LATEST: Jabhat al-Nusra Accused of Killing Senior Insurgent Commander in Southern Syria

UPDATE 1200 GMT: A pro-regime site has acknowledged that 48 Syrian troops from the 11th Tank Division and militia were killed in the insurgency’s takeover of the Wadi ad-Deif base.

Among the dead and injured were Brigadier General Mou’az Waakad Abu ‘Assaa, two colonels, a captain, and two lieutenants.

The site also said that some soldiers from the Division were badly wounded as they withdrew south to Hama Province.


For the first day in weeks, the number of deaths recorded by the activists of Syria’s Local Coordination Committees rose above 100, as the Assad regime retaliated for the loss of two major bases in Idlib Province in the northwest of the country.

The LCC, which focuses on civilian casualties, said 102 people died on Tuesday. More than 30 of the dead were in Idlib Province, where the regime bombed towns and villages near the Wadi ad-Deif and Hamidiyah bases.

Aftermath of an attack on the town of Maarat al-Num’an:

Insurgents completed the takeover of the bases, under siege for more than two years, on Monday. Regime forces retreated south towards Hama Province, but claims circulated that more than 250 were captured as they fled.

Opposition fighters amid destroyed military vehicles in the Idlib countryside:

State news agency SANA continues to ignore the loss of the bases and does not mention Tuesday’s bombing. Instead, it declares:

Army units killed terrorists, injured others and destroyed their vehicles in Maaret al-Numan, Saraqeb, Kfarrouma, Tal Minnes, Masa, Byaa al-Kabira, Abu al-Duhour, Talab village, Tal al-Daman, Jeftallek, al-Deir al-Sharqi, Haj Hammoud, Jebb al-Ahmar, Kafr Nubbul and Tal Mardikh in the countryside of the northern province of Idleb.


Jabhat al-Nusra Accused of Killing Senior Insurgent Commander in Southern Syria

The Islamist faction Jabhat Al Nusra has been accused of killing a senior commander in another insurgent faction in Daraa Province in southern Syria.

Mousab Ali Qarfan, also known as Mousab Zaytouneh, was a leader of the Shuhada al-Yarmouk Brigades, which is part of the Free Syrian Army. He and three of his fighters were slain in Sahem El Gola on Monday.

Opposition sources said senior Jabhat al-Nusra commanders believed Zaytouneh was secretly working with the Islamic State.

Other insurgent commanders on the southern front denied the allegations. Some claimed that Jabhat al-Nusra wants to weaken the “moderate” insurgency, while some said the rumor was part of a psychological warfare programme by regime forces.

The House of Justice, a court set up by the insurgency, brokered a temporary truce and proposed an armed force of insurgents as a buffer zone between the Yarmouk Brigades and Jabhat al-Nusra. The Islamist faction has been told to pull back from one of the checkpoints that it controls.

However, Jabhat al-Nusra and another Islamic faction, Harakat Al Muthana, have withdrawn from the proceedings.

Deraa Governorate Council responded, “We call on the brothers in Liwa Shuhada Al Yarmouk and the brothers in Jabhat Al Nusra to exercise self restraint and to refer their case to the court in Houran, in the House of Justice to achieve justice.”

UN Aid Head to Security Council: “We Have Run Out of Words to Explain Brutality”

The head of the UN aid agencies, Valerie Amos, told the Security Council on Tuesday, “Every time we use a new figure in relation to the Syrian crisis, we say that it is unprecedented. We have run out of words to fully explain the brutality, violence and callous disregard for human life which is a hallmark of this crisis.”

Amos urged Security Council members to ensure all parties in Syria to take steps outlined in resolutions: end indiscriminate use of weapons, protect children from violations, lift sieges on city, and allow unhindered humanitarian assistance.

“Even in war, there are rules,” she said.