Afghanistan: Gunmen kill local election candidate

April 02, 2014

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan official says Taliban gunmen have killed nine people, including a candidate running for a seat in the provincial council, who had been abducted in northern Afghanistan.

The governor of Sar-i-Pul province says authorities received intelligence that the candidate, Hussain Nazari, was slain by his abductors. Nazari was seized by the Taliban three days ago while traveling to the provincial capital.

Gov. Abdul Jabar Haqbeen said on Wednesday that Nazari and eight other people were killed. No group has claimed responsibility. Haqbeen says they recovered four bodies and one man who was wounded, while the five other bodies, including the candidate's, are in a remote area.

Haqbeen says authorities were told that Nazari and two others were beheaded, but that could not be confirmed until the bodies are retrieved.

Ex-defense minister drops out of Afghan race

March 16, 2014

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's former defense minister became the second presidential hopeful to withdraw from the race on Sunday, leaving a field of nine candidates three weeks before the vote to replace Hamid Karzai.

Karzai is constitutionally banned from seeking a third term in office, and the vote will mark the first democratic transfer of power since the Taliban were ousted by the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. The balloting also will be a key test of the ability of government forces to provide their own security as the international community prepares to end its combat mission by the end of the year.

Abdul Rahim Wardak, a longtime defense minister until he was removed by parliament in a vote of no confidence in 2012, gave no reason for his withdrawal and said he was not throwing his support behind any remaining candidates. The U.S.-educated Wardak, a Pashtun, was one of the top Afghan officials most trusted by Washington and was not considered a front-runner. He earlier served as a senior commander fighting against the Soviet occupation.

Karzai's brother Qayyum also dropped out of the race earlier this month and backed former foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul, considered one of three leading candidates. The other two are Abdullah Abdullah, who was runner-up in the disputed 2009 election, and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, who chairs a commission overseeing the transition of security responsibilities from NATO to Afghan forces.

With the field still crowded, most Afghans and observers anticipate that no candidate will win an outright majority on April 5 and a runoff vote will have to be held. The Taliban have threatened to "use all force" to disrupt the election and warned voters to stay away from the polls.

Human Rights Watch called the threat "as despicable as it is unlawful." "That threat highlights the responsibility of the Afghan government and its security forces to take all necessary measures to protect campaign activities and voters," HRW's Asia director Brad Adams said in a statement.

Karzai says Afghanistan doesn't need US troops

March 15, 2014

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — In his final address to Afghanistan's parliament Saturday, President Hamid Karzai told the United States its soldiers can leave at the end of the year because his military, which already protects 93 percent of the country, was ready to take over entirely.

He reiterated his stance that he would not sign a pact with the United States that would provide for a residual force of U.S. troops to remain behind after the final withdrawal, unless peace could first be established.

The Afghan president has come under heavy pressure to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement, with a council of notables that he himself convened recommend that he sign the pact. The force would train and mentor Afghan troops, and some U.S. Special Forces would also be left behind to hunt down al-Qaida.

All 10 candidates seeking the presidency in April 5 elections have said they would sign the security agreement. But Karzai himself does not appear to want his legacy to include a commitment to a longer foreign troop presence in his country.

Karzai was brought to power in the wake of the 2001 U.S.-led invasion and subsequently won two presidential elections __ in 2004 and again in 2009. But he has in recent years espoused a combatative nationalism, with his hour-long speech Saturday no exception.

"I want to say to all those foreign countries who maybe out of habit or because they want to interfere, that they should not interfere," he said. Karzai said the war in Afghanistan was "imposed" on his nation, presumably by the 2001 invasion, and told the United States it could bring peace to Afghanistan if it went after terrorist sanctuaries and countries that supported terrorism, a reference to Pakistan.

Pakistan has a complicated relationship with the Taliban. It backed the group before their 2001 overthrow, and although now it is at war with its own militants, Afghan insurgents sometimes find refuge on its territory.

Karzai told parliament, which was holding its opening session for this term, that security forces were strong enough to defend Afghanistan without the help of international troops. Karzai steps down after next month's presidential elections. Under Afghanistan's constitution, he is banned from seeking a third term.

He came to power in December 2001 following an international agreement signed in Bonn, Germany, and was confirmed by a Loya Jirga or grand council that selected a transitional government to rule while preparing for nationwide elections. He subsequently won two presidential elections.

Relations between Karzai and the United States have been on a downward spiral since his re-election in 2009, in which the United States and several other countries charged widespread fraud. Karzai in turn accused them of interference.

In his speech Karzai again urged Taliban insurgents to join the peace process, while accusing Pakistan of protecting the Taliban leadership. He suggested that Pakistan was behind the killing earlier this year of a Taliban leader who supported the peace process. No one has taken responsibility for the attack.

Throughout his speech Karzai spoke of his accomplishments over the last 12 years, saying schools were functioning, rights were being given to women, energy projects were coming online and the Afghan currency had been stabilized. Karzai said that when he first took power his country was isolated and nothing was functioning.

"I know the future president will protect these gains and priorities and will do the best for peace in the country and I, as an Afghan citizen, will support peace and will cooperate." Afghanistan's current parliament plans to tackle a number of key issues, including a controversial law on the elimination of violence against women.

Meanwhile the Taliban released two Afghan army personnel, captured during last month's deadly raids on two military check points, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement Saturday. The men were freed after elders in the region interceded on their behalf and the military agreed to hand over to the Taliban the bodies of their colleagues left behind on the battlefield.

The attacks on Feb. 23 left 21 Afghan army personnel dead. Several insurgents were also killed.

Kathy Gannon is AP Special Regional Correspondent for Afghanistan and Pakistan

Syria rebels advance towards Hama military airport

2014-07-29

BEIRUT - Syrian rebels pressed on with a fresh advance in the central province of Hama, as they bid to take out its military airport, a rebel commander and a monitor said Tuesday.

"The rebels are now nine kilometers (six miles) away from Hama military airport, which they want to put out of action," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

A rebel leader in the area, who gave his name as Hassan, said Hama military airport was important because "that is where the regime makes its barrel bombs, and warplanes take off from there to carry out air strikes on (opposition-held) areas across Syria".

Barrel bombs have killed hundreds of civilians, especially in rebel areas of the divided northern city of Aleppo, in recent months.

According to the Observatory, rebels and their Al-Qaeda ally, the Al-Nusra Front, took over a major checkpoint north of Hama city, which is firmly under regime control, on Monday night.

The takeover of the checkpoint at Tarabih comes on the back of Sunday's capture of a weapons depot in the area.

"The regime has suffered several defeats in Hama province in recent days," said Abdel Rahman.

As they have advanced, rebels have cut off the road linking Hama city, the provincial capital, to a string of regime-controlled Christian and Alawite villages in the west of the province, he added.

According to Hassan, the regime is sending reinforcements.

"They are stepping up their troop presence here, which will limit the regime's capabilities in other areas, such as Aleppo", said the rebel commander.

As for the military airport: "We are already striking it with Grad missiles", said Hassan.

The air force has used deadly barrel bombs, which are being manufactured in Hama military airport, to strike opposition-controlled areas across Syria for many months.

In Aleppo alone, air strikes including barrel bomb attacks have since December killed hundreds of civilians including children, and forced thousands of families to flee, as the regime has unleashed a massive aerial offensive there.

Rights groups have hit out at the regime for its use of barrel bombs, which they describe as failing to discriminate between civilian and military targets.

Syria's war has killed more than 170,000 people and forced nearly half the population to flee their homes.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=67356.

Jihadists advance amid escalation in Syria anti-regime offensive

2014-07-27

BEIRUT - The extremist Islamic State (IS) on Sunday seized an army position in the northeast Syrian city of Hasakeh, amid a major escalation in the jihadist offensive against regime bases, a monitor said.

On another front in Syria's complex civil war, rebels seeking President Bashar al-Assad's ouster captured a weapons depot in Hama province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Just south of Hasake city, "IS jihadists took over the army Regiment 121 at Maylabiyeh, after fierce clashes with regime troops", said the Britain-based Observatory, adding that the battle lasted three days.

On twitter, supporters of IS, which first emerged in Syria's war in spring 2013, celebrated the army position's "liberation" at the hands of the jihadists.

The latest advance comes a day after IS took over Division 17 in Raqa province. According to the Observatory, at least 85 regime troops were killed during the IS takeover, among them more than 50 who were executed after their capture.

But also on Saturday, the regime recaptured the Shaar gas field in Homs province. The field had fallen into IS' hands nearly two weeks ago, and the jihadists killed some 270 guards, pro-regime paramilitary and civilian employees there.

While IS has escalated its offensive against the regime in some parts of Syria in the past fortnight, it has been at open war against rebels seeking President Bashar al-Assad's ouster since January.

On another front, rebels in Hama province captured Khattab and Rahbeh villages, taking over arms depots there, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Rebels, he added, are now "advancing towards Hama military airport", which is a key army position and home to one of the country's most feared prisons.

Amateur video posted by activists on YouTube showed some of the weapons seized by the rebels in Hama, among them rockets, ammunition and mortars.

The Observatory meanwhile said the toll from a Saturday car bomb in Atme, on the Turkish border, rose to seven, among them an Islamist rebel commander.

Another seven were killed in a separate car bomb on Saturday in Azaz, also on the Turkish border, the group said.

Syria's war has killed more than 170,000 people in three years, and forced nearly half the population to flee their homes.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=67338.

Jabhat al-Nusra, IS compete for foreign fighters

Mohammed al-Khatieb
July 18, 2014

ALEPPO, Syria — Jabhat al-Nusra did not deny the authenticity of the audio recording attributed to its leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani, in which he announced that he is seeking to establish an Islamic emirate in the areas where his militants are deployed. However, a statement issued on July 12 by the Manara al-Bayda, Jabhat al-Nusra's media channel, implicitly affirmed the authenticity of the recording and announced clearly that Jabhat al-Nusra is “seeking to establish an Islamic emirate," adding, "We have yet to declare its establishment.”

According to the Aleppo Media Center, Jabhat al-Nusra's leadership and militants held a high-profile meeting to discuss the restructuring of the organization. During the meeting, the attendants were surprised to see Golani unveil his face and promise his soldiers that they would establish an Islamic emirate.

The statement ended all doubts about the authenticity of the audio recording. The similarities between the wording of the statement and Golani’s speech were striking, with Golani saying, “We will not allow any person to reap the fruits of your jihad, whatever happens to us.”

Jabhat al-Nusra is trying to pull the rug from under the feet of its jihadist rival, the Islamic State (IS, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham), especially following the great losses inflicted upon Jabhat al-Nusra in the last battles of Deir ez-Zor. Jabhat al-Nusra wants to attract "migrants" — or foreign militants who came to Syria for jihad — and put them to work under its leadership. IS’ striking announcement of the establishment of an Islamic caliphate led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on June 30 has galvanized foreign fighters and led them to join IS, which concerns Jabhat al-Nusra.

According to a source close to Jabhat al-Nusra, who spoke to Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity, “The announcement of the caliphate differs largely from the announcement of the emirate.” He continued, “[The] emirate is established in the areas where militants are deployed. The caliphate, however, is general.”

An important point raised by the source was that the “[establishment of the] emirate does not compel the other factions on the ground to pledge allegiance to the emir. The caliphate state, however, requires all militants to work under the umbrella of the caliphate.”

He continued, “Jabhat al-Nusra does not want to clash with the other opposition factions with which it shares control over the liberated areas in Syria, especially because it is only a single faction that doesn’t seem to be the strongest among the scores of groups in Syria, such as the Islamic Front, the Mujahideen Army and Ajnad al-Sham. In addition, there are the large number of factions affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, such as the Hazem Movement, Syrian Revolutionaries Front and others. These are deployed along with Jabhat al-Nusra in Aleppo, north of Idlib, Daraa and south of the Rif Damascus governorate.

However, what was striking is that the Manara al-Bayda statement specified a period of 10 days to establish “a role for the judiciary, security stations and the provision of public services to replace the 'legitimate committees,' which Jabhat al-Nusra share with other factions to manage the affairs of the liberated areas.” The announcement by Jabhat al-Nusra affirmed that it had withdrawn from the Sharia Council in the rebel-held areas of Aleppo on July 8.

In addition, Jabhat al-Nusra owns an independent services institution called the Public Management for Services. It has been operating since last December in the rebel-held areas in Aleppo, providing residents with water, electricity and other services. It also provides flour for bakeries and fixes the daily damage that befalls the electricity and water networks caused by the continued bombardment of barrel bombs that Aleppo has been suffering for seven months.

Although Jabhat al-Nusra is not accepted by many opposition currents, it nevertheless enjoys a significant popular base that has to an extent helped them to establish the emirate. The residents of Aleppo trust Jabhat al-Nusra because of its militants, who are known for being fierce and determined in their battles against the regime. Moreover, the way it held corrupt brigades accountable for its actions, including militias that rob, extort money and exploit the state of war and its chaos, has led many to support the organization.

Othman, a resident in the al-Mayssar neighborhood in Aleppo, said, “Jabhat al-Nusra sacrificed a lot in its war against the regime and Baghdadi’s state. I think that it has the right to declare the Islamic emirate after hundreds of martyrs fell.”

Safwan, who is still in college and works in the aid field, offered Al-Monitor another point of view, saying, “The fighters have no right to determine the shape of the state, and I don’t think that the time is right to declare the establishment of states and emirates.”

Safwan added, “All efforts should be concentrated on bringing this murderous regime down. When this has been accomplished, the shape of a new state will be determined through ballot boxes, while partisanship and the division of forces will only benefit [President] Bashar al-Assad."

Despite the poor sound quality, Golani’s audio recording raises many important issues. Golani identified his enemies by saying, “This emirate, my brothers, will take exception with whomever wishes bad things for Muslims. These will be comprised of the regime, the exaggerators, the criminals and the [Kurdistan Workers Party].”

Jabhat al-Nusra is trying to compete with IS to attract jihadis from around the world by announcing its Islamic emirate after IS stole the spotlight with the announcement of the Islamic caliphate.

The possibility of clashes with the opposition factions seems low, especially since Jabhat al-Nusra has good ties with the majority of the factions.

A rebel leader, who wished to remain anonymous, told Al-Monitor that a clash with Jabhat al-Nusra was unlikely in the wake of the declaration of an emirate. According to him, Jabhat al-Nusra is part of Syrian society as the majority of its members and leaders are Syrian. He said, “We had already agreed to only fight Assad’s regime and the corrupted.”

He noted that the potential announcement of the Islamic emirate does not mean the establishment of a state for Jabhat al-Nusra, saying, “There is no region in Syria that Jabhat al-Nusra is controlling alone. Thus, I do not think that our relations will be affected by this announcement.”

Source: al-Monitor.
Link: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/jabhat-al-nusra-announce-islamic-emirate.html.

Gloves come off between Syrian regime, Islamic State

Edward Dark
July 21, 2014

ALEPPO, Syria — The Islamic State (IS), arguably the most dangerous and brutal terrorist group in modern history, now controls more than a third of Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a prominent opposition nongovernmental organization. The group’s stunning victories in Iraq have been repeated in Syria, though to a lesser extent and to even less media attention. IS now controls nearly all of the oil-rich eastern province of Deir ez-Zor, with regime forces controlling only a few pockets. Crucially, after ousting its rival, the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, from the provincial capital, IS is now face to face with regime forces, the two sitting opposite one another on the front lines that divide this largely devastated city.

The undeclared truce between the regime and IS seems to have run its course after both sides achieved all they could in their marriage of convenience. Nothing better illustrates this than the devastating assault launched by IS on the al-Shaer gas field in Homs on July 16 that may have left up to 300 regime troops and civilian employees dead. Meanwhile, the regime continues to launch airstrikes on IS headquarters and training camps in Raqqa, an indication that the gloves are now definitely off.

As IS consolidated its grip on Deir ez-Zor, after a humiliating rout of Jabhat al-Nusra that saw its leader, Safwan al-Hant, captured and killed July 14 while trying to escape disguised as a woman — his own men having reportedly turned him over after defecting — it quickly turned its expansionist intentions elsewhere. IS has also resurfaced in rebel-controlled areas near Damascus, including the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, and threatens to derail fragile and painstakingly negotiated local cease-fires and agreements.

It is also launching its own campaign in Ghouta against the Islamic Front, headed by the Saudi-backed Jaish al-Islam, whose leader, Zahran Alloush, said that fighting IS is more important than fighting the regime.

IS has not yet attacked regime positions in Aleppo. It is likely waiting for an opportune moment — either after the regime roots out rebels or when it has other fronts under control and can send substantial reinforcements. It is guaranteed, however, that a confrontation is coming soon.

First Lt. Majed, an officer in the Syrian army who has been stationed in Aleppo for a while, spoke with Al-Monitor about the imminent showdown between the regime and IS. “We are ready for them, and we are prepared. We have some of our best military units now in Aleppo that have specifically been trained to combat them and have experience with the tactics they use. And of course, we have our friends, too,” he added with a smile, meaning Hezbollah and Iraqi militias.

The Syrian regime will find in IS a much tougher opponent than the rebel factions it has been fighting. IS fighters are well trained, well armed, ideologically motivated and disciplined — a far cry from some of the ragtag, corrupt and chronically undersupplied militias the Syrian army had previously faced. That IS could make short work of some of the toughest rebel groups on the ground, including Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic Front, must have the regime worried, at least insofar as it would mean even heavier reliance on already overstretched elite foreign troops and militias.

Aleppo remains a prized target for IS, as it would provide the group contiguity of the territory under its control, which stretches across Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor right into Iraq, as well as an enormous cache of financial and human resources. IS has also been engaged in fierce battles with the Kurdish enclaves in the north, as it attempts to wrest control of the strategic border regions. Kobani, in Aleppo province, seems to be firmly fixed in its sights as the group begins its slow sweep from the east.

When asked about a time frame for victory, the Syrian lieutenant was vague. “No one knows. It could be months or years, but we are committed. It’s either us or them. You have seen what those dogs did to people in Iraq. They will do the same here. We won’t allow it,” he said. Majed was referring to the ethnic cleansing and pogroms against religious groups in Iraq, mostly Shiites and Christians, something that would strike a nerve with Majed, as he is a member of the Alawite sect, the Shiite offshoot to which President Bashar al-Assad and many high-ranking regime military and civilian officials also belong.

The lieutenant said that he expected the IS battle in Aleppo “very soon” and that IS would find it tougher going in Aleppo due to the lack of support for the group and the many opponents it faces in the area. “Here it is easier [for the regime's fighters] than in the east. Here IS has less support, and more enemies. They have Kurds to contend with, as well as other local groups opposed to them. We will drive them out of here soon, just after we finish with the other terrorists [local rebels].”

The Syrian regime had always used “terrorists” as a blanket term with which to label any who oppose it. It now seems that the regime's version of reality will come true. Indeed, the only forces left fighting against it will be Islamic extremists. If, however, the fortunes of IS continue, the regime might discover that it has bitten off more than it can chew.

Source: al-Monitor.
Link: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/syria-regime-aleppo-islamic-state-deir-ezzor-war.html.

Assad army loses hundreds of lives to worst massacre in Syria conflict history

2014-07-19

BEIRUT - ISIS have killed 270 Syrian regime fighters, civilian security guards and staff since seizing a gas field in Homs province, most of whom were executed, a monitoring group said Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that a woman accused of adultery was stoned to death by the Islamic State (IS) in the northern city of Raqa, in the second such case in as many days.

The Observatory described Thursday's takeover of the Shaar field as "the biggest" anti-regime operation by the IS since the jihadist group rose to prominence last year among rebel groups in the Syrian conflict.

The watchdog said it had documented "the death of 270 people killed in the fighting or executed" since the takeover of the field in central Syria.

"A large majority of the men killed were executed at gunpoint after being taken prisoner following the takeover of the camp," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

"Eleven of the dead were civilian employees, while the rest were security guards and National Defense Forces members," he added.

On Saturday, regime forces, a day after launching a counter-attack, had "re-taken large areas of Shaar", according to Abdel Rahman. "Fighting is continuing around the gas field".

The counter-attack had left at least 40 IS militants dead, while 11 soldiers had been killed and 10 others who were injured had been taken to hospital in Homs, said the Observatory, which relies for its information on a network of activists and medics on the ground.

The fate of nearly 100 people who worked at the site remained unknown, according to earlier figures released by the Observatory.

The Syrian government did not officially confirm the deaths, but supporters of President Bashar al-Assad's regime posted photographs of the dead.

One pro-regime Twitter user said: "Thirty martyrs were brought to Homs hospital from the Shaar gas field... Homs is still bleeding."

He also branded the killings as a "massacre", and posted pictures of the dead.

Gruesome footage apparently recorded by ISIS at the gas field and distributed via YouTube showed dozens of bodies, some of them mutilated, strewn across a desert landscape.

One video shows an ISIS member posing with the bodies as he speaks in German interspersed with religious terms in Arabic, seemingly celebrating the killings.

On Friday night on a main square in Raqa, ISIS stoned to death a woman they accused of adultery, the Observatory said, citing residents of their stronghold.

"Because residents refused to take part in the stoning, the IS fighters themselves executed the woman," it said, adding that they pulled up a lorry filled with rocks for the killing.

ISIS also stoned a young woman to death for adultery in Raqa on Thursday. Abdel Rahman identified her as a 26-year-old widow.

According to a local activist, who said that the public stoning took place in a square in the Raqa provincial town of Tabqa, residents are "terrified but do not dare react to such barbaric methods".

The IS, which proclaimed a "caliphate" straddling Syria and Iraq last month, has also taken over Syria's oil-rich Deir Ezzor province.

Deir Ezzor borders Homs province as well as Iraq, where ISIS is involved in a major Sunni militant offensive that has seen large swathes of territory fall out of the Baghdad government's control.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=67192.

ISIS seize Syria gas field from Syrian forces

2014-07-18

BEIRUT - ISIS killed at least 115 Syrian regime fighters, civilian security guards and employees when they seized a gas field in Homs province, a monitoring group said Friday, updating an earlier toll.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described Thursday's takeover of the Shaar field as "the biggest" anti-regime operation by the Islamic State (IS) since it emerged in the Syrian conflict last year.

The Observatory also said the fate of another 250 people who worked at the site but went missing during the fighting remains unknown.

"The number of people, most of them security guards and members of the (paramilitary) National Defense Forces, killed in the IS attack on the Shaar gas field in Homs province has risen to at least 115," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Earlier, the watchdog gave a toll of at least 90 killed.

The government did not officially confirm the deaths, but supporters of President Bashar al-Assad's regime posted photographs of the dead, and branded their killings as a "massacre".

"Eleven of the dead were civilian employees, while the rest were security guards and National Defense Forces members," Abdel Rahman said.

The Observatory had initially reported 25 of the killed were civilians, but later revised its toll downwards.

Abdel Rahman also said the men were killed "after they had been taken prisoner", and that "the fate of more than 250 others, civilians and fighters, remains unknown".

One pro-regime Twitter user said: "Thirty martyrs were brought to Homs hospital from the Shaar gas field... Homs is still bleeding."

He also branded the killings as a "massacre", and posted pictures of the dead.

Gruesome footage apparently recorded by the jihadists at the gas field and distributed via YouTube showed dozens of bodies, some of them mutilated, strewn across a desert landscape.

One video shows a jihadist posing with the bodies as he speaks in German interspersed with religious terms in Arabic, seemingly celebrating the killings.

Abdel Rahman meanwhile condemned the deaths.

"The Observatory condemns summary execution as a war crime, regardless of which side it is committed by in the Syrian conflict," he said.

"Summary execution is a war crime -- whether of civilians or combatants. They are prisoners of war and must not be executed."

The Islamic State, which proclaimed a "caliphate" straddling Syria and Iraq last month, has also taken over Syria's oil-rich Deir Ezzor province.

Deir Ezzor borders Homs province as well as Iraq, where the jihadist group has spearheaded a major Sunni militant offensive that has seen large swathes of territory fall out of the Baghdad government's control.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=67176.

Syria Kurds impose military service amid civil war

July 17, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's Kurds have imposed compulsory military service for their men to help ward off a push by Islamic extremists in the predominantly Kurdish areas in northern Syria, Kurdish officials said Thursday.

The move reflects rising anxiety among Syrian Kurds who fear the ongoing offensive by the Islamic State group in their region may potentially reverse gains made by their ethnic minority in the past three years.

Amid the chaos of the civil war in Syria, the Kurds — a long ostracized community — have made unprecedented gains, carving out their own semi-autonomous territory in northern Syria as overstretched government troops abandoned the region to focus on defending Damascus, President Bashar Assad's seat of power.

The Syrian conflict started in March 2011 with Arab Spring-inspired protests against Assad's rule but escalated into a civil war after his forces launched a brutal crackdown on dissent. In November, the Syrian Kurds — who had long tried to stay out of the fight — declared their own civil administration in areas under their control, dividing it into the regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazeera.

Subsequently, Kurdish fighters known as the People's Protection Units successfully pushed out jihadis from a string of towns and captured long stretches of territory along the borders with Turkey and Iraq.

But things changed this month, after militants from the Islamic State seized territories straddling the Iraq-Syria border where they declared a self-styled caliphate. Using advanced weaponry they seized from Iraqi forces, the Islamic fighters launched an offensive against the Syria's northern Kurdish region of Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab, capturing several predominantly Kurdish villages.

The latest round of fighting between the Syrian Kurds and the jihadis, which broke out on July 2, has left dozens of people dead on both sides according to activists. Hundreds of Kurds have flocked from neighboring Turkey to help their brethren, the activists said.

"The Islamic State is reinforcing its positions around us and there are clashes. They are shelling us with tanks," said Kobani-based Kurdish journalist Barzan Isso. Juan Mohammed, a spokesman for the local administration in the Kurdish city of Qamishli, said the region of Jazeera — the largest of the three Syrian Kurdish territories in size and population — adopted the draft law this week.

The law, which requires that all adult males serve in "self-defense" duty for six months, was approved during a meeting by the legislative council that acts as Jazeera's local parliament on Sunday. Isso and Kurdish activist Mustafa Osso confirmed the law went into effect this week after it was published in the official Gazette.

The long-run battles between the Syrian Kurds and the Islamic militants have added another layer to the complex Syrian civil war, which has also seen bitter infighting among Sunni rebel factions and a bloody rivalry between the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and their former allies of the Islamic State.

On Thursday, Syrian government forces pounded the central town of Morek in an attempt to wrest it from rebels, two activist groups said. Military helicopters dropped barrels packed with explosives on the city overnight, said the Local Coordination Committees. More than 20 bombs were dropped by aircraft on the town on Wednesday, reported the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Morek is one of three towns that lie on a strategic highway linking central and northern Syria. Rebels, linked mostly to Islamic groups, have been holding the town for the past four months. Forces loyal to Assad appear to be trying to seize Morek to supply the Wadi Deif military base, which is further to the north.

The Observatory said at least 15 people, including four civilians, were killed in the fighting Wednesday. Over the past year, Assad's forces have been steadily seizing territory from the rebels. Despite the relentless civil war, Assad was inaugurated for a third term in office in a lavish ceremony Wednesday.

The Syrian conflict has killed at least 170,000 people, a third of them civilians, and displaced some nine million people, a third of the country's pre-war population.

Militias capture key Benghazi army base

2014-07-30

By Imed Lamloum
Tripoli

Militia groups seized the headquarters of the Libyan army's special forces in Libya's second city Benghazi after days of fighting, as a huge blaze raged at a fuel depot near the capital's airport.

A Militia alliance announced the capture Tuesday of the main military base in the eastern city in a statement which was confirmed by an army official.

He said members of Ansar al-Sharia, blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Washington, were among the groups.

Intense fighting in Benghazi for the past week has claimed about 60 lives since Saturday, medical officials in the city said.

"Special forces under the command of (Colonel) Wanis Abu Khamada withdrew after several attacks," said the army official after the biggest loss yet for the armed forces in its fight against the country's powerful militias.

The special forces are one of the units of Libya's regular armed forces that support rogue Libyan general Khalifa Haftar but have not placed themselves under his command.

Haftar began his offensive against radical Islamist groups in Benghazi, dubbed "Operation Dignity", in mid-May.

On its Facebook page Ansar al-Sharia published photos of dozens of weapons and crates of ammunition it claimed to have seized.

- Kidnappers free former deputy premier -

Former deputy prime minister and newly-elected MP Mustapha Abu Shagur was meanwhile freed by his kidnappers, hours after they snatched him from his Tripoli home, his family said.

The kidnapping highlighted the failure of authorities to rein in dozens of militias that sprang up during the 2011 uprising which overthrew longtime dictator Moamer Gathafi.

"Doctor Abu Shagur has been freed. He is tired but in good health," his nephew Isam al-Naass said. "He was not treated badly" by his kidnappers, he added.

Shagur would not talk about his ordeal or the identity of his kidnappers.

Amid the increasing lawlessness and uncertainty, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Canada and Bulgaria became the latest nations to ship out their citizens or close their embassies in Tripoli.

The blaze at the Tripoli fuel depot near the international airport erupted on Sunday when a rocket fired during clashes between rival militias battling for control of Tripoli international airport struck a tank containing more than six million liters (1.6 million gallons) of fuel.

It then spread to another fuel storage site nearby.

Authorities warned the fire could spread still wider to a natural gas reservoir, where 90 million liters are stored, amid fears a huge fireball could cause widespread carnage.

While the oil burns, motorists in Tripoli were suffering severe petrol shortages, as service stations closed over fears for the safety of staff in light of the fighting.

Libya has appealed for international help, but former colonial master Italy and Greece have said their involvement would be contingent on a halt to the fighting.

Rome has also denied a report by Tripoli authorities that it was ready to send seven planes to combat the inferno.

On Tuesday, the Libyan government again called for a ceasefire in the battle for the airport that has killed around 100 people and wounded 400 since July 13.

In Benghazi, General Sagr al-Jerouchi, chief of air operations for dissident ex-general Haftar, said it was not immediately clear if a warplane that crashed during fighting with Islamists had been hit by gunfire or suffered a malfunction.

He said the pilot had safely ejected, which was confirmed by a witness who said he saw a parachute open before the jet crashed and exploded.

The witness said the plane had just attacked Islamist positions.

Two weeks of fighting around Tripoli airport and between Islamists and Haftar's forces in Benghazi have killed scores of people and prompted several countries to urge their citizens to leave Libya.

- Tripoli clashes resume -

Clashes raged on Monday and resumed on Tuesday afternoon after a brief lull.

On Monday, top world leaders urged an immediate ceasefire and called on the UN "to play an essential role in facilitating the political process" to restore stability to Libya.

The clashes, the most violent since the 2011 revolt against Kadhafi, started with a July 13 assault on the airport by armed groups, mainly Islamists.

The attackers are battling to flush out fellow former rebels from the hill town of Zintan, southwest of Tripoli, who have controlled the airport for the past three years.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=67362.

Aleppo rebels caught between Islamic State and regime

Edward Dark
July 11, 2014

ALEPPO, Syria — “I have to be honest. It is not looking good,” Aleppan Liwa al-Tawhid commander Abu Hammoud told Al-Monitor when asked about the rebels’ preparedness for assaults on Aleppo by the Syrian regime and the Islamic State (IS, formerly the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham).

“Our fear now is without reinforcements and more weapons we will lose Aleppo [city] to the regime, and the [countryside] to the Islamic State,” he said.

Like a helpless lamb fought over by wolves, Aleppo is the major prize of north Syria, and any side that manages to capture the former industrial hub will almost certainly guarantee eventual victory in this long and bloody conflict. The regime and the opposition know this well, as does IS, which also has its eyes on the prize as it plots to expand the territory of its new caliphate and diversify it economically, bolstering it with large population centers. IS has been in Aleppo before and had a fleeting, tantalizing taste of what lucrative gains can be made by controlling it.

The regime’s forces, backed by various local and foreign militias, have made dramatic gains in the last 10 days, taking the strategic Sheikh Najjar industrial zone to the northeast and planning an imminent push into the infantry school and the Handarat camp. Controlling them would mean that rebel-held parts of Aleppo city would be completely besieged and cut off from their main supply routes in the countryside. It is a strategy previously used successfully by the regime in Homs and Damascus, where it yielded results in the form of localized cease-fires and settlements. At the moment, it seems that unless something dramatic changes on the ground, the regime will manage to accomplish this feat and the rebels are quite helpless to stop it. This point was driven home by the opposition Syrian National Coalition as it met recently in Istanbul to elect a new president and warn of the impending fall of Aleppo to regime forces.

Both sides continue to call up reinforcements in the buildup to what will likely be a major showdown. A concern for the rebels: The Liwa Dawud battalion sent to back them up from Idlib has defected and joined IS and may well head their assault in the northern part of Aleppo province. This is now a major concern of the rebel leadership. As the IS menace draws nearer, smaller rebel factions might choose to side with the stronger force and spare themselves a messy and brutal annihilation.

Aleppo's rebel factions have made attempts to build a unified elite force of 600 men to salvage and protect what areas they still control against both the regime and IS. It's unclear yet whether such a force is any more than ink on paper or whether it will be effective at all, as previous such attempts have been less than successful. In a rather ominous development, Jabhat al-Nusra, the officially sanctioned al-Qaeda affiliate and one of the strongest rebel factions operating in Aleppo, has withdrawn from the rebel Sharia Council it helped create. The Sharia Council was responsible for running affairs in rebel areas, as well as arbitrating in disputes between factions. It's still unclear yet what this move will mean, but many see it as a sign of a weakened organization, driven out of its strongholds in Deir ez-Zor by IS, becoming increasingly paranoid and isolated.

IS continues to push slowly but steadily from its eastern strongholds in Manbij and al-Bab. Its next major assault on the northern countryside will most likely begin with the border town of Azaz, as was the case in September 2013.

The embattled Aleppo rebels are becoming desperate and their leadership nervous. Their losses and setbacks on the battlefield have taken a heavy toll on their morale and cohesiveness on the front lines, which were never really all that steady to begin with, given the fractious and often bickering nature of the various rebel groups.

The two major rebel groups left operating in Aleppo are the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated and Qatari-backed Liwa al-Tawhid and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra. They bear the brunt of defending the various front lines around Aleppo province and inside the city itself.

The Aleppo rebels find themselves in a vice, caught between advancing regime forces and a resurgent IS. With regional and global powers jittery by the meteoric rise of IS in Iraq, funds, weapons and men are increasingly harder to come by. The persistent refrain of the rebels since the beginning of the conflict has been: Send us more and better weapons. It's unclear, however, if they would actually make a difference at this stage, and the likelihood that they would fall into the hands of IS is very real, not to mention that any nation sending arms to Aleppo’s rebels would also be de facto directly arming al-Qaeda’s official wing in Syria.

Unless there is a dramatic change of fortune for the rebels on the ground, it's likely that the regime will besiege Aleppo city in the coming weeks, and then force settlements and cease-fires on any remaining rebels still garrisoned inside, as was its successful strategy in Damascus and Homs.

IS will likely push into the north and east countrysides, routing rebels from their strongholds and establishing its authority via rigid and barbaric law, "cleansing" them of any resistance to its rule, marking the end for Aleppo’s rebels.

If Liwa al-Tawhid’s two strongholds of Tall Rifat and Marea fall to IS, then the group is effectively finished. Jabhat al-Nusra will fare no better, as its string of crushing defeats in Deir ez-Zor at the hands of IS means that it has lost many of its men, including those who defected to IS, and important financial resources. The remaining smaller local rebel groups will either be assimilated by IS or completely destroyed.

With the vultures circling overhead, the unhappy residents — what’s left of them — of this once magnificent metropolis now ponder their fate and that of their beloved city. Regardless of which group wins, this city will never be the same again. It will take a decade or more to rebuild and get back on its feet, and maybe a generation or two until the bitter social rifts can heal. But that’s what the Aleppans long for: the end of the war by any means possible, and by whomever.

Source: al-Monitor.
Link: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/aleppo-rebels-islamic-state-syria-regime-annihilation.html.

Islamic militants on offensive against Kurds

July 10, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — Islamic militants using weapons they recently seized in neighboring Iraq intensified an offensive against Kurdish areas in northern Syria as they fight to expand the territory under their control, activists said Thursday.

The clashes came as a Syrian watchdog group said the death toll in Syria's three-year conflict has climbed to 171,000, reflecting the relentless bloodletting in a civil war that appears no closer to being resolved. Nearly half of the dead were civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Members of the Islamic State group and Kurdish fighters have been fighting each other for a year, but the Kurds were usually the instigators until earlier this month when the balance of power appears to have tipped in favor of the Sunni extremists because of the large amounts of weapons they brought from Iraq into Syria.

Islamic State fighters captured several Kurdish villages and killed dozens of fighters in the area this week, according to activists. The clashes come after the Islamic State group seized territories straddling Syria and neighboring Iraq and declared a self-styled Islamic caliphate. Most of the land was seized in June during a push across Iraq. They captured large amounts of weapons left behind by Iraqi troops including U.S.-made armored personnel carriers, Humvees and artillery.

Kurdish official Nawaf Khalil said members of the Islamic State group are trying to capture an area near the Turkish border that would link it with their positions in eastern Syria. He and other activists said the fighting is concentrated in the region of Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab.

Mustafa Osso, a Turkey-based Kurdish activist who has wide contacts in northern Syria, says the aim of the offensive is to take the entire Kobani area. Osso says those standing against the Islamic State group are mostly members of the People's Protection Units, the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party.

"We have called for support from Kurds around the world," said Khalil, an official with the party. Osso said jihadi fighters are using mortar shells and artillery captured earlier in Iraq in their attacks on Kurdish areas.

Both Khalil and the Observatory said some of the dead Kurdish fighters were charred without suffering any bullets or shrapnel wounds. The Observatory said the burned bodies "have made doctors suspicious about the type of weapons used."

On Wednesday, Islamic State group captured three villages near Kobani and pressed forward toward the border town. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria, making up more than 10 percent of the country's prewar population of 23 million. They are centered in the impoverished northeastern province of Hassakeh, wedged between the borders of Turkey and Iraq.

Also Thursday, the UN Refugee Agency announced that it began an airlift operation to deliver emergency relief items from Damascus to 50,000 people in Hassakeh. Syria's conflict that began in March 2011 has led to the displacement of nearly a third of its prewar population of 23 million.

The Britain-based Observatory said in a statement Thursday that 171,000 people have been killed, raising the death toll from the 160,000 it announced in mid-May. It said the dead included 39,036 government forces, 24,655 pro-government gunmen, 15,422 opposition fighters, 2,354 army defectors and more than 500 Lebanese fighters from the Hezbollah militant group that is backing Syrian President Bashar Assad. The rest were mostly civilians.

Meanwhile, the government sent more elite forces to the contested northern city of Aleppo as troops try to besiege rebel-held neighborhoods in the country's largest city. Aleppo, once Syria's commercial center, has been carved up since an opposition offensive began in mid-2012.

Aleppo is the last large urban area that Syrian rebels hold after losing territory to government forces in other parts of Syria over the past year. Government troops backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters have been steadily seizing control of the city's entrances in recent days, according to activists in the city.

El-Bahra elected new Syrian opposition leader

2014-07-09

ISTANBUL - The Syrian National Coalition, the main exiled opposition group seeking the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, on Wednesday elected Saudi-based Syrian opposition figure Hadi el-Bahra as its new president.

"Hadi el-Bahra was elected president of the coalition with 62 votes," the coalition said in a statement on its Facebook page after the early morning vote at the meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sile outside Istanbul in Turkey.

His nearest rival, Mowafaq Nayrabiyeh, won 41 votes, it added.

El-Bahra will have the task of keeping alive the campaign to unseat Assad amid territorial gains by the regime and the rise of the radical jihadist group Islamic State, which the coalition vehemently opposes.

He succeeds Ahmad Jarba, who headed the coalition from July 2013 but failed in efforts to unite the opposition and obtain significant Western military support.

El-Bahra was born in Damascus in 1959, and spent most of his adult life in Saudi Arabia, where he managed several hospitals and businesses.

He headed the opposition delegation to the failed Geneva 2 talks between the opposition and the regime in Switzerland earlier this year.

The Syrian opposition has been riven by internal conflicts linked to disputes between its main foreign sponsors, notably Saudi Arabia and its influential Gulf Arab neighbor Qatar.

But its members are now trying to reach a consensus and end the feuding.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=67013.

Diplomats: Staffan de Mistura is new Syria envoy

July 10, 2014

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Veteran Italian-Swedish diplomat Staffan de Mistura has been chosen by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to replace Lakhdar Brahimi as the international point man on Syria, diplomats said Wednesday.

The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an expected announcement, said de Mistura will be the U.N. envoy — not the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy, as Brahimi was — and will have an Arab deputy.

Ban told reporters late Wednesday that an announcement is "very close" but he needed "to get everybody on board." The diplomats said they expect de Mistura to be officially named on Thursday. Brahimi resigned May 31 after nearly two years of failed efforts to end Syria's worsening civil war. He followed in the footsteps of his longtime friend, former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan, who resigned from the same job in August 2012 after failing to broker a cease-fire as the country descended into war.

Ban cast some blame on Syria's rebels but was especially critical of President Bashar Assad's government, the divided U.N. Security Council and feuding influential nations for failing to help Brahimi achieve a peace agreement.

That leaves de Mistura facing an immense challenge as he tries to succeed where Brahimi and Annan failed. Brahimi managed to get officials from Assad's government and the opposition to two rounds of U.S. and Russian-brokered peace talks in Geneva aimed at establishing a transitional government, but they ended without an agreement.

Brahimi had been working behind the scenes to start a new round of negotiations, but that effort was all but doomed when the government announced that elections would be held on June 3. Both Brahimi and Ban indicated it would be impossible to get the opposition to participate in new negotiations for a transitional government after Assad was elected to a new seven-year term.

With the Syrian government on the offensive, rebel divisions deepening and the takeover of areas near the Iraqi border by the Islamic State extremist group, de Mistura will have an even tougher time getting the warring parties to the peace table.

But just before he left, Brahimi suggested seven steps that could lead to "a serious peace process." They include expanding humanitarian aid, reducing and ending violence, and forming "an executive" to lead Syria's transition and organize a national dialogue, a review of the constitution, national elections and an end to the flow of arms into the country.

As the U.N. envoy, de Mistura will have a somewhat easier task than his predecessors because he will have only one boss — the U.N. secretary-general — not the deeply divided Arab League as well, which diplomats say created difficulties for both Annan and Brahimi.

Born in Stockholm, de Mistura had a 40-year career with the United Nations and recently served as deputy foreign minister in the Italian government headed by Mario Monti, who was also rumored to be a candidate to replace Brahimi.

De Mistura worked for various U.N. agencies and served as the top U.N. envoy in Afghanistan in 2010-11 and in Iraq from 2007-09, and as the secretary-general's personal representative for southern Lebanon from 2001-04.

In May, de Mistura was appointed president of the board of governors for the European Institute of Peace, an independent Brussels-based foundation that conducts mediation and informal dialogue to promote the global peace agenda of the European Union.

De Mistura, 67, speaks seven languages including colloquial Arabic, according to the Italian Foreign Ministry. While working as a deputy foreign minister, he was sent to India in early 2012 to lead Italian negotiations with the Indian government over the arrest of two Italian marines for allegedly shooting to death two Indian fishermen mistaken for pirates.

De Mistura's discussions and numerous trips to India didn't break the impasse, and two subsequent governments have also failed to secure the marines' release.

Associated Press writer Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed to this report.

NGO: ISIS expels thousands in east Syria

AFP
Sunday, 6 July 2014

The jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria group has expelled more than 30,000 people from their homes in the eastern Syrian town of Shuheil, a monitoring group said on Sunday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIS had “forced out” some 30,000 residents after seizing Shuheil on Thursday from Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

Another 30,000 residents have been forced from their homes in the towns of Khosham and Tabia Jazeera, also in eastern Deir Ezzor province, the Britain-based NGO said.

“Some 30,000 residents of the town of Shuheil, the former stronghold of Al-Nusra Front, have been forced out by the Islamic State,” the group said.

Though both ISIS and Al-Nusra share a jihadist ideology, the two groups have regularly clashed, with Al-Nusra joining a coalition of armed opposition groups fighting ISIS.

ISIS has seized large swathes of territory in Syria and neighboring Iraq, declaring the land it holds to be an Islamic “caliphate,” and its leader the ruler of all Muslims.

The Observatory said ISIS had prevented some 30,000 people from returning to their homes in two other towns in Deir Ezzor, Khosham and Tabia Jazeera, which it captured in late June.

On a Facebook page, activists from Shuheil said ISIS had ordered all residents to leave, and entered in armored cars and tanks “because of their fear and cowardice.”

A video distributed by activists on YouTube purportedly shows mediators announcing the terms of the expulsion, saying residents are required to hand over weapons and remain out of Shuhail “until (ISIS) feels it is safe.”

Activists said residents feared ISIS fighters planned to loot their homes, and the Observatory said the large displacement had left thousands sleeping in the open, with food and water shortages.

Source: al-Arabiya.
Link: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/07/06/NGO-ISIS-expels-thousands-in-east-Syria.html.

ISIS control all main Syria oil fields — NGO

Jul 05, 2014
AFP

BEIRUT — The jihadist Islamic State (IS) now fully controls all of Syria’s main oil and gas fields in Deir Ezzor province bordering Iraq, a monitoring group said on Friday.

IS has declared an “Islamic caliphate” in areas it controls in Syria and Iraq, where it is spearheading an offensive against government forces.

“IS took control of the Tanak oil field, located in the Sheiytat desert area in the east of Deir Ezzor province,” late on Thursday after rival rebels withdrew, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Earlier the same day, the jihadists seized the major Al Omar oil field.

They have still not captured the tiny Al Ward field, which produces barely 200 barrels of oil per day and is in the hands of a local tribe, the observatory director, Rami Abdel Rahman, said.

IS seized Tanak and Al Omar after rival fighters from Al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front and other Syrian rebel groups withdrew, said the observatory.

In Deir Ezzor, which holds the bulk of Syria’s oil resources, IS has taken over nearly all the countryside, its forces bolstered by heavy weapons captured from Iraqi troops fleeing the offensive that it headed.

In January, Al Nusra and other Islamist militants turned their guns on the jihadists, then known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, as they swept across Syria imposing their hegemony and brutal abuse.

The rebels expelled IS from the northeastern Idlib province and much of Aleppo, though the jihadist group has gone on the counter-offensive in the northern city.

On Friday, it seized the Kurdish villages of Zur Maghar and Bayada near the border with Turkey, the observatory said.

Intense air raids

Abdel Rahman told AFP that Aleppo city’s rebel-held areas “are now surrounded from all sides, by the regime and by the jihadists they are fighting”.

Aleppo’s rebel areas, mainly in the east of the city, have come under intense, daily air raids since December, leading tens of thousands of residents to flee for the countryside and to Turkey.

The observatory said Friday that regime forces have made advances this week on the outskirts of eastern Aleppo, threatening rebel supply routes.

State television, meanwhile, said that government forces were now in full control of the Sheikh Najjar industrial sector of northeast Aleppo.

Last Sunday, IS declared a “caliphate”, referring to an Islamic system of rule that was abolished nearly 100 years ago, in a move that rebels, including Islamists in Syria, branded a “heresy”.

Elsewhere in Syria, the regime air force kept up its air raids Friday against rebel areas, mainly in the southern province of Daraa, Aleppo, Damascus province and Idlib.

Warplanes also hit the Arsal area just across the border in neighboring Lebanon, that country’s National News Agency reported, killing one Syrian youth and wounding several more.

The area houses more than 60,000 Syrians who have fled the conflict in their homeland.

The UN children’s fund, UNICEF, said Friday more than six million Syrian children affected by the conflict desperately need humanitarian aid, with the number in need rising by a third in a year.

Syria’s war began in March 2011 as a peaceful movement demanding President Bashar Assad’s ouster, but it has morphed into a conflict after a brutal crackdown by the regime.

Many months into the fighting, jihadists started to pour into Syria, drawing warnings from analysts of an eventual regional conflagration.

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://jordantimes.com/jihadists-control-all-main-syria-oil-fields----ngo.

Islamic militants seize Syria oil field

July 04, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — Islamic militants seized an eastern Syrian oil field near Iraq and inched closer to the Turkish border on Friday as they try to consolidate their control of an area along the length of the Euphrates river stretching through Syria and Iraq.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that fighters from the Islamic State group seized the al-Tanak oil field early Friday. Another group, the activist collective of Deir el-Zour, also reported the seizure.

The field is in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour, near Iraq, and it followed the Islamic State group's seizure of Syria's largest oil field on Thursday. Both oil fields were taken from other rebel groups.

The extremist Sunni Muslim group now has nearly full control over a corridor from the Syrian provincial capital of Deir el-Zour to the border town of Boukamal. The area neighbors parts of northern and western Iraq that it seized last month, allowing the group to flow freely between the two countries.

Over the past three days, the Islamic State fighters have been pushing strongly northwards up the Euphrates river toward Turkey, shelling a town just 11 miles (18 kilometers) from the border, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory. A local activist, who uses the name Ahmed al-Ahmed, also confirmed the information.

Their shelling of the rebel-held town of Akhtarin came after they seized another two communities around their nearby stronghold of al-Bab, called Zour Maghar and Badaydiyeh, the Observatory and al-Ahmed said.

The group is led by an ambitious Iraqi militant known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who this week declared the establishment of an Islamic state, or caliphate, in the lands it has seized in Syria and Iraq.

It proclaimed al-Baghdadi the head of its new self-styled state and demanded that all Muslims pledge allegiance to him. Syria's uprising began in March 2011 as largely peaceful demonstrations against President Bashar Assad's rule. It escalated into an armed revolt after some opposition supporters took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown on dissent.

As Islamic militants advanced, Syrian government troops seized control of an industrial area near the northern city of Aleppo, said state-run television. Control of the area allows Syrian troops to more easily blockade eastern parts of Syria's largest city, held by rebel groups.

That then turned into a civil war that has claimed more than 160,000 lives, about a third of them civilians, according to opposition activists. Al-Qaida inspired militants also entered Syria during the upheaval of conflict, seizing territory claimed by armed rebels, and ultimately becoming the Islamic State group.

The conflict has spilled over into Lebanon and Syria, generating a huge wave of refugees. On Friday, a Syrian warplane carried out three airstrikes in an area about four miles (seven kilometers) within Lebanese territory, killing a 12-year-old boy, a police official said.

The airstrikes occurred near the northeastern town of Arsal. One impacted near a jeep, killing a boy and wounding the rest of his family while on their way to pick cherries. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't allowed to speak to the media.

Al-Manar, a television station affiliated with the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, said the strikes targeted gunmen. Syrian warplanes occasionally strike inside Lebanon, with supporters claiming they target gunmen. Syria's conflict, now in its fourth year, has seeped into Lebanon with Islamic militants carrying out bomb attacks against Shiite and Hezbollah areas.

With additional reporting by Albert Aji in Damascus.

Chechen in Syria a rising star in extremist group

July 02, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — A young, red-bearded ethnic Chechen has rapidly become one of the most prominent commanders in the breakaway al-Qaida group that has overrun swaths of Iraq and Syria, illustrating the international nature of the movement.

Omar al-Shishani, one of hundreds of Chechens who have been among the toughest jihadi fighters in Syria, has emerged as the face of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, appearing frequently in its online videos — in contrast to the group's Iraqi leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdad, who remains deep in hiding and has hardly ever been photographed.

In a video released by the group over the weekend, al-Shishani is shown standing next to the group's spokesman among a group of fighters as they declare the elimination of the border between Iraq and Syria. The video was released just hours before the extremist group announced the creation of a caliphate — or Islamic state — in the areas it controls.

"Our aim is clear and everyone knows why we are fighting. Our path is toward the caliphate," the 28-year-old al-Shishani declares. "We will bring back the caliphate, and if God does not make it our fate to restore the caliphate, then we ask him to grant us martyrdom." The video is consistent with other Associated Press reporting on al-Shishani.

Al-Shishani has been the group's military commander in Syria, leading it on an offensive to take over a broad stretch of territory leading to the Iraq border. But he may have risen to become the group's overall military chief, a post that has been vacant after the Iraqi militant who once held it — known as Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Bilawi al-Anbari — was killed in the Iraqi city of Mosul in early June. The video identified al-Shishani as "the military commander" without specifying its Syria branch, suggesting he had been elevated to overall commander, though the group has not formally announced such a promotion.

As the militant group's operations in Iraq and Syria grow "more and more inter-dependent by the day, it is more than possible that someone like (al-Shishani) could assume overall military leadership," said Charles Lister, Visiting Fellow with the Brookings Doha Center.

The extremist group began as al-Qaida's branch in Iraq, and many of its top leaders are Iraqi. But after it intervened in Syria's civil war last year, it drew hundreds of foreign fighters into its operations in Syria. Now with victories on the two sides of the border, the two branches are swapping fighters, equipment and weapons to an even greater extent than before, becoming a more integrated organization. Its declaration of the caliphate — aspiring to be a state for all Muslims — could mean an even greater internationalization of its ranks.

Alexei Malashenko, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment's Moscow office, said ethnicity is not a major factor in jihadi movements, only dedication to jihad. Al-Shishani "is a fanatic of Islam with war experience, and he obviously has had a strong track record (among fellow fighters)," he said.

Syria's civil war, in its fourth year, has attracted militants from around the world. Some estimates run as high as 10,000 foreign fighters in the country. But the Chechens — hardened from years of wars with Russia in the Caucasus region — are considered some of the best fighters.

Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia's Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency known under its Russian acronym FSB, said last October that about 500 militants from Russia and hundreds more from other ex-Soviet nations are fighting in Syria.

Al-Shishani, whose real name is Tarkhan Batirashvili, is an ethnic Chechen from the Caucasus nation of Georgia, specifically from the Pankisi Valley, a center of Georgia's Chechen community and once a stronghold for militants.

He did military service in the Georgian army but was discharged after an unspecified illness, said one of his former neighbors, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. At one point, Georgian police arrested him for illegal possession of arms, the neighbor said. As soon as he was released in 2010, Batirashvili left for Turkey. Georgian police refused to comment.

He later surfaced in Syria in 2013 with his nom de guerre, which means "Omar the Chechen" in Arabic, leading an al-Qaida-inspired group called "The Army of Emigrants and Partisans," which included a large number of fighters from the former Soviet Union. A meeting was soon organized with al-Baghdadi in which al-Shishani pledged loyalty to him, according to Lebanon's al-Akhbar newspaper, which follows jihadi groups.

He first showed his battlefield prowess in August 2013, when his fighters proved pivotal in taking the Syrian military's Managh air base in the north of the country. Rebels had been trying for months to take the base, but it fell soon after al-Shishani joined the battle, said an activist from the region, Abu al-Hassan Maraee.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant entered the Syria conflict in 2013, and initially it was welcomed by other rebels. But rebel groups — including other Islamic militant factions — turned against it, alienated by its brutal methods and kidnappings and killings of rivals, and accusing it of trying to take over the opposition movement for its own ambitions of creating a transnational Islamic enclave. Rebel factions have been fighting against the group since last year in battles that have left thousands dead. Al-Qaida's central command ejected the extremist group from the network.

For the past two months, al-Shishani has led an offensive in Syria's eastern Deir el-Zour province against rival rebels, seeking to solidify his hold on a stretch of territory connected to neighboring Iraq.

In May, some Arab media organizations reported that al-Shishani was killed in the fighting. An activist in Iraq in contact with members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant said al-Shishani suffered wounds in his right arm and was taken into Iraq where he underwent treatment before returning to Syria. He spoke on condition of anonymity for security concerns.

Since then, al-Shishani has appeared multiple times in photos and videos put out by the group. The photos and videos are consistent with the AP's reporting from activists on the ground. In a recent photograph, the young, round-faced al-Shishani, wearing a black cap and beige gown, is seen with a big smile as he examines a Humvee said to have been captured in Iraq and brought into Syria.

Hussein Nasser, spokesman for the Islamic Front coalition group of rebels, said Chechens are among the most feared fighters in Syria. "A Chechen comes and has no idea about anything (in the country) and does whatever his leader tells him," Nasser said. "Even if his emir tells him to kill a child, he would do it."

Associated Press writers Bilal Hussein in Beirut, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili in Tbilisi, Georgia contributed to this report.

Report: Jihadi group captures Syrian border town

July 01, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — The al-Qaida breakaway Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant captured a key Syrian town near the Iraq border from other rebels on Tuesday and advanced toward a stronghold of its main jihadi rivals, an activist group said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Boukamal fell to the militants early Tuesday following days of battles between the group and other factions led by the Nusra Front, al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate.

Activists in the area could not immediately be reached and calls to Boukamal and nearby areas were not going through. The Observatory, which has a network of activists around Syria, said the Islamic State brought in reinforcements from Iraq during the fighting.

The latest victory by the jihadi group, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq, came two days after it declared the establishment of a transnational Islamic caliphate. The group says its Islamic state stretches from northern Syria to the Iraqi province of Diyala northeast of Baghdad, and has called on all Muslims worldwide to pledge allegiance to it.

The Observatory said the Islamic State released more than 100 detainees it was holding in the northern Syrian town of Al-Bab after the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, issued an amnesty on the occasion of establishing the self-styled caliphate.

Last week, beleaguered Nusra Front fighters defected and joined the Islamic State in Boukamal —effectively handing over the town to the powerful group, which controls the Iraqi side of the crossing. The Observatory said the Islamic State is advancing toward the town of Shuheil, northwest of Boukamal, a Nusra Front stronghold believed to be the hometown of its leader, a Syrian known as Abu Muhammed al-Golani.

Up to 7,000 people, the majority of them fighters, have been killed in the rebel-on-rebel violence across the opposition-held territory in northern and eastern Syria since January, according to the Observatory's tally, which is compiled by its activists on the ground.

Spanish, Catalonia leaders meet on secession push

July 30, 2014

MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the leader of the economically powerful Catalonia region held a crucial face-to-face meeting Wednesday in what could be a last chance to resolve a bitter dispute over the region's plans to hold a secession referendum in November.

The independence campaign holds profound consequences for Spain as it emerges from its worst economic crisis in a generation, with Catalonia as a major driver of growth. And Europe will be watching closely as the Spanish debate comes to a head as Scotland also prepares to hold a referendum on leaving the United Kingdom.

The closed-door session between Rajoy and Catalonia President Artur Mas follows months of clamor by political parties and business groups for the two to sit down and try to come up with a roadmap to prevent the dispute from boiling over — but there is little expectation that they will succeed.

Their main problem: Rajoy has said he'll never discuss a referendum which he says would violate Spain's Constitution, while Mas insists he cannot negotiate while Spain alienates Catalans by preventing a right to self-determination.

"The meeting will merely confirm the clash between Madrid and the Catalan regional government," said Antonio Barroso, a London-based analyst with political and business risk consulting firm, Teneo Intelligence. "While Rajoy is willing to provide certain concessions to Catalonia on the fiscal front, it is highly improbable that he will agree to a deal, if Mas does not first withdraw his proposal to hold a referendum."

Only Mas was expected to hold a press conference after the meeting. Pro-independence sentiment in Catalonia has grown greatly in recent years, fueled by a sense that the region deserves better economic and political treatment from Madrid.

In the proposed Nov. 9 referendum, the regional government wants to ask voters if they want Catalonia to be a state and, if so, should it be independent. Polls show that while a strong majority of Catalonia's 7.5 million residents want the ballot, only around half favor severing ties.

Spanish lawmakers, who overwhelmingly reject the referendum, argue that Catalonians alone cannot decide something that affects all of Spain. The referendum has stirred debate about whether Spain's 1978 Constitution should be reformed to devolve more power and to the country's 17 regions and calm territorial unease.

An opinion poll published Wednesday by leading newspaper El Pais showed 62 percent of Spaniards favored Rajoy negotiating a reform of the Constitution that would satisfy Catalonia in exchange for Mas halting the referendum. The survey by the private firm Metroscopia quizzed 600 people and had a margin of error of 4.1 percent.

Mas went into the meeting with his political capital depleted by revelations that Jordi Pujol, his political mentor, predecessor and the father of modern Catalan nationalism, held a fortune in undeclared money in secret foreign bank accounts for decades. Mas recently said he was going through the worst moment of his career following Pujol's confession.

Mas began openly pushing for the independence poll after he failed to clinch a better financial pact for Catalonia in 2012. However, the surge in independence sentiment stems from June 2010 when the Constitutional Court struck down key parts of a groundbreaking charter that would have granted Catalonia more autonomy and recognized it as a nation within Spain.

The region, whose capital is Barcelona, is fiercely proud of its language and distinct cultural traditions. Many of its people are convinced that independence would benefit them economically. However, both the European Union and NATO have warned such a new state would have to reapply for membership, a scenario unappealing to a people who pride themselves on their common sense and business savvy.

The talks are the last chance of reaching deal before the government's summer vacation and the onset of what could be a stormy autumn. Both politicians will have eyes on Sept. 11 Catalonia National Day, which will likely see up to 1 million people once again on the streets in a show of strength for independence. But possibly more important will be the Sept. 18 vote on Scottish independence.

Mas believes a win for the "yes" vote in Scotland could boost Catalonia's bid, although a "no" victory could equally throw cold water onto the pro-independence camp. September is also when Catalonia is set to pass a law allowing the referendum — but any such move is almost certain to be challenged by Rajoy in Spain's Constitutional Court.

If the referendum is delayed, that could push Mas to call early regional elections, but he knows his conservative Convergence and Union party has already lost much ground to its parliamentary supporters, the pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia party.

In turn, Rajoy faces general elections next year and his party — which has seen its vote plunge owing to corruption scandals, the economic crisis and sky-high 25 percent unemployment — could be severely punished if it is seen to give in on the referendum issue or treat Catalonia preferentially.

"Neither has much room for maneuver. We're in a pre-electoral period and that restricts both sides," said Carlos Barrera, Professor of Media and Politics at the University of Navarra.

After shaky start, Ukraine turns eastern offensive around

Kiev (AFP)
July 29, 2014

When Ukraine's military offensive to oust pro-Russian rebels from the restive east began in mid-April with humiliated soldiers meekly surrendering their armored vehicles it looked doomed to failure.

But after more than three months of brutal fighting that has claimed some 1,100 lives, a sudden advance by battle-hardened government forces in recent weeks has seen them snatch back a string of key towns and left the once confident insurgents scrambling.

Analysts say the dramatic turnaround is down to a combination of growing professionalism and ruthlessness from Kiev's forces on the one hand and the shifting nature of the support that Russia is giving the rebels.

"The Ukrainian army is finding out how to fight as it goes along and has shown how capable it is of learning," said Valentyn Badrak, director of the Research Center for the Army, Demilitarization and Disarmament in Kiev.

Poorly coordinated, riddled by corruption and low on morale after the humbling loss of Crimea to Russia in March, Ukraine's military has undergone a radical shakeup after drafting highly motivated volunteers and improving its leadership.

"The Ukrainian army understood that this a real war and that the survival of the country is in the balance," said Konstantin Kalachev the head of the Moscow-based Political Expert Group.

"Lessons were learnt from the defeats, personnel was changed and morale was bolstered."

That has been aided in no small part by greater political direction in Kiev since the election of billionaire tycoon Petro Poroshenko as president in May filled the vacuum left by the ouster of Kremlin-back leader Viktor Yanukovych in February, Kalachev said.

On the ground, despite denials from Kiev, Ukraine's forces also seem to have ditched an earlier reluctance to fight in built-up areas with the United Nations and rights groups accusing them of increasingly using heavy weapons against populated areas, adding to the spiraling civilian casualties.

- Russian support -

But major questions exist over the extent of Russian support for the separatists and what the Kremlin will do if its alleged proxies seriously look like they are losing.

As they retreated from key towns rebel commanders have increasingly lashed out at Moscow for not sending enough support and some analysts said Russian President Vladimir Putin might be looking for a way out in the wake of tougher international sanctions and the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

But far from backing down, the US says Moscow is now "doubling down" on its support for the rebels, ramping up the flow of weapons and firing directly at Ukrainian troops from its territory.

"The key question now is when will Russia say 'stop' and how it will react to gains made by Ukrainian armed forces in recent days," said Konrad Muzyka, Europe and CIS Armed Forces analyst at IHS Jane's in London. "Make no mistake, Russia will respond."

With international ire on MH17 giving Ukrainian forces a "carte blanche" to deal with the separatists Muzyka said Kiev's next step will be to try to cut off supply lines to the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk before looking to tighten control along the frontier with Russia.

"In the long term, the success of the offensive will depend on sealing the border," he said.

But despite the recent advances by a newly emboldened Kiev, other analysts warned that the conflict in eastern Ukraine was a "partisan" insurgency, meaning it would be hard for Kiev to score an outright victory.

"It is not right to overestimate the successes of the Ukrainian army," said independent Russian military analyst Alexander Golts.

"Ukraine has got involved in a war which is impossible to win."

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/After_shaky_start_Ukraine_turns_eastern_offensive_around_999.html.

US plans largest ever sale of Hellfire missiles to Iraq

Washington (AFP)
July 29, 2014

The United States plans to sell 5,000 Hellfire missiles to Iraq in a $700 million deal, officials said Tuesday, as Washington tries to help Baghdad retake ground captured by Sunni militants.

The US government, which has been reluctant so far to take military action in support of Baghdad, has rushed hundreds of the missiles to Iraq to help the Shiite-led government counter jihadists, who have seized areas north and west of the capital.

The proposed sale is the largest yet of the lethal missiles, which the Iraqis fire from AC-208 Cessna Caravan planes and other aircraft.

The deal calls for 5,000 AGM-114K/N/R Hellfire missiles and related equipment, parts, training and logistical support worth a total of $700 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement Tuesday.

"Iraq will use the Hellfire missiles to help improve the Iraq Security Forces' capability to support current on-going ground operations," the agency said.

The State Department has approved the deal and US law requires the government to inform members of Congress of a possible weapons sale. Lawmakers are not expected to try to block the sale.

Washington in July alone has delivered 466 Hellfire missiles to Iraq, and has shipped 780 since January, Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters.

Another 366 missiles will be delivered in August, he said.

The missiles, manufactured by US defense giant Lockheed Martin Corporation, have been used on American Predator and Reaper drone aircraft to take out suspected Al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere.

President Barack Obama has sent more than 200 US military advisers to Iraq to "assess" the state of the Iraqi army, while leaving open the possibility of US air strikes in the future.

The advisers delivered their initial evaluation earlier this month and Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel and top officers are still reviewing their findings, Kirby said.

The Obama administration has signaled reluctance to be drawn into major military action, and has argued that the jihadists exploited a failure by the Shiite-led government to forge cooperation with Sunni and Kurdish leaders.

"There's not going to be a US military solution here. It's just not going to happen," Kirby said.

He also rejected the idea that the administration was "dithering" in its review of the assessment by military advisers.

Kirby said there was a sense of urgency but "whatever recommendations flow from these assessments have got to be the right ones, have got to be sound, and have to be based on logic, and not done in a rush."

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_plans_largest_ever_sale_of_Hellfire_missiles_to_Iraq_999.html.

Russian company drawing up security ideas for Latin America

Moscow (UPI)
Jul 29, 2013

Proposals to create a comprehensive security systems environment for Latin American countries are being prepared by a state-owned Russian company.

Rosoboronexport, part of Rostec State Corporation, says the systems and "Safe City" program would be for states, major administrative entities, cities, border areas and critical assets and would provide integrated real-time surveillance and a resources command-and-control system.

The technology would improve the efficiency of security operations units.

"Russia has great experience and all the necessary equipment to build the Safe City," it said. "Implementing such a system to ensure safety and security at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi in 2014 is one of the most striking examples.

"In particular, such experience could be used by Brazil during preparations for the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016."

In addition to the integrated technology, the company's program would offer offers weapons and equipment to fit law enforcement and special units, search-and-inspection gear.

Rosoboronexport said Safe City programs would be implemented with local companies, increasing economic and military-technical cooperation between Russia and the Latin American countries.

Announcement of Rosoboronexport's plan comes on the heels of President Vladimir Putin's visit to the region.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Russian_company_drawing_up_security_ideas_for_Latin_America_999.html.

Activists: Syrian strikes target refugees, kill 7

June 18, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — Two activist groups say an attack by Syrian helicopter gunships has targeted refugees near the Jordanian border, killing at least seven people.

Both groups say the helicopters attacked shortly after midnight on Tuesday near the village of Shajara. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 12 people were killed, including nine children and teenagers. The Local Coordination Committees put the death toll at seven and said there were four children among those killed.

The disparate casualty figures, common in the immediate aftermath of attacks, could not immediately be reconciled. Syrian troops and rebels have been battling each other for months in the southern province of Daraa, which borders Jordan.

The conflict in Syria, which erupted in March 2011, has killed more than 160,000 people so far, according to activists.

Syrian woman survives 700 days of blockade

June 11, 2014

HOMS, Syria (AP) — Over the course of the 700-day blockade, her world shrunk to her living room and her kitchen. She survived by eating plants and reading books. She refused to look in the mirror, because seeing her withered state might break her spirit.

Zeinat Akhras, a 65-year-old pharmacist, still bears the effects of nearly two years trapped in her home, surrounded by rebel fighters during the government's siege on the ancient quarters of the central Syrian city of Homs. She's still a wispy 38 kilograms (83 pounds), even after gaining four kilograms (eight pounds) since the blockade ended in early May with the fall of the rebels in the city.

"Every day, we said it will end tomorrow," Akhras said in a recent interview with The Associated Press in her home. "If we counted the number of days, we would have given up." Homs' Old City, a series of crowded neighborhoods, was under siege and bombardment in a campaign by government forces to starve out rebels. Homs had been one of the first to rise up against the rule of President Bashar Assad with protests in March 2011, turning the city into a battleground as government forces cracked down and opponents took up arms.

Government forces clamped the seal over the opposition-held districts in early 2012. Most of the tens of thousands of residents of the areas had already fled. With the siege dragging on, rebels began deserting as hunger spread, and morale collapsed in late 2013. Finally, the last few dozen fighters were evacuated in May to areas further north under a cease-fire, and government forces took full control of the city.

Akhras and her two brothers were among the few civilians who stayed until the end, in their multi-story family home in the al-Maljaa quarter, decorated like many of the area's homes in an Arab medieval style of black-and-white geometric facades.

They stayed because they feared rebels would seize the building — the fate of other abandoned homes — or would loot the family pharmacy or clothing shop. In the beginning, the siege was tolerable because Akhras' family had hoarded provisions for the sometimes long lockdowns during previous gunbattles. They were well stocked with rice, beans and cracked wheat and fuel.

As the blockade deepened, Akhras rarely left the building — perhaps six times during the 700 days, she estimated. "I used to come back sad from seeing the destruction. This area used to be full of life," she said.

Life took on a routine. Her brothers Anas and Ayman went out to check on their businesses and kept an eye on the nearby Mar Elia church. She cooked, kept the building tidy. She rose at dawn and slept at sunset, since there was no electricity. Over the course of the two years, at least 12 shells slammed into their home, causing damage upstairs.

"It was bothersome, because we'd hear explosions day and night. You get used to it." A priest asked the Akhras siblings, who are Christians, to hide valuable church property. So gradually, icons and boxes of centuries-old church records piled up in their home. Then, their pharmacy and clothes shop were looted in 2013, so the brothers brought home boxes of remaining medicines and clothes to store as well.

As the siege dragged on, rebel fighters showed up repeatedly demanding food and fuel, Akhras said. They usually came in groups, ordering Akhras to sit in the living room as they raided the kitchen and the upstairs apartments where food was kept. One young rebel snatched a jam jar that "barely had a spoonful left in it," she recalled.

Toward the end, the fighters didn't even bother to come with guns — they simply knocked on the door and demanded food. Finally, in mid-2013, armed rebels surrounded the building and came in, carrying away nearly the entire stock of food and fuel. The siblings were left with only cracked wheat, which ran out by January.

Still, she said her family was not harassed by the Sunni rebels for being Christian — it appeared to be because her house was the one with food. Tragedy came in December. One of her brothers, Anas, who was suffering from cancer, left in a U.N. organized evacuation of hundreds of civilians from the Old City. He died 19 days later.

For the last months, Akhras kept her mind on daily tasks. Without fuel, her surviving brother Ayman collected firewood. With their supplies down to only tea, oil and spices, Ayman also collected greens — dandelion, chicory and mallow, plants so unnoticed by a city-dweller that Akhras referred to them simply as "grass." Even those became so scarce that Ayman dug for them in a church cemetery.

Akhras' duties now included chopping wood to fuel the subya, a traditional heater-oven. She learnt to soak, boil and spice the salvaged greens. She lost her appetite on the bitter, monotonous meals. She withered from about 127 pounds (58 kilos) when the blockade began to 75 pounds (34 kilos), shrinking as her space grew smaller.

Akhras said she didn't want to upset herself by looking in the mirror. "I knew I had lost weight. It was like I was on a diet I never wanted." Only after the siege was over did she finally see her transformation — she saw herself on TV, in footage of the army's entry. "I was smaller than a child!" she exclaimed.

In free hours trapped in her home, Akhras devoured books — the Bible and stories of saints, mostly. Near her during a recent interview was an English-language version of the Kama Sutra. Her darkest days, she said, came after Anas died and when Ayman went to sleep in another building they own to keep away looters. She was left alone as rebels raided the building again, this time digging upstairs for more medicine and clothing.

"I missed my siblings — we are six girls and six boys. I missed my mother who died at the end of 2011," she said. Akhras initially didn't know on May 9 that the blockade had been lifted and government troops had entered the neighborhood. She has no radio and did not listen to the news. In a rare outing to the well across her alleyway, she saw a man who told her, "The army is here."

Surprised, Akhras found a soldier and asked him for bread — still unaware of how skeletal she appeared. The soldier bought her two dozen pieces of pita bread. "I ate a whole piece of bread myself," she said, her eyes shining. "It tasted like sweets."

Associated Press writer Albert Aji contributed to this report in Homs, Syria.