LATEST: Video — Assad Regime Tells British Reporter, “We Are Retaking Aleppo”

WEDNESDAY FEATURE

Turkey Daily: Erdogan Criticizes US Airdrops for Syrian Town of Kobane

Countering a common narrative in mainstream media that the Syrian insurgency is fragmented and weak, the Free Syrian Army has stepped up its PR campaign, with a polished video declaring “FSA Our Choice”.

The video portrays mass support for the FSA from the early months of the Syrian uprising, with chants such as “Long Live the FSA”, followed by Syrians today declaring, “FSA Our Choice”.

The US has declared that it will train and arm a “moderate” force of 5,000 troops, but has said the process will take many months. The Free Syrian Army is calling for immediate, significant assistance to counter both the Islamic State and the Assad regime.

The FSA video, accompanied by a Twitter hashtag campaign, accompanies the promotion by the Syrian opposition of a “Freedom Charter”.

The Charter was issued last week, after a year of preparation and more than 50,000 questionnaires among Syrians inside and outside the country.

The document promotes “an inclusive state based on equality and justice for all, in which individual rights
and freedoms are protected against discrimination” through the rule of law and freedom of choice of political leaders.

Declaring freedom of opinion, expression, opinion, and expression, the Charter assures, “All Syrians are equal in their rights and duties, regardless of their religion, nationality, or gender,” with a specific section on women’s rights.


Video: Assad Regime Tells British Reporter, “We Are Retaking Aleppo”

Syrian officials, including the Governor of Aleppo Province, try to convince a reporter for Britain’s Channel 4, that they are about to re-take the divided city of Aleppo:

In the most challenging moment of the piece, the Governor explains why the regime’s barrel bombs do not kill civilians: “The rebels are in areas where there are no longer any civilians.”

Assad Regime Claims Syrian Military is Helping Kobane’s Kurds v. Islamic State

The Assad regime has asserted that the Syrian military is helping Kurdish forces defend Kobane versus the weeks-long attacks by the Islamic State.

Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said on State TV on Wednesday, “The state with its military forces and planes has been providing military and logistical support, and has supplied ammunition and arms to the town.”

He said Damascus “will continue to give military aid to Kobane at the highest level”: “From the outset of the battle, the state has not hesitated to play its military, political, social and humanitarian role” because the town is “Syrian territory and its residents are Syrians.”

Assad Regime: We Destroyed 2 of 3 Jets Seized by Islamic State

Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi has claimed that the Syrian air force has destroyed two of three jets seized by the Islamic State from insurgents.

The jihadists claimed in a video last week that they had test-flown two L-39 jets over Aleppo Province.

Sources indicate that the Islamic State took the jets from the insurgent faction Jaish al-Islam, who captured them from a regime airbase in November 2013.

The British-based “monitoring group” Syrian Observatory for Human Rights spread the inaccurate story that the seized planes were more advanced MiG-21 or MiG-23 fighters — a claim still repeated today by news services.
Related Stories

Activists: Islamic State group may have warplanes Associated Press
Islamic State: Would three old MiGs an air force make? Christian Science Monitor
Islamic State flying three jets in Syria: monitor Reuters
Islamic State Militants And Kurdish Fighters Battle In The Streets Of Syria’s Kobani Huffington Post
Turkey: No new deal with US on using air base Associated Press
Omran al-Zoubi told Syrian TV late Tuesday that Syrian aircraft bombed the jets as they were landing at Jarrah airbase in the eastern countryside of Aleppo province. He said the militants were able to hide a third jet, which the Syrian air force is now searching for.

Iran and Russia Declare Solidarity Against US-Led Coalition

As the Supreme Leader denounced the US-led coalition in Iraq — and again linked the issue to Iran’s support of Syria — Tehran and Russia showed solidarity in their line against Washington.

The Secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, met his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev in Tehran on Tuesday.

After the discussion, Shamkhani said:

The Islamic State was a result of wrong policies in supporting and arming the terrorist groups. Those who have partaken in equipping these groups with military and financial aid must now take responsibility for such acts.

To differentiate between the good terrorist, the moderate terrorist, and the bad terrorist is illusory and based on a profit-seeking approach.

The meeting took place a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov derided the US-led coalition in a press conference in Moscow:

If speaking about a coalition, then let’s make a coalition, let the UN Security Council make decisions that will be grounded on international law. I would say that fighting terrorism under geopolitical interests and attempts to punish undesirable regimes is very incorrect and even immoral.

(Cross-posted from Iran Daily)

Video: Insurgents Moving Into Village in Quneitra Province in Southwest

Footage of insurgents moving into another village, Samadaniyah al-Gharbi (see map), in Quneitra Province in southwest Syria:

Insurgents have taken most of Quneitra Province this year, including the area bordering the Golan Heights and the demilitarized zone with Israel.