in the area.

Due to the lack of aid, international agencies have warned that the residents risk starvation.

The UN voiced support for the humanitarian corridors, but UN’s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura urged that the international body take charge of the passages.

“Our suggestion to Russia is to actually leave the corridors being established at their initiative to us,” he said.

“How can you expect people to want to walk through a corridor, thousands of them, while there is shelling, bombing, fighting?” added De Mistura.

Opposition activists regarded the government’s humanitarian corridors with skepticism.

“Be clear – these ‘corridors’ are not for getting aid in, but driving people out,” Basma Kodmani, a member of the opposition High Negotiations Commission, said on Friday.

“The brutal message to our people is: leave or starve.”

Over 280,000 people have been killed in the war in Syria, which began five years ago.

rs/rc (AP, AFP, dpa)

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/syrian-families-start-leaving-rebel-held-areas-of-aleppo/a-19438984

Syrian: Massive IS bomb attack kills 44 in Kurdish Qamishlo city,

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massive-bombQAMISHLO, Syria,— A massive bomb attack claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 44 people including civilians on Wednesday in the main Kurdish city of Qamishli, the Syrian state TV said.

The official SANA news agency said at least 140 people were also injured when a suicide bomber in a vehicle blew himself up in a western neighbourhood of the city.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Islamic State group, in a statement published by the IS-linked Aamaq news agency, said it carried out the attack in Qamishlo, describing it as a truck bombing that struck a complex of Kurdish offices. The extremist group has carried out several bombings in Kurdish areas in Syrian Kurdistan in the past.

It was the largest and deadliest attack to hit the city since the beginning of Syria’s conflict in March 2011.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor gave a toll of 48 dead, adding that children and women were among those killed.

Kurdish officials said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden truck.

The blast was initially described as a double bombing, but local officials and the Observatory said the bomb had detonated a nearby fuel container, leading to reports of a second explosion.

The area targeted houses several ministries of the local autonomous Kurdish administration of Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Qamishli resident Suleiman Youssef, a writer, told AP by telephone that he heard the first explosion from few miles away. He said the blasts leveled several buildings to the ground and many people were trapped under the rubble.

“Most of the buildings at the scene of the explosion have been heavily damaged because of the strength of the blast,” he said.

Jazeera Canton Interior Council Co-President Kenan Bereket who spoke to Ronahi TV on the deadly truck bomb attack that hit the Qamishlo city this morning said that more than 50 people lost their lives and many others were wounded, ANF reported.

Heyva Sor a Kurd teams affiliated to Jazeera Canton Health Council are making an examination at the scene of the attack near Gharbi Asayish (Public Security) Center.

The Kurdish Asayesh security forces told AFP “this is the largest explosion the city has ever seen.”

The area targeted houses several Kurdish administration buildings including the defence ministry and was considered a secure zone, with multiple checkpoints and security measures in place.

“This blast is the biggest in Qamishlo in terms of both the toll and the damage since the beginning of the war,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Local officials said hospitals in the city had been swamped with casualties from the attack.

The powerful Kurdish fighters have been a key force battling the IS jihadists in north and northeastern Syria and are the main component in the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance currently seeking to oust IS from Manbij.

They are backed by air strikes launched by the US-led coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq.

Qamishlo, near the Turkish border, is mainly controlled by Kurds but Syrian Assad government forces are present and control the city’s airport.

(With files from AFP | AP | ANF)

France’s military intelligence says “each week” nearly 100 foreign militants enter Syria via the Turkish border

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terrorist from turkeyFrance’s military intelligence says “each week” nearly 100 foreign militants enter Syria via the Turkish border to join the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

“According to the Direction for Military Intelligence (DRM) in Paris, each week, about 100 foreigners continue to cross Turkey into Syria” to join Daesh, the French daily Le Figaro quoted sources as saying on Wednesday.

On July 17, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault questioned Turkey’s viability as a partner in the battle against Daesh, adding that the subject will be debated at an upcoming anti-terrorism coalition summit, which is slated to be held in the United States.

The French Defense Ministry has made no comment on the daily’s report.

Turkey is said to be among the main supporters of the militant groups operating in Syria, with reports saying that Ankara actively trains and arms the Takfiri elements there and facilitates their safe passage into the violence-wracked country. Ankara has also been accused of buying smuggled oil from Daesh.

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict that has gripped Syria for over five years now. The UN has stopped its official casualty count in Syria, citing its inability to verify the figures that it receives from various sources.

source: http://presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/20/476114/Syria-Turkey-Daesh-Figaro