Syria – News (2016)

ISLAMIC STATE CALLOUSLY DRIVE THOUSANDS TOWARD BLOCKED TURKISH BORDER AND WHOLE OF ALEPPO PROVINCE IN MESS OF WAR:

TIMELINE – 15th APRIL 2016

Most of the fighting in Syria at the moment appears to be concentrated in Aleppo province with all sides fighting each other.

In the very north of the province near the Turkish border, where a coalition of Opposition and Islamist brigades, plus the Al Nusra Front, are trying to push eastwards along the frontier towards the Euphrates, the Islamic State (IS) trying to protect their territory made a surprise incursion towards 10 camps in the area for displaced Syrian refugees yesterday, Thursday.

Remains of Refugee Camp After Islamic State Attack

Shell fire caused one of the camps to burst into flames and up to 30,000 refugees abandoned their tents and shelters and fled towards the frontier, despite the fact that the Turks are allowing no-one to cross except for emergency medical cases or important family matters.

The attacks on the camps appear to be in retaliation for Opposition advances which had brought them within 5 kilometres of Dabiq, a village of supreme importance to IS “mythology”, believing it to be the epicentre of some final showdown between the “forces of Allah and the Western Crusaders”. (You can read more on the significance of Dabiq, HERE:)

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Opposition forces had gained about 12 villages in the area in the last week, though having taken Al-Rai, they lost it again back to IS 11 hours later.

An FSA spokesman said that their target was not Dabiq, which they knew IS would fight fiercely for, but Manbij further to the south-east. Manbij is also the stated target of the Kurdish led Syrian Democratic Force (SDF) coming from the south. FSA’s Brigade 13 fighting IS and using US M16 rifles, (caution, dead body) HERE:

Video footage of the refugee exodus, (Arabic only) HERE: and Guardian report, HERE:

Camps for Displaced Refugees in Syria Near Turkish Border

Just north of Aleppo city, the Opposition coalition of FSA and Islamists is locked in a deadly battle for survival with the Assad regime who are trying to close the Opposition-held territorial gap north-east of Handarat that allows the Opposition to supply east Aleppo.

More than 60 Russian and regime airstrikes hit Opposition positions in the area yesterday, Thursday, though most of the fighting on the ground on Assad’s behalf appears as though it is being carried out by Hezbollah and Afghans directed by Iran.

Iran announced the death of 2 more Iranians and 31 Afghan fighters today. According to a BBC investigation, Afghans who they have met crossing Europe to escape the fighting report their comrades based in Iran being used as “cannon fodder”.

Drafted into the Fatemioun Brigade, commanded by Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers, the Afghans were promised passports and Iranian citizenship when (if) they returned.

One Afghan refugee who had escaped the battlefield told the BBC, “We were light infantry and we’d have to walk 20-30km (12.5-19 miles) to face the enemy and then fight them.

We would take ground at great cost and then have to hand it over to the Syrian soldiers. But they would usually lose it back to Daesh after a day or two”. You can read more, HERE:

It seems though that in the last few days, despite the odds, the Opposition have had the upper hand, killing a large number of pro-Assad fighters, including members of Iran’s special operations Qud’s force.

The Opposition also blew up a supply truck near Handarat and a regime bulldozer with a TOW anti-tank missile.

Not far away from Handarat, just to the south-east, the coalition are also engaged in fighting with the Kurdish YPG around Sheikh Maqsoud. The shelling of civilian Kurds in the enclave continues, with footage on the Internet showing an Opposition Turkman brigade firing shells with the message written on them “This is in revenge for the death of our brothers in Istanbul.”

The message refers to the suicide bomb attack in Istanbul admitted to by the Kurdish Freedom Hawks (TAK), a breakaway group from the Kurdish PKK who are fighting the Turkish Army in south-east Turkey.

Some unconfirmed reports also suggest that up to 100 members of the Opposition Sultan Murad Brigade also attacking the Kurds in Sheikh Maqsoud, are actually members of Turkish special forces who have been sent across the border.

South of Aleppo city fighting between the Al Nusra Front/Islamic Brigades and pro-Assad forces around Al-Eis has been particularly fierce, with some reports suggesting that as many as 50-70 Iranian militia were killed in recent battles and more than 20 Opposition fighters.
Several Hezbollah fighters were reported captured and 10 pro-Assad vehicles destroyed.

South of Aleppo too, latest reports say that the Assad regime has lost in the last 48 hours 18 villages to IS around Khanaser, a key town on the road to Aleppo from the south. IS are claiming the capture of tons of ammunition, including 250 Grad and Katyusha rockets, 5 heavy artillery cannons, 3 tank howitzers, mortars and much more.