ISIS- SYRIA-THREAD

[Anthea]

BBC News

Syrian Islamist rebels 'seize Ariha in Idlib province'

An Islamist coalition that includes Syria's al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front has taken over one of the last government strongholds in western Idlib province, activists say.

The Jaish al-Fateh, or Conquest Army, took control of the city of Ariha after a "lightning offensive", the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

However, the Syrian army said intense fighting was still going on there.

Ariha's fall would leave most of Idlib, bordering Turkey, in rebel hands.

Since late March, rebels have claimed a number of cities in the province, including Idlib and Jisr al-Shughour.

As well as bordering Turkey, Idlib is also next to Latakia province, a government stronghold and President Bashar al-Assad's heartland.

Meanwhile, the head of the al-Nusra Front said the group had been ordered by al-Qaeda's overall leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, not to use Syria to launch attacks on the West.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Abu Mohammed al-Julani said al-Nusra Front was focused on capturing Damascus and toppling President Assad.

He also promised to protect Syrian minorities that disavowed Mr Assad.

The hour-long interview with Julani, broadcast on Wednesday night, was his second with Qatar-based Al Jazeera since 2013, when al-Nusra Front split from what is now Islamic State (IS).

"We are only here to accomplish one mission, to fight the regime and its agents on the ground, including Hezbollah and others," he stressed, referring to the Lebanese Shia Islamist movement that is fighting alongside government forces."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-32924268

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BBC News

Syria crisis: 'Barrel bomb strikes kill 71' in Aleppo province

At least 71 people have been killed in Syria's northern Aleppo province by barrel bombs dropped from government helicopters, activists say.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 59 people died in the strike on al-Bab - a town currently held by Islamic State (IS) militants.

It says 12 people were killed in the city of Aleppo.

Syria's government has repeatedly denied using barrel bombs - large containers filled with explosives.

The bombs, dropped by helicopters, are among the most deadly and inaccurate weapons used by government forces, and are reported in many parts of the country every day.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 59 people were killed in the attack on Al-Bab's busy market on Saturday.

The casualties were reported to be overwhelmingly civilians, including women and children, and the number of dead was expected to rise because many of the casualties suffered serious injuries.

The group, which gathers information through a network of activists in Syria, called it one of the worst massacres perpetrated by the government so far this year.

It says another 12 people were killed in Aleppo's rebel-held Shaar area, including eight members of a single family.

The Syrian government has made no public comment on the report, which has not been independently verified.

In February, Human Rights Watch group accused Damascus of dropping barrel bombs on hundreds of sites in 2014, violating a UN Security resolution.

In an interview with the BBC also in February, President Bashar al-Assad denied his forces used barrel bombs. Dismissing the allegation as a "childish story", he said: "There are no barrel bombs. We don't have barrels."

Aleppo has been divided between government- and rebel-held areas since fighting erupted in the former commercial hub in 2012.

More than 220,000 people have been killed across Syria since the start of the uprising against President Bashar in 2011, according to UN estimates.

Earlier this month, Amnesty International released a report accusing government forces and many rebels groups of committing war crimes on a daily basis.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-32942090

[Anthea]

ARA News

ISIS storms Syria’s Hasakah with mortar fire, dozens killed

On Saturday, the Islamic State group (IS/ISIS) pounded the pro-regime security branches in the city of Hasakah, northeastern Syria, with mortar shells, causing civilian casualties, local sources reported.

“Several mortar shells landed on the public square of the market downtown, while others hit the building of State Security branch and the nearby secondary school of Abu Dhar al-Ghafari,” eyewitnesses said.

Speaking to ARA News in Hasakah, Abdulbaqi Khasho, an eyewitness, said that the municipality building in central Hasakah was also exposed to mortar shells fired by IS militants.

Medical sources in Hikma Hospital of Hasakah reported dozens of casualties due to the IS fire on Saturday.

In the meantime, a source from the pro-regime National Defense Army told ARA News (on the condition of anonymity) that three car bomb attacks targeted the pro-Assad militia fighters in Abyad checkpoint southwest Hasakah, while two other car bombs hit locations of the pro-regime militia in the village of Dawoodiya southeastern the city.

“The village of Rad Shaqra in Hasakah suburb was also exposed to a terrorist attack by ISIS on Saturday evening, causing the death of more than 20 civilians and the injury of dozens others,” the source reported.

http://aranews.net/2015/05/isis-storms- ... ns-killed/

[Anthea]

Reuters

Islamic State drives back Syria insurgents near Turkey
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Sylvia Westall

Islamic State fighters advanced against rival insurgents in northern Syria on Sunday, capturing areas close to a border crossing with Turkey and threatening their supply route to Aleppo city, fighters and a group monitoring the war said.

Islamic State captured the town of Soran Azaz and two nearby villages after clashes with fighters from a northern rebel alliance, which includes both Western-backed rebels and Islamist fighters.

Islamic State will now be able to move along a road leading north to the Bab al-Salam crossing between the Syrian province of Aleppo and the Turkish province of Kilis, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The town's loss is a blow to rebels grouped in the so-called Jabhat al-Shamiyya alliance (Levant Front), because it sits on an important supply route to bring weapons into eastern Aleppo, two fighters said.

"The main supply line between Turkey and Aleppo will be severely affected," Abu Bakr, an alliance field commander, said in a online message.

The Levant Front was created in Aleppo in an effort to forge unity among factions in Syria that have often fought each other as well as the Syrian army and hardline jihadist groups, undermining the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

Rebels said the Islamic State gains had upset plans for a wider offensive that was being prepared ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to seize government-controlled parts of Aleppo.

Residents in eastern Aleppo said convoys of rebel fighters were heading back to areas in the Soran countryside to repel Islamic State. Government forces hold the west of the city.

NO STRIKES

U.S-led coalition forces bombing Islamic State in Syria and Iraq carried out their latest raids near the city of Kobani close to Turkey and Syria's northeastern Hasaka province, but did not hit Aleppo and surrounding areas.

"(Islamic State) are heading to the Turkish border...If this happens I don't know who will be able to explain why the coalition is not bombing (them)," said Abo Abdo Salabman, a member of a rebel brigade which is not part of Levant Front but is fighting in the area.

"It's one thing that they don't bomb the regime because of some international circumstances they need to take into account. However, failure to bomb ISIS on that particular front is not going to go down well with the rebels," he said, warning that people were more likely to join hardline groups as a result.

Islamic State's next stop could be Syria's Azaz city, 10 km (6 miles) further north east and a gateway to the border crossing close by, the Observatory said.

"A small advance by Daesh (Islamic State) would get them to Azaz," said another rebel from the Nour al-Din al-Zenki brigade, which is in the Levant Front.

Azaz, flooded with thousands of refugees fleeing violence across northern Syria, has also been a major arms route and commercial thoroughfare for hundreds of trucks carrying Turkish goods to rebel-held areas in Aleppo and Idlib provinces.

Islamic State holds swathes of territory across Syria and Iraq, and has advanced rapidly in other parts of Syria in recent weeks, capturing the central city of Palmyra and the last border crossing between Syria and Iraq in the east.

The group is fighting both rival insurgents, the Syrian military and Kurdish forces in the four-year-old conflict.

Kurdish YPG forces have been battling Islamic State in Hasaka, a strategic province for all sides in the conflict due to its position next to Islamic State-held territory in Iraq.

Islamic State appeared to be losing land around Tal Abyad town, which lies north of its stronghold Raqqa city. Tal Abyad is one of the few remaining towns along the border with Turkey in Islamic State control, Kurdish and Arab tribal sources said.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/islamic-state ... ml#Fsz6TK3

[Anthea]

Islamic State continues to clash with multiple foes in Aleppo, Hasakah
By Thomas Joscelyn

Four days after the Islamic State launched a sudden assault on towns and villages in the northern Aleppo province, the heavy fighting continues. Not only is the Islamic State battling a consortium of rebel groups and jihadists in Aleppo, the “caliphate” is attempting to push into the predominately Kurdish city of Hasakah, which is the capital of the northeastern province with the same name .

Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s men began to attack Hasakah several days ago, with the Syrian state-controlled news agency, SANA, claiming that the jihadists’ plans had been thwarted by regime loyalists. However, the Islamic State regrouped and began a new round of fighting in the last twenty-four hours.

As part of its propaganda campaign accompanying the battles, the Islamic State released photos showing the execution of two men who were accused of being spies for the the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a US-designated terrorist organization that is affiliated with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). The PKK, YPG and elements from the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) drove the Islamic State out of Kobane, another Kurdish-majority city in northern Syria, earlier this year.

One of the photos advertising the execution of the alleged PKK spies can be seen above.

The Islamic State’s decision to seize territory controlled by rebel groups north of Aleppo has set off another major, multi-sided battle. Initially, the “caliphate’s” main target was the Levant Front, a coalition of several factions, and fighters belonging to the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

But the decision by Baghdadi’s men to move against the anti-Assad rebels has drawn in other actors, namely the jihadists from the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, and Ahrar al Sham, which is linked to al Qaeda.

A number of al Qaeda ideologues, and their allies, have issued a fatwa saying it is “compulsory” for Muslims from Aleppo and elsewhere to drive the Islamic State’s forces back.

The ideologues note that Syria has witnessed “greatest victories and conquests in recent times,” which have caused “the tyrant Bashar and his allies” to “panic.” They are referring, primarily, to the gains made by the jihadist-led coalition, Jaysh al Fateh (“Army of Conquest”), in Idlib since March.

“The Islamic Nation waited for further victories when suddenly the Baghdadists stabbed the Mujahideen in their backs in Sawran [a town in Aleppo] to stop the advancements made against the regime and to lengthen the lifespan of this tyrant,” the anti-Islamic State jihadists claim, according to a translation published by their supporters online.

Because of this situation, they conclude, “it is compulsory (waajib) to repel their [the Islamic State’s] aggression and defend the lands of the Muslims and it is impermissible to hand over the land of Shaam to them for it has become clear the corrupted beliefs they hold.”

The statement’s signatories include Dr. Sami al Uraydi (Al Nusrah Front’s top sharia official), Abu Sulayman al Muhajir (an Australian al Qaeda sharia official who was dispatched to Syria and serves in Al Nusrah), Abu Qatada al Filistini and Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi (two pro-al Qaeda thinkers who are also staunch critics of Baghdadi’s organization), as well as Abdullah al Muhaysini (who is, at a minimum, tied to al Qaeda’s international organization). Several others signed the edict as well.

Their fatwa clears the path for Al Nusrah and its jihadists allies to wage war against the Islamic State in Aleppo. And they explicitly condone the sending of reinforcements from other areas in Syria, arguing that if the forces “close by are not sufficient to repel their [the Islamic State’s] attack, then it is compulsory for everyone in the land of Shaam to repel this aggression.”

The Al Nusrah Front, Ahrar al Sham, Jaysh al Islam, and other insurgents have posted numerous images of their fighters being redeployed to Aleppo to counter the “caliphate’s” men.

The complex battle has even led to renewed allegations that the Assad regime has a de facto alliance with the Islamic State, as Assad’s warplanes have reportedly hit positions standing in the Islamic State’s way in Aleppo. The al Qaeda ideologues echo this claim in their fatwa, pointing out that the Islamic State has effectively run interference for Assad, who has lost key battles over the past two and a half months.

On its official Twitter feed, the Levant Front has posted images and videos from the ongoing battles. One photo, included on the right, purportedly shows improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that were discovered and defused after the Islamic State had implanted them.

Other videos posted online show rebels belonging to the Levant Front and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) firing on Islamic State positions north of Aleppo.

The showdown in Aleppo sets up a confrontation between the two competing models for waging jihad in Syria. The Islamic State is uncompromising and operates under the belief that it is the only true authority. The Al Nusrah Front, which answers to al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri, continues to work with other factions in an attempt to dethrone Assad. Al Nusrah’s strategy reflects al Qaeda’s belief that a true Islamic state cannot be established until after its major opposition is cleared from the land.

Naturally, the Islamic State’s supporters chastise Al Nusrah and its jihadist comrades for working with allies who do not share their radical beliefs.

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/ ... um=twitter

[Anthea]

[Anthea]

Mail Online

Man with British accent claiming to be doctor appears in new ISIS video urging Muslim medics from England to join jihadis
By Tom Wyke

Calling himself Abu Amir al-Muhajir, he praises the medical facilities ISIS has at Deir Ezzor province in Syria

He is clean shaven and speaks in flawless English, giving a lengthy speech urging Muslims with skills in medicine to join ISIS

Video also features interviews with array of hospital staff, from surgeons to nurses, in order to show off the Islamic State healthcare system

He may have been the one who enticed nine British medical students to travel to Syria from Khartoum in Sudan, reportedly to join ISIS

A 'doctor' with a strong British accent has appeared in a new Islamic State propaganda video urging Muslim medics from England and Sudan to join the jihadis in Syria.

Appearing under the nom de guerre Abu Amir al-Muhajir, he may well have been responsible for recruiting the nine British Sudanese medical students who travelled to Syria last March and are believed to be working in hospitals in ISIS-held territory.

Sitting in front of a large empty desk, the doctor is clean shaven and speaks in flawless English about the different medical facilities in the Syrian province of Deir Ezzor.

He declares at the beginning of the video that he is appearing, ‘on behalf of the doctors and medical council here in wilayat al-Kheir (Deir Ezzor province) in the Islamic State.

Link to Full Article - Photos - Videos:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... hadis.html

[Anthea]

Mail Online

Intercepted by ISIS fanatics just yards from safety: Moment hundreds of desperate Syrian refugees are frogmarched back to face death as Turkish troops look on helplessly from the border
By Darren Boyle

Heavily armed ISIS terrorists forced thousands of Syrian refugees to abandon their escape to freedom at gunpoint

The men, women and children carried everything they could as they shuffled up to the Tal Abyad border crossing

Turkish troops watched on as the ISIS terrorists forced the refugees to turn around and head back to Tal Abyad

The Syrian-Kurdish YPG militia is advancing on the town having made major advances in ISIS controlled territory

ISIS terrorists forced thousands of Syrian refugees trying to escape the extremist-held territory to turn around despite being less than 100 yards from the safety of the Turkish border.

Turkish troops watched on helplessly as heavily-armed ISIS terrorists blocked the border crossing at Tal Abyad, where some 13,000 civilians have crossed over the past ten days.

The men, women and children were stopped at gunpoint almost within touching distance of the border town of Akcakale.



Below photo of IS terrorists laughing



Link to Full Article - Photos - Video:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... order.html

[Anthea]

Locals fear ISIS members quietly slipped into Turkey

AKCAKALE, Turkey: As the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, taken by Kurds from ISIS militants this week, looms in the distance, one question troubles the Turkish residents on the other side. What happened to the defeated militants? Many locals on the Turkish side of the border fear some of the beaten Islamists may have shaven their beards, slipped across, and now be quietly living among them.

“Don’t film me smoking,” pleads Mustafa, a barber in the Turkish border town of Akcakale.

“It’s Ramadan. ISIS might see it and cut my fingers,” he said.

Turkey has always vehemently denied accusations it has allowed the militants to use the border as a transit point. It has given no indication that large numbers of militants could have joined Syrian refugees crossing the border.

The governor of the Sanliurfa province, Izzettin Kucuk, said just two unarmed ISIS members gave themselves up at the border when thousands of refugees streamed across at the weekend.

Other reports said five suspected ISIS militants were captured as they attempted to cross into Turkey together with refugees through the barbed wire fence that once sealed the border.

Kurdish forces took the strategic town earlier this week after several days of intense fighting, which sparked an exodus of more than 23,000 refugees into neighboring Turkey. Some have started to return home but residents fear ISIS fighters in disguise were among the thousands of refugees who stayed in Akcakale or in nearby camps.

“When ISIS first took over Tal Abyad, I bought a Kalashnikov. But now that they might be among us, I’m planning on buying something heavier,” said Ihsan Kurt, 50, a grocery owner. “Our town is a ticking bomb,” he said.

The fears have been amplified by extraordinary scenes at the weekend – just before the town was taken by the Kurds – when ISIS fighters appeared right at the border fence and appeared to grin at the Turkish guards on the other side.

“Because so many refugees crossed the border, the jihadis had a good chance of remaining unnoticed in the crowds. They shave their beard and cross over. It’s that simple,” said Ismail Yilmaz, a local official from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

“Once they cross the border, they go to bigger towns or refugee camps where they can hide more easily,” he said. “I’ve seen them praying at our mosques, I’ve seen them in our hospitals, I’ve seen them getting arrested, I’ve seen them being freed.”

The Human Rights Association (IHD) of Turkey NGO said in a recent report on Akcakale that at least 50 ISIS fighters crossed over from Tal Abyad to Turkey after Kurdish militiamen and their Syrian rebel allies drove out the militants.

It denounced the Turkish authorities for “not following up the arrival of any of these militants.”

“We do not know who is walking our streets anymore. We are helping our brothers and sisters coming from Syria because they are in need of help, but we may well be helping the jihadis unknowingly,” said Mustafa, the barber.

But Salih Kerpeten, a farmer, said he was not particularly bothered by an ISIS presence in town because any newcomers were “not hard-liners like foreign fighters.”

“I heard that some ISIS fighters fled to Turkey out of fear. They fled from ISIS,” he said.

“We still can’t trust them. There are good and bad among them, but how can you differentiate?” he said.

“In any case we have nothing to be afraid of. We are the citizens of Turkey. They should be afraid of us,” he said.

In recent months, there have been growing signs that Turkey is responding to Western criticism that it is not doing enough to halt foreign fighters.

The Turkish army said Wednesday it captured “four terrorists” from ISIS in the southern border province of Kilis as they were trying to cross into Turkey from Syria.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle ... um=twitter

[Anthea]

Washington Post

Islamic State attacks Kobane 5 months after ouster;
scores reported killed

SANLIURFA, Turkey — Islamic State militants stormed into the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane on Thursday, launching suicide attacks and gunning down civilians five months after the extremists were driven from the area with the help of U.S.-led airstrikes.

Assailants in five cars penetrated Kurdish defenses shortly before dawn, carried out a suicide bombing and then fanned out in an apparent attempt to blast their way into the town on the Syrian-Turkish border, said Redur Xelil, a spokesman for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, which reclaimed Kobane in January.

The attackers — numbering about 30 — wore YPG uniforms and flew the flags of the opposition Free Syrian Army on their vehicles, Xelil said. They moved through the streets randomly shooting at civilians, killing and wounding scores, then detonating suicide vests as Kurdish forces closed in, according to Xelil and witnesses.

Authorities in neighboring Turkey said 63 civilians from Kobane were admitted to Turkish hospitals.

By nightfall, most of the militants had been captured, killed or surrounded, and Kurdish forces were reported to be restoring order. But the attack was a reminder of the Islamic State’s continued ability to upset the battlefield even when it appears to be on the defensive.

In recent weeks, the group has suffered defeats in nearby Raqqa province. The capture last week of the border town of Tal Abyad, the militants’ most important conduit for trade and the flow of foreign fighters, was followed by a Kurdish-Syrian rebel force’s advances farther south toward the city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed capital.

Xelil said the Islamic State’s attack on Kobane was intended to divert attention away from the group’s recent setbacks. The Islamic State is also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh.

“This is related to the success we achieved. Daesh wants to raise the spirits of its fighters, but I don’t think they can succeed,” he said.

One of the targets of the attack appeared to be the leader of the main Syrian rebel battalion fighting alongside the Kurds, according to Abu Shujaa, a spokesman for the battalion, Thuwar al-Raqqa, or Raqqa Revolutionaries. During the attack, Kurdish-speaking assailants in Kurdish uniforms went to the home of the leader, known as Abu Issa, asked for him and then opened fire, wounding six of his female relatives, Abu Shujaa said.

The assault represents the first major setback for Kurdish forces in Kobane since the Islamic State initially launched an offensive to capture the town in September, triggering the most intense airstrikes so far in the U.S.-led campaign against the group.

Kobane became a symbol of both Kurdish and American determination to confront the Islamic State, and U.S. officials regularly point to the victory there as an example of the progress that can be made when resolute ground forces are backed by concerted U.S. air power.

The location of Thursday’s attack, on the northern edge of town adjoining the Turkish border, drew allegations of Turkish involvement from Kurdish activists. The Kurds have long accused Turkey of covertly helping the Islamic State to prevent them from consolidating control over territory adjoining the country. On its Facebook page, the YPG accused “the fascist Turkish army” of facilitating the attack, and on Twitter, the hashtag #TerroristTurkey trended worldwide.

Turkey strenuously denied the charge and released CCTV footage from its side of the border showing that the first suicide bomber drove his car from the Syrian side.

“By using the latest attack in Kobane as a pretext, some dirty circles are attempting to put Turkey on the target board,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said the government had evidence that the convoy of assailants was dispatched from the Islamic State-controlled Syrian town of Jarablus farther west, on the opposite bank of the Euphrates River. “We deny the allegation ISIS crossed the border from Turkey,” he said.

According to Abu Shujaa, all the assailants were Kurdish, many of them from Iraq, and they infiltrated Kobane by mingling with refugees returning to the destroyed town.

Xelil said the convoy of cars originally approached Kobane from the southwest, but he disputed the idea that the assailants could have come from Jarablus, saying bridges across the Euphrates have been blown up.

“Where they came from is a confusing question,” he said. “There are still ongoing investigations.”

Also Thursday, a coalition of mostly moderate rebel units launched an offensive to capture the southern Syrian city of Daraa from the government. If successful, the offensive would effectively leave President Bashar al-Assad’s increasingly beleaguered forces without a major foothold in southern Syria and further shift the balance of power.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/isl ... story.html

[Anthea]

ARA News

ISIS stones 15 Syrians to death on charges of adultery

Militants of the Islamic State group (IS/ISIS) announced in a statement on Saturday their intention to implement the so-called “stoning sentence” against a group of Syrian men and women on charges of adultery, sources in the eastern countryside of Syria’s Deir ez-Zor reported.

Speaking to ARA News, Zaid al-Abdullah, member of Voice and Image campaign (which documents violations of IS against civilians), said that IS militants arrested more than 15 people on Friday, including eight women in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor.

“The group announced the arrestees will be stoned to death next week,” he said.

Civil rights activist Khalid al-Aboud told ARA News in Deir ez-Zor that IS militants are killing civilians under false accusations.

“They (IS militants) are targeting people who oppose the radical ideology of the group, and they try to execute them under false accusations,” he said.

“Those whom the group intends to stone to death have been struggling against IS for months. People of eastern Deir ez-Zor are known for their resistance against this terror group.”

Two weeks ago, the radical group crucified and executed many people on charges of breaking Ramadan fast in the cities of Deir ez-Zor, al-Bukamal, Hatlah, Mayadeen and Sabha in eastern Syria, according to local activists.

http://aranews.net/2015/07/isis-stones- ... ce=twitter

[Anthea]

BBC News

Spanish journalists 'kidnapped' in Syria

Three Spanish journalists are missing in Syria and are thought to have been kidnapped, Spanish media have said.

The three men, Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre, were working in the northern city of Aleppo.

They have not been heard from since shortly after entering Syria via Turkey on 10 July, according to the Spanish press association FAPE.

The Spanish foreign ministry said it was aware of the situation and was "working on it".

"We don't know (if they were together) doing their investigative reports in Aleppo, just that another three Spanish journalists were kidnapped in the same area nearly a year ago," said FAPE president Elsa Gonzalez.

The Islamic State (IS) group, which has kidnapped and killed Western journalists in Syria over the past year, controls areas in the north and east of Aleppo province.

The city of Aleppo has been the scene of daily fighting between forces belonging to the Syrian regime and rebel groups for more than three years.

Fighting on the ground and government air strikes have left thousands dead, and destroyed more than 60% of the Old City.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-33616176

[Anthea]

BreakingNews

Massive explosions rocking Assad's army depots in Safira after air strikes hit it.

ISIS claiming responsibility

No more details known

[Anthea]

ARA News

Terrorist attack hit Syria’s Qamishli, Kurds blame ISIS

On Monday, two bombs hit the Kurdish city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria, killing at least two civilians and injuring seven others, local sources reported.

The first blast hit the al-Kornish neighborhood, while the second took place at a local market in Jumayeh neighborhood east Qamishli.

Speaking to ARA News, Shiyar Osman, an eyewitness from al-Kornish district, said that a car bomb attack hit the Kornish neighborhood on Monday.

“There are several casualties. We’re not sure yet who is behind this terrorist attack,” he said.

Meanwhile, a motorcycle driven by a suicide bomber exploded in the crowded market of Jumayeh in eastern Qamishli.

A Kurdish security member of Asayish said they surrounded both targeted locations and evacuated some seven injured and at least two dead bodies.

“Recently, we discovered a number of car bombs at the entrances of the city and near security checkpoints. Such terrorist operations are most likely planned by Daesh (ISIS),” a Kurdish security member told ARA News.

Over the past three years, Qamishli city saw dozens of such bombings, most of which were conducted by IS radical group against headquarters of Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and checkpoints of the Asayish security.

Reporting by: Ahmed Shiwesh, Aynur Mohammed

http://aranews.net/2015/07/terrorist-at ... ce=twitter

[Anthea]

Associated Press

Islamic State group seizes central Syrian town

BEIRUT — The Islamic State group on Thursday seized a key town in central Syria following heavy clashes with President Bashar Assad's forces, in the militants' biggest advance since capturing the historic town of Palmyra in May, Syrian activists said.

The heavily populated town of Qaryatain lies southwest of Palmyra, which is home to towering Roman ruins, and some 85 kilometers from Homs city. Its capture allows the Islamic State group to link up areas under its control in and around Palmyra with areas in the eastern countryside of Qalamoun in Damascus province.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Islamic State group seized the town Thursday after three suicide bombers targeted army checkpoints at the entrance the day before, setting off a fierce battle.

Websites affiliated with the Islamic State group confirmed the militants had taken over Qaryatain. A Facebook page through which the Islamic State posts news of its military activities carried photos that purported to show the fighting to "liberate" the town, including a tank allegedly seized from the Syrian army.

Qaryatain lies midway between the cities of Homs, Palmyra and Damascus. Activists say it has a mixed population of around 40,000 Sunni Muslims and Christians, as well as thousands of internally displaced people who had fled from Homs.

The Islamic State group had suffered a string of military setbacks after capturing Palmyra. In June, Kurdish fighters and their local allies expelled Islamic State from the key northern border town of Tal Abyad, cutting off a major supply route for the group.

Late last month, Turkey began carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria. It also agreed to allow U.S. warplanes to use the strategic Incirlik Air Base for operations against Islamic State in Syria. Turkey's foreign minister said Wednesday that American aircraft had begun to arrive at the base, which is close to the border with Syria, adding that an "extensive' fight against the extremists would soon begin.

http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east ... n-1.361701