LATEST: Video — Al Jazeera English on Fighting Between Kurdish Militia and Insurgents

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In a new, complicating “front” in the Syrian conflict, the Kurdish militia YPG — affiliated to the Democratic Union Party (PYD) — has advanced with a series of victories over insurgents, including the Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra.

The Kurdish political arena in Syria is complicated, with some groups supporting the insurgency. The PYD has manoeuvred between the opposition and the regime, however, and tension has been building with the insurgents. This spring the Free Syrian Army and YPG clashed in the town of Efrin, with the FSA imposing a siege on food and supplies.

This week the Kurdish militia, after days of fighting, ejected the insurgents from the Turkish border town of Ras al-Ain. On Thursday, news came through of further victories, including the seizure of a crossing between Turkey and the town of Sere Kaniye.

The PYD also reports “heavy fighting” between its YPG-militia and Jubhat Al Nusra in the village of Celaxa near the oil-rich town of Rimêlan. The movement reports the deaths of six YPG-members in the last two days in the area, and it says three YPG fighters and two villages were killed in an ambush in Til Temir.

(Featured Photo: Kurdish YPG militia, Ras al-Ain, April 2013 — Danny Gold/NBC)


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Video: Al Jazeera English on Fighting Between Kurdish Militia and Insurgents

Video: Insurgents Take Border Post In Western Daraa

Video posted by activists in Daraa on Thursday shows claimed footage of insurgents taking a border post in Western Daraa. The footage shows a captured tank and what appears to be an armored personnel carrier.

Video: Airstrike on Binnish

Activists on Friday posted this footage showing the aftermath of an airstrike on Binnish, Idlib Province.

Video: Friday Protests In Binnish Call For Arabs To Support Homs Against “Safavid Invasion”

Footage posted on Friday of today’s protest in Binnish. The first banner reads: “Homs Calls On Arabs And Muslims To Intervene Against The Safavid Invasion”.

The use of the term “Safavid” — the ruling Persian dynasty after the Muslim Conquest of Persia, who established the Twelver school of Shia Islam — has been used by opposition activists and civilians to refer to Shia Hezbollah and Iran.

Claimed Footage Of Fire In Sakina Shrine in Daraya After Regime Shelling

Footage posted on Friday by the Local Council of Daraya purportedly shows the Sakina Shrine in the city ablaze after particularly heavy regime shelling.

The Local Council said Daraya was bombarded with rocket and artillery fire since Thursday evening, and that the shelling also damaged local houses. The Council posted this image on their Facebook page, showing some of the damage:

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Video: Houses Burn In Homs After Heavy Shelling

A video posted on Thursday claims to show houses burning in Homs as a result of heavy regime shelling.

Video: In Deir Az Zor, Insurgents Act As Firefighters To Put Out Blaze In Residential Building

This footage from Deir Az Zor claims to show fighters from the Free Syrian Army are shown here acting as firefighters, putting out a blaze in a residential building caused by regime shelling.

This trend of insurgents and activists providing local services, including medical and emergency services, is increasingly visible in amateur footage.

Videos: Claimed Use Of “Cannon Of Hell” In Brick Factory Battle, Idlib

Footage posted on Wednesday claims to show the aftermath of an attack by the “Jahanam” [“Hell”] cannon – a home-made rocket launcher constructed from a tractor, with cooking gas canisters for missiles – on the Brick Factory or Qarmeed Camp in Idlib Province.

On Thursday, we reported footage of homemade rockets being used to attack the Brick Factory.

Ugarit News posted this short video on July 15, purportedly showing the Ahrar As-Shomal Brigades using the “Jahanam” Cannon to attack the Brick Factory:

More Syrian Rockets Hit Lebanon

A pregnant woman was wounded when two Syrian rockets hit the northern Lebanese town of Al-Kawashra early Friday.

The attack is the second in two days — two rockets landed near Arsal on Thursday morning.

Videos: Shelling, Destruction In Homs

While activists posted footage on Thursday showing continued shelling and destruction in Homs, State media blamed “terrorists” for a mortar attack on a school, accusing insurgents of deliberately targeting displaced families sheltering there.

This video, posted by activists, shows a surface-to-surface missile hit on Homs:

This video shows destruction in the Bab Hood neighborhood after regime airstrikes:

Video: Protesters In Aleppo’s Marjah District Demand Electricity

Footage posted by the Aleppo Media Center on Thursday shows demonstrators in Aleppo’s Marjah neighborhood demanding repairs to the electricity supply, and calling for the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad. Aleppo is experiencing electricity and water outages.

Casualties

The Local Coordination Committees claim 112 people were killed on Thursday, including 43 in Daraa Province, 27 in Damascus and its suburbs, and 13 in Aleppo Province.

The Violations Documentation Center reports that 66,592 people have been slain since the start of the conflict in March 2011, an increase of 123 since Thursday. Of these, 50,775 were civilians, a rise of 73 from yesterday.

Video: Civilians Run From Gunfire Amid “Siege” on Food

Latest footage from the continuing story of the insurgent siege on Aleppo and the key Bustan al-Qasr crossing….

Civilians who live in regime-controlled areas go through the crossing to insurgent-held territory to get food, amid an insurgent attempt to choke off the Syrian military with a siege around Syria’s largest city. Often, as on this occasion, the people brave sniper fire to get supplies: