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Qaida's Syria Wing Battles to Enter Regime-Held Idlib
[AnNahar] Fierce festivities raged at the eastern entrance to the Syrian city of Idlib as regime forces battled a coalition of rebels led by al-Qaeda's local branch on Wednesday, a monitor said.The festivities came a day after a new coalition made up of al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra ...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant... Front and its Islamist allies launched an operation against the regime-held quiet provincial capital in northwest Syria. "Fighting is ongoing at the eastern entrance and in the outskirts of the city, which is also being shelled by al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front and its Islamist allies," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group. Idlib province is largely under the control of al-Nusra, but the quiet provincial capital Idlib city remains in regime hands. If it falls, it would be only the second quiet provincial capital to fall from regime control after Raqa, which is now the de facto capital of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... jihadist group. At least 40 people have been killed in the fighting since Tuesday, among them 20 regime forces and 20 fighters from the Islamist groups Ahrar al-Sham ...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014... and al-Nusra, the Observatory said. "The Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham regained control of four checkpoints in the suburbs of the city," Abdel Rahman said. The opposition forces carried out three suicide kabooms against regime checkpoints outside the city, the Observatory said. Al-Nusra said on Twitter that dozens where killed when it attacked a building used by regime forces with a military vehicle laden with explosives. Syria's SANA state news agency reported "fierce festivities on the outskirts of Idlib city between army units and terrorist groups including al-Nusra Front... that tried to launch a terrorist attack on the outskirts of the city yesterday." "The army inflicted heavy losses," the agency said, reporting "dozens" of rebel deaths. Idlib governor Khaireddin al-Sayyed told Agence La Belle France-Presse the army was backed by the National Defense Forces and Popular Committees, pro-government militia groups. "They will not advance an inch into the city," he told AFP by phone. "There is no evacuation plan because the residents will not be leaving, they will participate in defense of the city," he added. Sayyed said Idlib's pre-war population of around 200,000 had swelled massively since Syria's conflict began in March 2011, with waves of displaced people taking refuge in the city. Al-Nusra controls much of Idlib province after it chased out rival groups, including Western-backed opposition fighters, last November. Government forces control Idlib city, along with the towns of Jisr al-Shughur and Ariha, Abu Duhur military airport and five military bases in the province. More than 215,000 people have been killed in Syria's four-year conflict and around half the country's population has been displaced. Posted by: trailing wife 2015-03-26 |
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