| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria Forces Regroup after Islamists Seize Idlib City |
| 2015-03-30 |
| [AnNahar] Syrian troops regrouped on Sunday after a coalition including 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 seized the city of Idlib, the second picturesque provincial capital to fall from government control. The capture is a blow to the government and raises the prospect that the city will become the effective capital of territory held 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, analysts said. On Sunday, the city in northwestern Syria was largely quiet, after sporadic government aerial bombardment overnight, the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. A security source in Damascus and Syrian media said government forces were regrouping outside the city. "Forces are repositioning on the outskirts of Idlib in order to face the terrorist battalions... and be in the best position to repel their attack," a security source in Damascus told AFP. The Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the government, said troops had carried out a "successful operation regrouping south of the city". "Army reinforcements were sent to start a military operation to regain control of the areas that were vacated after the evacuation of the local population to safe areas," the daily added, citing a source on the ground. A coalition of Islamist forces overran Idlib on Saturday, after an operation that began just five days earlier and killed at least 170 opposition and regime forces. The city becomes only the second picturesque provincial capital to fall from regime control after Raqa, in northern Syria, which was seized by rebel groups in March 2013. Those groups were subsequently ousted from the city by 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, which has made Raqa the de facto Syrian capital of its self-declared Islamic "caliphate" on Syrian and Iraqi territory. The group that seized Idlib calls itself the Army of Conquest and includes Al-Nusra and the powerful Islamist 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... group, as well as other smaller conservative Islamist rebel forces. The opposition National Coalition, which is recognized by much of the international community, welcomed it as "an important victory on the road to the full liberation of Syrian territory". Its statement made no reference to the composition of the forces that seized the city, saying only it had "confidence" they would protect civilians and abide by international law. Analysts said Al-Nusra's role in Idlib's capture had put the Coalition and other "moderate" rebels in a difficult position. "The capture of Idlib is huge boost for the Syrian opposition, but it's one that once again will serve to underline the relative inadequacies of genuine 'moderates,'" said Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center think-tank. Al-Nusra and its allies already control large portion of Idlib province, after a November offensive in which they ousted several Western-backed opposition groups. And last year, the group announced plans to eventually establish an "emirate" that analysts say is intended to rival IS's "caliphate". "Considering the posture established by Al-Nusra in Idlib over the last nine months, it seems pretty implausible that the city won't eventually end up representing Nusra's effective capital and stronghold," Lister said. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 Baby Assad is blaming Iran-rival, alleged pro-ISIS/ISIL/Daesh TURKEY for the loss of IDLIB. * GROONG > [Tert.com] TURKEY WELCOMES FALL OF KEY CITY [Idlib]IN SYRIAN NORTH, to Ankara-supported anti-Assad FSA + aligned. VERSUS * WAFF > [AA.com.TR] TURKEY IS THE ALLY MOST AFFECTED BY THE CRISIS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA, [NATO SecGen JeN S.] STOLTENBERG SAYS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2015-03-30 23:05 |