LATEST: Regime Airstrike Kills at Least 20 in Aleppo Market

SATURDAY FEATURE

Last Words of a Hunger Striker in Moadamiyyat Ash Sham?

Syria’s military claimed on Friday that it killed 80 insurgents and injured dozens more in an ambush near Maaloula, northeast of Damascus.

Syrian State media asserts every day that the Army has wiped out terrorists and their “dens”, but it rarely puts a specific figure on the deaths.

State News agency SANA said “many of the killed terrorists were of Egyptian, Saudi, Libyan and Pakistani nationalities”. Photos of the bodies have been posted.

Activists say regime troops killed villagers from Nabk, seized by the Syrian military earlier this month, who tried to flee to nearby Yabroud. They say the victims were chased into a minefield.

A list of 11 of the dead has been posted on Facebook.

The activists note that the bodies shown by State media have weapons on them — a rarity because insurgents strip rifles and ammunition from dead fighters.

A source raises another possibility: there is no link between the killings near Maaloula and the slain civilians from Nabk.

Insurgents and Syrian military have been in sustained clashes near Maaloula, an ancient Christian town where Aramaic is still spoken, since last summer. Both in September and in December, opposition fighters briefly moved into the town.

Chechen groups Jaish al-Khilafa, Jaish Mohammed & Fursan as-Sunna Swore Allegiance to Jabhat al-Nusra Leader

Earlier this week, we reported the rumor that the leader of Chechen faction Jaish al-Khilafa, Amir Seyfullakh Shishani, swore allegiance to the leader of Jabhat al-Nusra. Jaish Mohammed and Fursan as-Sunna also pledged an oath to al-Jolani:

Images of Chechen-led Jaish al-Muhajireen wal Ansar

Photos circulating of Jaish al-Muhajireen wal Ansar and the group’s leader, Amir Salahuddin Shishani, and second in command Abdul Karim Krimsky (“Abdul Karim from the Crimea”):

Jaish al-Muhajireen wal Ansar:

Umma News explains that Jaish al-Muhajireen wal Ansar,

Regime Airstrike Kills at Least 8 in Aleppo Market

The Aleppo Media Center has posted the names of eight people killed by a regime strike on a market in Syria’s largest city on Saturday.

Hassoun Abu Faisal, an activist with the Aleppo Media Center, put the death toll at more than 20, but said medical officials were still counting bodies in the Tariq al-Bab area.

Graphic video has been posted.

Regime bombing has killed at least 400 people in and near Aleppo since December 14.

Destruction from an attack in the Myasar neighborhood:

Claim: Kurdish Militia Killed in Clashes with Insurgents in Hasakeh Province

The insurgent faction Ahrar al-Sham has posted claimed video of Kurdish militia killed in fighting for Tal Hamis in Hasakeh Province.

Kurdish activists claimed on Friday that the militia, including the YPG, had taken several villages in the area and were moving to take control of Tal Hamis, between Qamishli and Hasakeh.

Report: Islamic State of Iraq Releases Free Syrian Army Lieutenant Colonel

The Arab Chronicle reports that the Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham has released a senior Free Syrian Army officer in Idlib Province.

The freeing of Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed al-Soud following Friday protests in Maarat al-Nu’man calling for his release. A campaign on Facebook had been pressing the case of al-Soud, who led the capture of Maarat al-Nu’man last year.

Chechen Child “Mujahideen” Filmed Holding Gun

This video, entitled “A Little Mujahideen From Our Jamaat”, published on the Dnevnik Shama (“Diary of Sham”) YouTube channel recently, shows a Russian-speaking child filmed holding a large gun.

The boy is asked in Russian what he knows from the Quran. He then recites the Basmala, before saying “I don’t know the rest!”. Men in military fatigues are visible in the background.

There have been other videos and reports on North Caucasian news sites indicating that some fighters from that region have brought some of their families with them to Syria.

Christmas Message from Protesters in Kafranbel to “Terrorist” Assad & “Big-Mouth” Obama

Islamic Front’s Mohammad Alloush To Islamic State of Iraq & as-Sham: “Stop, You’re Hated”

The image in Alloush’s tweet is from a large protest in Maarat al- Nu’man in Idlib Province, demanding the release of Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Soud and other detainees in ISIS’s irregular jails: