Insurgents launch new offensive in outskirts of Damascus

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Insurgents launch new offensive in outskirts of Damascus

Jihadists, Islamists and rebels affiliated with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) launched an offensive in the eastern outskirts of the Syrian capital yesterday. The sudden attack began in the Jobar district of Damascus and then spread into a nearby area.

Hay’at Tahrir al Sham (HTS), a joint venture led by al Qaeda’s arm in Syria, launched two suicide attacks with vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (SVBIEDs) at the beginning of the assault. HTS (“Assembly for the Liberation of Syria”) posted pictures of the two suicide bombers, as well as images glorifying the moment of their “martyrdom,” on its official Telegram channel.

It appears that small drones were used to generate footage of the SVBIEDs from above. Like their rivals in the Islamic State, al Qaeda’s men in Syria have long used drones to capture the instant when one of their suicide bombers detonates.

Other photos show HTS jihadists moving throughout Jobar, a fighter with an amputated lower arm engaged in combat, a garage complex, a smashed regime poster and a truck captured as part of the group’s “spoils.”

The images can be seen below. (WARNING: In addition to the aforementioned photos, some of the pictures are graphic, showing dead regime fighters on the streets.)

The leader of HTS, Abu Jaber (also known as Hashem al Sheikh), promised just days ago that his men would soon “escalate” their operations against Bashar al Assad’s regime. It appears that the Damascus offensive is part of what he meant. In addition, HTS has carried out suicide bombings in Damascus and also killed a senior military intelligence official in Homs. [See FDD’s Long War Journal reports: Leader of al Qaeda’s joint venture in Syria promises to ‘escalate’ operations and Al Qaeda front group claims responsibility for suicide attacks in Damascus.]

Ahrar al Sham, which frequently fights alongside HTS and its predecessor (Al Nusrah Front), is also taking part in the effort. The group has released a series of photos from the fighting on its social media sites. One tweet claims that the “industrial area” between the Jobar and Qabun districts had been mostly “liberated” after many members of the Assad regime’s forces were killed or injured.

Ahrar’s fighters are shown preparing for the battle, fighting in the Damascus neighborhoods, and displaying their “booty” in the images below.

HTS’ current leader, Abu Jaber, and other senior HTS jihadists were once prominent figures in Ahrar al Sham. However, al Qaeda’s forces in HTS and Ahrar al Sham’s members reportedly clashed in northern Syria earlier this year. Indeed, some of Ahrar’s leadership refused to join HTS, deciding to operate their own entity and absorb other factions in the process. But this hasn’t stopped HTS and Ahrar from cooperating on Syria’s battlefields. In addition to the fighting in Damascus, the two have also coordinated in Daraa, a southern Syrian city, Homs province and likely elsewhere in recent weeks.

Faylaq al Rahman, a FSA-branded organization, has played a significant role in the battle as well. Faylaq al Rahman has used American-made TOW missiles, including in recent weeks. FSA-affiliated groups have frequently allied with al Qaeda’s jihadists, as is the case in Jobar district. Faylaq al Rahman’s propaganda from the battle places its members in the same areas as HTS and Ahrar al Sham’s men.

Faylaq al Rahman claimed in a statement that two tanks were destroyed. It has tweeted photos of identification cards that allegedly belonged to regime loyalists in the area. And in one video, a Faylaq al Rahman fighter can be heard calling on Assad regime fighters to surrender, as they are surrounded inside a captured building.

Insurgents from all three groups — HTS, Ahrar al Sham, and Faylaq al Rahman — are pictured wearing the same red and white headbands.

It is possible that still other organizations are involved in the fighting. For example, Jaysh al Islam has had a strong presence in the area surrounding Damascus, especially in the eastern Ghouta region.

There is an ebb and flow to such battles, so it is too early to tell where the offensive will lead. The rebels (including jihadists and Islamists) have controlled only small pockets in the areas immediately surrounding the center of Damascus. The new effort is likely intended to clear out more space for them to operate, but also to make the Assad regime and its allies fight on additional fronts. Since losing Aleppo late last year, the insurgency has been looking for an opportunity to gain the initiative once again.

Syria to UN: Israel violated our territory

The last thing Bashir al-Assad should be worrying about is some Israeli jets knocking out Iranian missiles crossing Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon but being the good little servant to the Ayatollah, Assad is bitching to the UN.  Lord knows the Israelis are going to fear the UN....hahaha

The story comes from Israel National News.

Syria to UN: Israel violated our territory

Syria on Friday sent two letters to the UN in which it said that Israel’s airstrikes on the country violated international law, the UN Charter, and “the sovereignty and the sanctity of Syrian territory,” the Syrian news agency SANA reported.

In letters sent to the UN Secretary General and the President of the Security Council, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said that “in flagrant defiance of the international legitimacy and UN resolutions and the sovereignty and the inviolability of the Syrian territory,” four Israeli warplanes violated Syrian airspace and targeted a military site in the eastern countryside of Homs province.

“As part of its right to defend the sanctity of its territory, the Syrian air defense responded to this aggression and shot down one of the planes while the rest of them were forced to flee,” the Ministry wrote, according to SANA.

“The Israeli aggression this morning comes as a new Israeli attempt to boost the collapsed morale of terrorist groups after they were defeated recently by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies in many areas,” the Ministry said in the letters.

“Syria calls on the UN Secretary General and the President of the UNSC to condemn this blatant Israeli aggression, to force Israel to stop supporting terrorism in Syria, to implement all UNSC resolutions on counter-terrorism, including resolution No. 2253, to withdraw from the whole occupied Syrian Golan to the line of June 4th, 1967, and to implement resolution No. 497 for 1981,” it wrote.

Syria launched several anti-aircraft missiles towards the Israeli aircraft that carried out Thursday night’s airstrike.

One missile was intercepted by Israel's Arrow air defense system, one of the first times the system has been used.

While Syria claimed that it shot down one of the Israeli aircraft, the IDF denied that any planes had been struck and stressed that Israeli troops and citizens had not been in danger at any point during the incident.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Israel would continue to act to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah.

“Our policy is very consistent: when we identify attempts to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah, and we have the intelligence and operational feasibility - we work to prevent this," the Prime Minister said.

"That's how it’s been and that’s how it will be, we have determination, and the proof is that we are acting, and everyone has to take this into account," he added.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry’s complaint to the UN was filed after the Syrian army reacted angrily to the Israeli airstrike on Friday and threatened to respond harshly.

"This flagrant attack is part of the Zionist enemy's persistent efforts to support the terrorist gangs of ISIS," the army said, adding, “It will be responded to directly with all possible means.”

Suicide attack rocks Syria’s capital

Just when Bashir al-Assad thinks he has it allllll under control.....

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

Suicide attack rocks Syria’s capital

A powerful blast caused by a suicide bomber hit a heavily policed district of the Syrian capital on Thursday with at least seven killed, a police source told state television.

The source was quoted by state television as saying a suicide bomber blew himself in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood where some of Syria's main security installations are located.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which tracks violence across the country said the death toll was expected to rise with several of the wounded in a critical condition.

Footage on state media showed splattered blood and wreckage of several cars with dozens of heavily armed security personnel at the site of the explosion.

Last July, a car bomb also hit Kafr Sousa near an Iranian school in an attack that killed several people in the area, close to the main Umayyad Square that connects the city with several highways.

Insurgents fighting to topple President Bashar al Assad say the district houses many recruits from Iranian-backed militias fighting alongside the army.

The Aleppo Massacres - Has Anyone Cornered Obama?

Okay, so the Syrian army of Bashar al-Assad seems to be painting the streets of Aleppo red with blood and while everyone seems to be trying to find solutions, I would like to know WTF Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have to say about it.

Here's where I'm coming from - Barack and Hillary called out the forces of the U.S. and NATO to take out Ghaddafi in Libya awhile back ....why?  Because of the THREAT of violence and death to civilians.  Remember, there were NO attacks on civilians by Ghaddafi...we went to war ONLY because there MIGHT be threats to civilians.  But now, with documentation of civilians in Aleppo being slaughtered, Barack Obama is sitting in a corner sucking his thumb or off golfing. 

Hillary's probably too drunk to remember Libya.

The story comes from Haaretz.

Analysis:  Aleppo Massacre: U.S. and World Failed Syrians, Giving Assad His Greatest Military Achievement

Bashar Assad's regime is currently in the process of realizing its greatest military achievement in its battle against Syrian rebels: the re-conquest of the eastern part of the city of Aleppo, following four years of continuous war there.

The Syrian tyrant has focused his efforts on that northern city in the last few months, and it is now buckling under the enormous pressure it has been subjected to. Since Monday, reports have been streaming in of atrocities in the streets, as forces identified with the regime (including Hezbollah fighters, according to some sources) are executing civilians and medical personnel in the neighborhoods the forces are taking over. It’s likely that such incidents will only increase in the coming days and weeks.

The fall of Aleppo comes as the result of a well-planned campaign based on laying siege and systematically starving its inhabitants, as well as exhausting and deliberately killing civilians among whom rebel fighters had dug in. What started with the dropping of barrel bombs containing fuel and explosives on the city's neighborhoods – carried out by outdated Syrian air force planes – was complemented by precision bombing by Russian fighter jets. And the strategy and brutal methods remained the same: Moscow also did not shrink from deliberate targeting of civilians, and according to human rights groups and Western governments, it even marked clinics, hospitals, schools and lines of people outside bakeries as targets.

The collapse of Aleppo would not have happened without massive Russian support. Russia’s military intervention, which began in September 2015, stabilized the Syrian regime’s defensive lines, subsequently enabling Assad to recover control over areas he had lost. His greatest gain so far is Aleppo, and the Russian-Iranian-Syrian alliance may now turn towards Idlib, west of Aleppo. Taking complete control of this city will remove the ongoing threat to the Alawite enclave in the Western part of the country – indeed, it is particularly important for the regime and its Russian patrons, who have a naval and air base there.

This is the same Russia that Israel has been trying to getting along with, over the last year and a half, during which four meetings have taken place between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Vladimir Putin. Israel, of course, is not responsible for the horrific massacres in Aleppo, other than by being part of the international community that has displayed total impotence in face of these brutal bombings.

Netanyahu is playing the cards he has and so far it seems he’s been doing this well. Israel has managed to avoid getting embroiled in the civil war and to a large extent has managed to stick to the red lines it has defined during this conflict (i.e., immediate responses to firing into Israel's territory, efforts to prevent the smuggling of chemical weapons and advanced fighting capabilities to Hezbollah in Lebanon). At the same time it has avoided getting into aerial battles with the Russians over Syria.

Aleppo, Syria...the New Killing Fields

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

Scores killed in rebel offensive on Aleppo

At least 74 civilians, including 25 children, were killed in the 8-day-old offensive launched by Syrian opposition fighters against the western edge of the government-held part of Aleppo city, a Syrian opposition monitoring group said Saturday.

Opposition fighters launched the protracted attack on Oct. 28 on government-held Aleppo, aiming to break a months-long government-imposed siege on the eastern part of the city they control. They have since advanced on a number of neighborhoods on the city's western edge, capturing Assad district and Minian village as pro-government forces fought back to regain control.

The Syrian military said the first three days of the rebel offensive left more than 80 people killed. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the discrepancy in casualty figures.

Rights groups and the UN have sharply criticized the opposition groups for the indiscriminate shelling of western Aleppo districts that resulted in a number of civilian deaths. Such criticism has largely been reserved for the government and its allies for indiscriminate bombing of residential areas.

Prior to the rebel offensive and in less than a month, more than 400 civilians, many of them children, have been killed in bombings that also hit a school and medical facilities, and nearly 2,000 wounded in rebel-held Aleppo and surrounding areas.

The Observatory said Saturday that three civilian deaths were recorded in rebel-held Aleppo districts in the past week. Russia had declared a halt on airstrikes on the besieged part of the city since October 18. But there were reports of airstrikes on the city's edge and in rural areas.

On Friday, a renewed 10-hour Russian offer of a moratorium on airstrikes on rebel-held parts of Aleppo expired. None of the area's estimated 275,000 residents evacuated the territory, as was urged by Russian and Syrian officials. There were fears that a punishing aerial campaign would resume on the city after the expiration.

But early afternoon Saturday, there were no reports of airstrikes in the city.

However, Syrian activists reported airstrikes on western rural Aleppo province against rebel positions.

Footage from the activist-run Thiqa News Agency allegedly showed missiles targeting the town of Darat Izza in northwestern Aleppo province. A team of first responders known as the Syrian Civil Defense, or White Helmets, said at least three people were killed in the airstrikes and 15 others wounded.

There has been an intense aerial bombing campaign in the western Aleppo countryside and nearby Idlib province. Rebels said it appeared to be an attempt to sever the rebels supply lines.

An insurgent alliance, known as the Army of Conquest and which includes the al-Qaida-linked group Fatah al-Sham Front, has led the attack on western Aleppo. It is the second time insurgents have tried to break the siege imposed on the territory since July. An earlier offensive that breached the siege in August for a few weeks was repelled, and the seal on eastern Aleppo re-imposed.

Abu Saeed al-Halabi, a Dutch member of Fatah al-Sham based in Aleppo, said Russia has intensified its airstrikes during the insurgent-led offensive on Aleppo's western countryside, “the proposed end destination” for the potential evacuees from eastern Aleppo. He said that the aerial campaign has not curtailed the rebel offensive.

“This offensive will take longer than previous ones because the attacks take place in urban areas and the regime militias have a lot to lose if this siege is broken,” he told The Associated Press in a text message from Aleppo.

Syrian regime calls on Aleppo rebels to surrender

Opposition fighters carrying their weapons in Aleppo on September 30, 2016. (Reuters)

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

Syrian regime calls on Aleppo rebels to surrender

Syrian rebels and pro-government forces clashed Sunday on several fronts around Aleppo as the country’s military command called on rebels to lay down their weapons and evacuate the contested city.

The Syrian military, supported by Iranian-backed militias and Russian air power, began their push to take the whole of the divided city after a ceasefire collapsed last month. The assault has nearly destroyed eastern Aleppo’s healthcare system, the U.N said.

An air campaign by the Syrian government and its allies was reinforced by a ground offensive targeting the besieged eastern half of the city where insurgents have been holding out.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Syrian military said the army and its allies had advanced south from the Handarat refugee camp north of Aleppo city, which they took earlier this week, taking the Kindi hospital and parts of the Shuqaif industrial area.

Air strikes and shelling continued on Sunday, the Observatory said.

Zakaria Malahifji, of the Aleppo-based rebel group Fastaqim, told Reuters there were clashes in this area on Sunday.

The Observatory added that there was fierce fighting between rebels and government forces all along the front line which cuts the city in two.

The Syrian army said on Sunday that rebel fighters should vacate east Aleppo and it would guarantee them safe passage and necessary aid.

“The army high command calls all armed fighters in the eastern neighborhood of Aleppo to leave these neighborhoods and let civilian residents live their normal lives,” the statement carried by state news agency SANA said.

Assad and IS: two sides of the same coin

The story comes from DAWN.

Assad and IS: two sides of the same coin

Political extremism in Syria — the kind that combines irreligious sectarianism in the name of Islam with transnational terrorism — depends on Bashar al-Assad clinging to power. The militant Islamic State group certainly must be beaten militarily, a long process that is painfully overdue. But Assad’s political survival strategy of mass homicide has made Syria fertile ground for vicious forms of criminality distinct from his own. To defeat the IS, we must end the regime’s mass murder: diplomatically if possible, militarily if necessary.

The Assad regime is a cause and enabler of the IS. In the early 2000s, it helped midwife Al Qaeda in Iraq, the direct ancestor of the IS, by escorting foreign fighters across Syria and into Iraq. By pursuing a civilian-centric terrorism agenda since 2011 and alienating Sunni Muslims in Syria and around the globe, the regime has boosted the terrorist group’s recruiting and created a territorial vacuum for the ersatz caliphate to fill. The IS is Assad’s enemy of choice, and Assad is the group’s enemy of choice as well — someone whose depredations fall overwhelmingly on Sunni Muslims it hopes to recruit.

President Obama first acknowledged this symbiotic relationship in November 2014 at the G20 summit in Australia. He recognises that Assad’s war on civilians sustains the IS, but he has never exacted a military price for mass murder. Instead the United States’ strategy in Syria today ineffectively divides the problem into two loosely connected pieces: in the West, watching mass murder while entreating Russia to stop it; in the East, pursuing the IS indecisively with airplanes and a Kurdish militia.

No one advocates invading and occupying Syria. Still, the next president should approach Syria in a way consistent with ground truth: the rampant criminality of the Assad regime makes Syria safe for terrorist groups that threaten the United States and its allies.

If talks with Russia fail to stop regime atrocities, the president — our current one or the next — should seek, select and apply modest military means (such as cruise missile strikes and effective anti-aircraft weapons for vetted rebels) to exact a painful price for wanton attacks on hospitals, schools, markets and mosques. Russia and Iran will not like it, but they can prevent it by getting their client out of the mass murder business. No one knows where Syria or Assad will be politically in a year, or three, or five. But we do know this: nothing politically good can happen in Syria with civilians on the bull’s-eye. Assad’s free ride for mass murder must end for Syria’s future to begin.

The IS must be killed militarily and kept from coming back to life, but the missing ingredient has been a sufficiently capable ground force. For military victory over the IS to be sealed, Washington and its allies must prepare their partners in the Syrian opposition to govern liberated areas. All of this is painfully and gratuitously overdue. A regional and European coalition of the willing under US leadership should have been organised right after the Paris attacks of November 2015.

Protecting civilians, beating the IS and organising decent governance for eastern Syria should be the pillars of a strategy to stabilise Syria, to set the stage for real peace talks and to stop the haemorrhaging of terrified humanity from a country ravaged mercilessly by two sides of the same terrorist coin: the Islamic State and Assad.

Will Aleppo Be Syria's Dresden?

We could very well be seeing the start of one of history's bloodiest battles.

The story comes from YNET.

Syrian government launches Aleppo blitz

The Assad regime has launched its biggest ever ground assault against the rebels holding out in Aleppo, Syria's former economic capital; heavy fighting is being reported around the city; Hezbollah leader Nasrallah: 'there are no prospects for political solutions ... the final word is for the battlefield.'

Syrian government forces and their allies attacked the opposition-held sector of Aleppo on several fronts on Tuesday, the biggest ground assault yet in a massive new campaign that has destroyed a US-backed ceasefire.

The United States says the assault on Aleppo is proof that President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and regional allies have abandoned an international peace process to pursue victory on the battlefield after nearly six years of civil war.

Washington, which agreed a ceasefire with Russia this month that collapsed after a week, says Moscow and Damascus are guilty of "barbarism" and war crimes for targeting civilians, health workers and aid deliveries in air strikes.

More than 250,000 civilians are believed to be trapped inside the besieged rebel-held sector of Aleppo, where intensive bombing over the past week has killed hundreds of people, many trapped under buildings brought down by bunker-busting bombs.

One air raid killed 12 people from two families when it brought down a building on Tuesday, bringing the death toll in opposition districts to more than 30, said Bebars Mishal, a spokesman for the Civil Defence emergency service.

A video purported to be of the attack's aftermath showed emergency workers bringing an apparently lifeless, dust-covered body out of the wreckage in a cherry-picker crane.

Only about 30 doctors are left in rebel-held Aleppo, coping with hundreds of wounded each day who are being treated on the floors of hospitals that are bereft of supplies.

"FEROCIOUS CONFRONTATION"

Senior combatants on both sides said pro-government forces were massing in several parts of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the war, now divided into a western zone held by the army and a smaller, besieged area held by rebels.

The commander of an Iraqi Shia militia fighting in support of Assad told Reuters a large force spearheaded by the army's elite "Nimr", or Tiger, forces had started to move in armoured vehicles and tanks for an attack on rebel-held areas.

Quelling the uprising in the city would give Assad his biggest victory yet of the war and deliver a powerful blow to his enemies.

It is far from clear whether an all-out attempt to storm the rebel-held area is planned soon: that would require a massive assault by the army, backed by Lebanese and Iraqi Shi'ite militias, Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Russian air power.

Imagine That....John Kerry F*cks Up....Again

The whole world has been laughing at American Secretaries of State for quite some time...we had Obama's first one who basically can't remember anything she did as the former Secretary and now we have a Vietnam War traitor who shits on everything he touches (just like his Boss).

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

US, Russia ‘fail to reach Syria deal,’ differences remain

Top diplomats from the United States and Russia on Monday failed to reach a deal to ease fighting in Syria, with a senior State Department official saying differences remained.

The official said a fresh round of talks between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the margins of the G20 summit in Hangzhou had ended without agreement.

President Barack Obama said the US and Russia were working earlier on Sunday to try to finalize a ceasefire in Syria that would allow more deliveries of humanitarian aid in the war-torn country.

Military officials from the United States and Russia, which back opposite sides in Syria’s five-year war, have been meeting for weeks to try to work on terms of a deal.

The civil war has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced 11 million, causing a refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe, and contributing to a rise in militant extremist groups.

Jihadists and other rebels claim to have broken through siege of Aleppo

Amazing - the Syrian army, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard AND the Russians can't kick these guys' asses.

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Jihadists and other rebels claim to have broken through siege of Aleppo

Shortly after Al Nusrah Front announced on July 28 that it was relaunching its operations under the name Jabhat Fath Al Sham (“Conquest of the Levant Front”), jihadists, Islamists and other Sunni rebel groups began an offensive to break the siege of Aleppo.

Bashar al Assad’s forces and their Iranian allies, backed by Russia, had been squeezing the rebel held part of the city since earlier this year. The Syrian regime and its partners cut off a key supply road in the north during fighting in June and July, thereby encircling their opponents.

The insurgents orchestrated an offensive to break the siege focusing on areas in the southern part of Aleppo, including the Ramousa district, which houses key military installations. The insurgents’ offensive is one of their largest undertakings since the beginning of the Syrian war, drawing together the resources of more than 20 factions and organizations. It obviously required extensive planning to coordinate the actions of so many groups.

On Aug. 6, just over one week after the battle began, the opposition to Assad claimed to have broken through the defensive positions manned by the Syrian regime and allied paramilitary forces. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), however, the fighting continues and Russia is bombing the area in an attempt to prevent the insurgents from consolidating their gains.

The effort to break the siege has been led by two coalitions: Jaysh al Fath (“Army of Conquest”) and Fatah Halab (“Aleppo Conquest”). Many of the constituent groups in each alliance streamed videos and released photos from the fighting on their social media pages.

Jaysh al Fath (“Army of Conquest”) and allied jihadist groups

Jaysh al Fath was formed by Al Nusrah, Ahrar al Sham, and other organizations in early 2015. The coalition quickly swept through the city of Idlib and the surrounding areas in a matter of weeks. Jaysh al Fath has led multiple other battles throughout Syria, with Al Nusrah (now Jabhat Fath Al Sham, or “JFS”) and Ahrar al Sham always leading the charge. Ahrar al Sham models itself after the Taliban and has its own links to al Qaeda.

Suicide bombers dispatched by JFS played a key role in the fight for southern Aleppo. Early on in the battle, JFS launched two “martyrdom” operations using vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs) at a location identified as Al Hikmah school. The official Twitter feed for JFS reported on July 31 that the VBIEDs targeted Assad’s loyalists. The jihadists quickly swarmed the area, claiming to have captured it.

JFS continued to launch suicide operations in the days that followed. On Aug. 5, a “martyr” identified as Abu al Baraa struck another location. JFS released a short of video of Abu al Baraa discussing his dedication to the cause, followed by footage of him driving his vehicle to the scene of the attack. On Aug. 6, JFS Twitter feeds advertised still another “martyr,” Abu Yaqub al Shami, who drove his VBIED into a Shiite-held location in Ramousa.

Jaysh al Fath’s member organizations, including JFS and Ahrar al Sham, celebrated their capture of a series of Syrian military colleges that were used as fortified bases in Ramousa. Jaysh al Fath’s battle plan was divided into several phases, with the phase focusing on the military academies known as the “Battle of Ibrahim al Youssef.” On June 16, 1979, Youssef massacred Alawite cadets at the artillery school in Ramousa. The slayings were blamed on the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, or an offshoot of the Islamist organization.

Other groups belonging to Jaysh al Fath include Jaysh al Sunna, Ajnad al Sham and Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad (KTJ), all of which participated in the offensive. Jaysh al Sunna and Ajnad al Sham announced the end of the siege on Aug. 6, with Ajnad al Sham thanking Allah for freeing “our brothers trapped in Aleppo.” The KTJ is a predominately Uzbek group that formally pledged allegiance to Al Nusrah last September.

Jihadists closely allied with Jaysh al Fath took part in the fighting. The Syrian arm of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), which is comprised mainly of Uighurs and is part of al Qaeda’s international network, produced a video trumpeting the beginning of campaign. It is not clear if the TIP is a named member of Jaysh al Fath, but in practice it doesn’t matter. The TIP’s men have been integrated into Jaysh al Fath’s battle plans for more than one year.

Other jihadist organizations tied to the al Qaeda network, such as Ansar al Din and Ansar al Islam, sent fighters to the battlefields in the southern part of Aleppo city as well.

Fatah Halab (“Aleppo Conquest”)

The Fatah Halab coalition in Aleppo was formed in 2015. It was established by more than two dozen rebel organizations, including the Nur al-Din al-Zanki Movement, the Levant Front, other Islamist groups and Free Syrian Army (FSA) brigades. Faylaq al Sham (“Sham Legion”), which is an Islamist organization, fought alongside Fatah Halab, but also joined Jaysh al Fath’s operations in both Idlib and Aleppo.

At its founding, Fatah Halab explicitly excluded Al Nusrah. But some of Fatah Halab’s constituent groups, including Nur al-Din al-Zanki Movement, have long worked with Nusrah.

Many of Fatah Halab’s constituent groups have posted propaganda from the fighting in Aleppo.

The 1st Regiment, which is a FSA unit, seemingly played a important role. On Aug. 2, the group’s fighters detonated a massive bomb in a tunnel underneath a facility controlled by Assad’s forces. The tunnel bomb paved the way for allied forces to rush into the district. Other photos show the 1st Regiment using guided missiles to destroy a vehicle belonging to Hezbollah and attack positions held by the Syrian regime.

On its official Twitter feed, the Fastaqem Union (FKO Union) describes itself as “one of the most effective factions in Syria,” aiming “to topple Al-Assad Regime and build free and democratic state for all Syrians.” A FKO Union video tweeted on Aug. 3 purportedly shows a “whole group of Hezbollah” members being killed in a TOW missile strike. Two days later, on Aug. 5, the FKO Union claimed to repel an attack by Iranian troops and allied militias that were trying to relieve the front lines.

The FKO Union isn’t the only group to fire TOW missiles during the battle. On Aug. 2, Jaysh al Nasr (“Army of Victory”) released a video of one of its fighters launching a TOW at enemies perched atop a building in Aleppo.

Other units, such as the Central Division, the Authenticity and Development Front, the Northern Division, Division 13, Sokoor al Jabal Brigade and the “101st Infantry” all posted images from the battle. The 101st Infantry tweeted a photo of its men manufacturing mortars and grenades to be used in the offensive.

Still another powerful rebel group, Jaysh al Islam, sent forces into the battle for Aleppo as well.

The coming days will prove whether the offensive was as successful as the parties responsible have claimed.

Assad forces bomb six Aleppo hospitals

I don't think Bashir al-Assad is trying to make points with the Liberal media in his war campaign.
Of course, Assad knows all about the use of hospitals as cover against attack as his brothers in Lebanon, Hezbollah, do it all of the time.

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

Assad forces bomb six Aleppo hospitals

Syrian government forces launched air strikes against six hospitals in the Aleppo area within a week in attacks that amounted to war crimes, a US-based rights group said on Wednesday.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said it was the worst week for attacks on medical facilities in the Aleppo region since the beginning of Syria's five-year conflict, which has killed more than 250,000 people.

The medical facilities were hit between July 23 and 31, the New York-based group said.

The city and province of Aleppo have been among the areas hardest hit by intensifying violence as peace efforts earlier this year failed and a fragile ceasefire crumbled.

"Since June, we've seen increasing reports of attacks on civilians in Aleppo and strikes on the region's remaining medical infrastructure," PHR's director of programs Widney Brown said in a statement.

"Each of these assaults constitutes a war crime," Brown said.

Government forces and their allies, with Russian backing, have advanced in recent months and imposed a siege on the rebel-held sector of Aleppo since early July, when they closed the main road from opposition areas out of the city.

"The bombings, the lack of humanitarian aid and the failure of the United Nations to deliver any kind of assistance means the death toll may soon be catastrophic," Brown said.

PHR said it has documented more than 370 attacks on 265 medical facilities during the war, and the deaths of 750 medical personnel.

Many hospitals have been hit or damaged during the five-year conflict. In April, an air strike on a hospital in rebel-held Aleppo killed dozens of people. Rebel rockets hit a hospital on the government side of the city a few days later.

Islamist commander killed during rebel bid to reopen Aleppo supply road

 Faylaq Al-Sham commander, Zuheir Harba




The Russians can chalk this one up as a HUGE victory in Syria.


The details come from AMN.

Islamist commander killed during rebel bid to reopen Aleppo supply road

This evening, Failaq Al-Sham lost their top field commander during an intense engagement in northern Aleppo. According to a field source in northern Aleppo, the Failaq Al-Sham commander was killed after a Russian airstrike struck his headquarters in Kafr Hamra, a town located west of Aleppo city.

Zuheir Harba, the Failaq Al-Sham commander, was otherwise tasked to counter the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in order to reopen the Castello road, which served as the last insurgent supply line to the provincial capital only days ago. The Failaq Al-Sham rebel group sustained upwards around 25 deaths in its Aleppo ranks today, while other Islamist militias of the Fatah Halab operation room suffered an equivalent death toll.

Among Failaq al-Sham’s identified fighters killed on Saturday were Colonel Mahmoud Bakkar, Muhammad Yasser (nicknamed Al-Qaisar), Hussam Biazed, Badr Ayssa, and Ahmad Bakkar. The rest of the names are yet to be obtained by Al-Masdar News as they lie scattered across the battlefield near the Al-Mallah farms.

As of Thursday, the SAA has imposed fire control over the Castello Highway, rendering it inoperable for the jihadists.

Islamic State claims blasts near Damascus Shia shrine

I'm curious - does Bashir al-Assad stay in the same place all of the time nowadays?  Is he even IN Syria? 

The story comes from Times of India.

Islamic State claims blasts near Damascus Shia shrine

AMMAN: The Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the suicide and car bomb blasts that struck a Damascus suburb on Saturday near Syria's holiest Shia Muslim shrine, and a monitoring group said at least 20 people were killed.

State television showed debris, mangled cars and wrecked shops in a main commercial thoroughfare near the Sayeda Zeinab shrine, in an area where at least three bomb attacks claimed by Islamic State have killed and wounded scores of people this year.

The ultra-hardline Sunni militants of ISIS, whose many foes are advancing on a number of fronts in both Syria and Iraq, are avowed enemies of Shias, whom they consider a heretical group within Islam.

State media said at least eight people were killed. But the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll had risen to at least 20, including at least 13 civilians, with the other victims coming from pro-government militias. It said the number was expected to rise because many of the scores of wounded people were in critical condition.

Islamic State said two of its suicide bombers had blown themselves up and operatives had detonated an explosives-laden car, according to the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency.

The Sayeda Zeinab shrine is a magnet for thousands of Iraqi and Afghan Shia militia recruits who go there before being assigned to front lines, where they fight against the Sunni rebel groups trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad. Almost every Shia militia fighter bears insignia on his combat fatigues with the words "For your sake, Sayeda Zeinab".

Sectarian split

The heavily garrisoned area near the shrine is also a well known stronghold of Lebanon's powerful Shia Hezbollah group, an Iranian-backed movement that is one of Assad's chief allies.

Non-jihadist rebels say Iran's strong military intervention on the side of Assad, alongside its backing of other Shia militias, is fuelling the sectarian dimension of the nearly six-year Syrian civil war by drawing even more radical foreign Sunni jihadists into the country.


Separately, US-backed Syrian forces made new territorial gains against Islamic State on Saturday, moving closer to another of its major strongholds in northern Syria, according to the monitoring group.


The observatory said the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), bringing together Kurdish and Arab fighters, were now almost 17km (10 miles) from the city of al-Bab, an Islamic State stronghold north east of Aleppo.


The SDF on Friday cut off the last route into the encircled town of Manbij from al-Bab after over a week of advances around that area, allowing it to lay siege to the large town from all directions, the monitor said..


In other frontlines in northern Syria, two rebel sources said Russian and Syrian jets stepped up their relentless aerial bombing of their positions in the northern city of Aleppo.

Al Nusrah Front and allies launch new offensive in Syria’s Aleppo province

Once again, just as Bashir Assad of Syria thinks he is making some real progress, the likes of Al Nusrah rear their head.

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Al Nusrah Front and allies launch new offensive in Syria’s Aleppo province

The Jaysh al Fateh (“Army of Conquest”) coalition, which was cofounded by Al Nusrah Front and its closest allies, has launched a new offensive in the southern part of Syria’s Aleppo province. The assault began sometime during the past two days when two suicide bombers detonated a large amount of explosives on positions controlled by Bashar al Assad’s regime and its Iranian-backed paramilitary allies.

Al Nusrah, which is al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, has already released several videos of the fighting. A few of the videos were recorded using small drones, which captured the dramatic scenes from overhead. Al Nusrah claims that two of its “martyrs” killed more than 100 Shiite fighters in twin bombings. (Screen shots from the videos, along with other propaganda from the battle, can be seen below.)

Jaysh al Fateh seeks to expand its grip on the territory surrounding the town of Khan Tuman, which is located south of the city of Aleppo.

The jihadist coalition seized Khan Tuman last month. Al Nusrah and other member groups in Jaysh al Fateh say their fighters have targeted the neighboring towns and villages, including Humayrah, Khalsah, Qal’ajiyah, and Qarassi, all of which are south of Khan Tuman. In addition, jihadi accounts on social media report heavy fighting in Maratah, which is to Khan Tuman’s east. The jihadists have specifically targeted fuel and weapons storage locations.

These locales can all be seen on the map reproduced above, which was first posted on Ajnad al Sham’s official Twitter feed. Ajnad al Sham is one of several groups that have joined Al Nusrah in the Jaysh al Fateh alliance.

The green area is controlled by Jaysh al Fateh, with a pinpoint on Khan Tuman. The area in purple is now contested, with Khalsah being the southernmost point identified on the map. The area in red is controlled by the Syrian regime and its allies from Iranian-backed militias and other paramilitary forces.

Jaysh al Fateh’s member organizations claim to have “liberated” several of these locations during the early fighting. Although such announced gains wouldn’t be surprising, their claims cannot be independently verified. There is also an ebb and flow to the fighting, with their enemies trying to regain the initiative.

Ahrar al Sham, which models itself after the Taliban and has its own links to al Qaeda, has posted a series of images from the new offensive as well. Pictures posted by Ahrar al Sham purportedly show the bodies of men who belonged to “sectarian militias,” meaning Iran’s and Assad’s proxies. Ahrar’s partner, Ajnad al Sham, and Al Nusrah have tweeted similar photos.

Ahrar al Sham claims to have taken over Maratah. Photos and a video depict Ahrar’s men in control of the village, as well as the “spoils” they have captured.

Jaysh al Fateh has executed a series of maneuvers in Aleppo province since late last year as part of its attempt to stymie the Assad regime, Iran and Russia. In November 2015, the jihadist alliance overran several towns and villages as part of a counteroffensive designed to stop the Syrian government’s advances.

Then, in early April, Al Nusrah captured al-‘Iss hill and the small village that sits at its base. Although not a heavily populated area, al-‘Iss is considered a strategically important crossroads inside Aleppo province.

And in May, Jaysh al Fateh captured Khan Tuman, which set the stage for the latest push south and east into the province.

Jaysh al Fateh’s assault comes at a time when its positions in the neighboring Idlib province are under heavy bombardment. The alliance overran the city of Idlib and the rest of the province early last year. But in recent weeks, Assad and Russia have stepped up their bombing campaign in Idlib.

Just as the coalition began its new push in Aleppo province, Jaysh al Fateh’s military leadership released a statement saying that they had withdrawn from Idlib city. Jaysh al Fateh claims that Bashar al Assad’s and Russia’s warplanes are now hitting civilian targets inside Idlib. The move is likely designed to relieve some of the pressure on the coalition, which has been under constant aerial assault since late last month.

It appears that Sheikh Abdullah Muhammad al Muhaysini, a senior al Qaeda-linked cleric, was behind Jaysh al Fateh’s purported military withdrawal from Idlib city. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Muhaysini advocated for the move beforehand. Muhaysini also praised Jaysh al Fateh’s supposed decision to evacuate its military arm after the fact as well.

At least 145 dead as series of explosions rock Syrian govt strongholds

I guess Bashir al-Assad got the message that he can't start sleeping more peacefully any time soon.

The story comes from DAWN.

At least 145 dead as series of explosions rock Syrian govt strongholds

BEIRUT: Bomb blasts killed scores of people in Jableh and Tartous on Syria's Mediterranean coast on Monday and wounded many others in the government-controlled territory that hosts Russian military bases, monitors and state media said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks in the cities that have up to now escaped the worst of the violence in the five-year-old conflict, saying it was targeting members of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 145 people were killed in attacks by at least five suicide bombers and two devices planted in cars. State media said 78 people had been killed in what is Assad's coastal heartland.

The attacks were the first of their kind in Tartous, capital of Tartous province and home to a Russian naval facility, and Jableh in Latakia province, near a Russian-operated air base.

The Kremlin said the bomb blasts underscored the need to press ahead with Geneva peace talks after a Feb. 27 ceasefire collapsed in April as violence intensified in a war that has killed at least 250,000 people.

“This demonstrates yet again just how fragile the situation in Syria is. And this one more time underscores the need for new urgent steps to continue the negotiating process,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with journalists.

Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his readiness to fight with the Syrian government against “the terrorist threat” sent his condolences to Assad, the Kremlin said.

The Syrian foreign ministry sent a letter to the United Nations, state television reported, saying the blasts were a “dangerous escalation by the hostile and extremist regimes in Riyadh, Ankara and Doha”, referring to support given to the rebels by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.
Blood and bodies

One of the four blasts in Jableh hit near a hospital and another at a bus station. The Tartous bombs also targeted a bus station, the Observatory and state media reported.

Younes Hassan, a doctor working at the Jableh hospital, said he heard an explosion at the bus station, followed less than a minute later by the blast at the hospital.

“Everything went into emergency mode, wounded people began arriving,” he told Reuters by phone.

The Tartous explosions also occurred in quick succession, no more than 10 seconds apart, a driver at the bus station said.

“People began running but didn't know which direction to go, cars were on fire, there was blood and bodies on the ground,” Nizar Hamade said.

Footage broadcast by the state-run Ikhbariya news channel showed several twisted and burnt-out cars and minivans.

Islamic State claimed the attacks in a statement posted online by the group's Amaq news agency, saying its fighters had targeted “gatherings of Alawites”.

Syria's Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said in an interview with Ikhbariya that terrorists were resorting to bomb attacks against civilians instead of fighting on the front lines, and vowed to keep battling them.

The government refers to all insurgents fighting against it in the conflict as terrorists.

Bombings in the capital Damascus and western city of Homs this year killed dozens of people and were also claimed by Islamic State, which is fighting against government forces and their allies in some areas, and separately against its jihadist rival al Qaeda and other insurgent groups.

Latakia city, which is north of Jableh and capital of the province, has been targeted on a number of occasions by bombings and insurgent rocket attacks, including late last year.

Government forces and their allies have recently stepped up bombardment of areas in Aleppo province in the north, which has become a focal point for the escalating violence. Insurgents have also launched major attacks in that area.

The only road into rebel-held areas of Aleppo city has suffered a week of increasingly heavy air strikes.

Zakaria Malahefji, a senior official in the rebel group Fastaqim that operates in the Aleppo area told Reuters that the road was heavily bombarded again on Monday and was dangerous to use.

He said Iranian-backed fighters, who are supporting government forces, were mobilising in the southern Aleppo area.

France's foreign ministry called the Tartous and Jableh bombings “odious”, and said violence from all sides must stop if a political transition is to take place.