LATEST: Has Jabhat al-Nusra’s Leader Declared an “Emirate” in Syria?

FRIDAY FEATURE

Syria’s Foreign Ministry has claimed, in letters to the United Nations, that “armed terrorist groups” killed 14 civilians in a village in Hama Province on Wednesday.

The Ministry said the victims, including seven women and a child, “were slain with their bodies grotesquely mutilated, in addition to decapitation cases”, in Khattab in northern Hama.

The letters, to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and to the Security Council, said a special judicial tribunal was investigating the amss killing, which offered “yet another proof of the atrocities of extremist takfiri terrorism that proves once again its chilling disregard for human values”.

They said the killings had “the full brazen backing of Western and Arab capitals”. In particular, it asked the UN “to take a firm line against the ruling regimes in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar to compel them to renounce instigating terrorism”.

This morning State media are claiming “another massacre” in southern Hama Province, with three women from one family shot, mutilated, and decapitated. It says a fourth woman was injured and another family member was kidnapped.


Has Jabhat al-Nusra’s Leader Declared an “Emirate” in Syria?

An audio has been posted which claims to be of Jabhat al-Nusra leader Abu Mohammad al-Joulani declaring an Islamic Emirate in Syria:

Reportedly addressing hundreds of fighters, al-Joulani supposedly said that Jabhat al-Nusra will implement sharia law — with courts formed within a week — “without compromise, leniency, ambiguity, or politeness”: “No one is exempt and anyone who refuses has no place among us.”

The Emirate will confront all enemies, he said: the Assad regime, extremists like the Islamic State, and the Turkish-based Kurdish movement PKK: “We will not show leniency.”

He continued, “We’ll not allow anyone to reap the fruits of what you sow, whether they’re seculars, foreign or extremists. Today we’ll work hard.”

Video: Rescuers Save Infant After 16 Hours of Digging in Rubble

Footage from Aleppo:

Video: Insurgents Attacking “Brick Factory” Base in Idlib Province

Footage of insurgents attacking the “Brick Factory” base in Idlib Province:

The opposition are trying to prevent regime bases, under pressure from insurgent offensives, from reinforcing each other in northwestern Syria.

The “Brick Factory”, between Idlib and Saraqeb, has been under attack for more than a year.

Video: Insurgents Clearing Islamic State Out of East Ghouta

Footage promoting the insurgent offensive against Islamic State positions in East Ghouta near Damascus:

Insurgents have removed the last Islamic State base in the area, having taken Masraba earlier this week, and are now pursuing groups of fighters.

Kafranbel Friday Protest’s Message for Obama — Bring Back Abraham Lincoln

With an interesting use of color, the Friday protest of Kafranbel in Syria has a message for Barack Obama — bring back Abraham Lincoln:

KAFRANBEL 11-07-14

KAFRANBEL 11-07-14 2

Islamic Front Denounces Islamic State’s Declaration of Caliphate

The Islamic Front, the largest insurgent bloc in Syria, has issued a lengthy statement explaining why the Islamic State’s declaration of a caliphate — and the naming of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as “Caliph Ibrahim” — does not confirm to Sharia law and is damaging to Islam:

We see in the announcement of the Caliphate by the Kharijites of ISIS a malicious cunning against the Sunni Muslims in the area, which leads to battles among their ranks that scatter their power and provide the enemies of Islam all the sorts of excuses to start wars against the Muslim people and to divide their lands and steal their fortunes; and thus ISIS wastes the Ummah’s elements of advancement and delays the latter for a very long period of time; moreover, ISIS provokes the Ummah when they use its unripe fortunes before they are ready to be exposed in order to destroy them completely….

We should be servants of Allah the way He likes; we should not be deceived by the lies of the Kharijites; we should remain on the path of right that Allah ordered us to follow.

(Cross-posted from Iraq Daily)

Former US Government Official: “Administration Might Consider Hitting Islamic State Unmercifully in Syria”

Frederic Hof, formerly the US Government’s special advisor for transition in Syria, responds to suggestions that the US should ally with the Assad regime against the Islamic State:

As the administration struggles in Iraq with the chicken-and-egg dilemma of hitting ISIS (Islamic State) first or waiting for an inclusive Government of Iraq to emerge, it might consider hammering ISIS unmercifully in Syria.

Yes, the Assad regime, Iran, and Russia all need ISIS alive and well in Syria to help crush Assad’s opposition. Yes, they would all be quietly appalled by such a step. Yet how could they possibly object publicly or even privately to the United States obliterating key pieces of the terrorist entity they all publicly decry?

See also Video Analysis: 5 Myths About Assad & (Not) Helping the Opposition