LATEST: Reports — Uprising Escalates Against Islamic State in Eastern Syria

UPDATE 1620 GMT: An official of Lebanon’s Future Movement said that, despite overnight clashes that collapsed a ceasefire, large number of gunmen withdrew from Arsal amid continuing mediation efforts with the Lebanese Army.

“About 50 percent of the gunmen had pulled out,” Bakr Hujeiri said.

He said negotiations were ongoing towards a complete withdrawal and the handover of Lebanese soldiers held captive by the fighters.

A total of 22 soldiers were reportedly missing after jihadists from Syrian overran Arsal on Saturday. Three were handed over Tuesday.

Sheikh Mohammad Hujeiri, who is following up on mediation efforts, accused Hezbollah of hindering the withdrawal.

“Gunmen were preparing to pull out, but their mission was obstructed when Hezbollah, backed the Lebanese Army, shelled the town,” Hujeiri said.

Meanwhile, lawyer Nabil Halabi, who was wounded on Monday night with two other members of a mediation team, has confirmed that the Lebanese Army fired on their car, according to EA sources.

A ceasefire between the Lebanese Army and the jihadist Islamic State has collapsed in Arsal, near the border with Syria, after only hours.

A 24-hour halt to fighting was declared for 7 p.m. (1600 GMT) Tuesday, but clashes resumed after fire on an army post.

The ceasefire was meant to allow mediators to investigate the fate of 22 missing Lebanon soldiers — believed to have been captured and possibly taken across the Syrian border — and to provide humanitarian relief to civilians caught in the fighting and fleeing their homes.

Conflict in and near Arsal began on Saturday when gunmen — believed to be from the Islamic State — attacked an army checkpoint and stormed a police station.

At least 16 Lebanese soldiers have been killed and 86 wounded, while the Lebanese military said it has fought the bodies of 50 gunmen in the town.

The death toll in a nearby Syrian refugee camp, which was hit by Lebanese artillery with tents set ablaze, is unknown. A Syrian insurgent group said on Tuesday that 29 people had been killed and 200 wounded.

See Syria Daily, August 5: Fears that Dozens of Refugees Killed after Lebanon Army’s Bombardment

The UN Security Council “expressed support for the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces in their fight against terrorism”, while calling on Lebanon’s politicians to maintain national unity and to stay out of the Syrian crisis.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah pledged to speed up the delivery of military assistance to the Lebanese Army under a Saudi-sponsored deal with France, hours after an appeal by Beirut. The French said they would act quickly, as they were “fully committed to supporting the Lebanese Army, a pillar of stability and unity in Lebanon”.

Amid evidence that the Lebanese military has been cooperating with Hezbollah in the move on Arsal, Prime Minister Tammam Salam said there would be “no leniency towards the terrorist killers and no appeasement for those who violate Lebanon’s territory and harm its people”.

(Featured Photo: AFP)

Reports: Uprising Escalates Against Islamic State in Eastern Syria

Opposition media is reporting a surge in the uprising against the Islamic State in Deir Ez Zor Province in eastern Syria.

The jihadists had taken territory throughout the province in the spring and summer, pushing out insurgents, but local tribes began protesting last month about the heavy-handed rule of the Islamic State, with its detention and beating of tribal members.

Amid unconfirmed claims that the Islamic State has been “displaying the heads of three tribesmen who took up arms against them” in al-Jurdi, EA sources confirm that the jihadists have been brutally trying to suppress the protests.

The sources also confirm that the Islamic State has suffered casualties from improvised explosive devices, and that at least two of its fighters were killed by gunfire from tribesmen and local youth.

The Islamic State has given people 24 hours to leave their neighborhoods, but residents have resisted.

Now fighters connected with the Supreme Military Council have made it to the province and are allied with the al-Shaitat tribe in its battle with the Islamic State.

The SMC claims that insurgents have taken the town of al-Jerzy following fierce clashes with the Islamic State, seizing four vehicles equipped with machine guns.

The SMC also says Syrian regime aircraft have become involved, bombing al-Jerzy, Mohemdeh, and nearby villages. An airstrike on the town of al-Taianeh claimed the lives of five civilians and wounded several others.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Appealed to Assad for Reforms in 2011

Iran’s former Ambassador to Syria has said that the Supreme Leader appealed to President Assad to make reforms as a response to mass protests in 2011.

Hossein Sheikholeslam, now the foreign policy adviser to Speaker of Parliament, also admitted that Assad had instead chosen the Syrian military’s attempt to put the demonstrations with gunfire.

In an interview conducted in April but only now published in full, Sheikholeslam said, “From Day One, the Supreme Leader took a position that Syria needs to undergo reforms.”

He said Qasem Soleimani, the head of the elite Quds Force, took a message from Ayatollah Khamenei to Assad: “The killings should not take place and reforms have to be accepted.”

According to Sheikholeslam, “Assad accepted” that the reforms were needed. However, he continued:

(Assad) didn’t have the proper mechanisms. Assad didn’t even have police. Whatever they had, it was the army. If it had a problem with anyone, they would shoot at the crowd with automatic weapons….

As soon as four people would gather, instead of using police, the army would use automatic weapons. … They wanted to solve it with force.