LATEST: Al-Shaitat Tribe: We Gave Islamic State Rifles So We Could Return to Our Villages
THURSDAY FEATURE
Interview in Full: Assad on Protests, “Terrorism”, & War — “We Never Target Civilians”
The Islamic State has reportedly made a significant move in eastern Syria, attacking the regime on the edge of Deir Ez Zor Airport.
Reports indicated that the jihadists exploded a vehicle bomb at the main entrance and captured a checkpoint to the east of the airport, southeast of Deir Ez Zor city.
The extent of the Islamic State advance in the area is not confirmed, but there are claims that the jihadists pushed back Syrian forces on Saqr Island north of the airport, where fighting has taken place for weeks.
The Islamic State has occupied most of eastern Syria, pushing out both insurgents and regime forces, this year. It controls much of Deir Ez Zor city, the 7th-largest in the country, although the Syrian military still has a presence.
While much of the headlines over the jihadists focus on their protracted battle for the Kurdish center of Kobane, in northern Syria, they have been putting further pressure on the regime. They have consolidated control along the Euphrates River in the east , evicted the regime from Raqqa Province in the north, and attacked oil and gas fields in central Syria
Al-Shaitat Tribe: We Gave Islamic State Rifles So We Could Return to Our Villages
A member of the al-Shaitat tribe — defeated by the Islamic State in eastern Syria this summer, with the reported killing of hundreds of tribesmen — has said that the tribe gave the jihadists 600 Kalashnikov rifles in exchange for return to tribal villages.
The tribesman told Syria Direct:
The Islamic State asked, in a meeting with the tribal leaders of Gharanij from the Shaitat tribe on November 21, for the people of the town to hand over 600 Kalashnikovs, and with each gun four boxes filled with ammunition and an ammunition belt, so that they would be allowed to return.
Al-Shaitat was driven from its villages in Deir Ez Zor Province in August after it challenged the imposition of the Islamic State’s rule in the area.
Kerry: We Are Defeating Islamic State…But It Will Take Years
US Secretary of State John Kerry put out a double political line on Wednesday, as members of the coalition challenging the Islamic State met in Belgium:
1. We are defeating the Islamic State;
2. It will take a very long time;
Kerry said, “Our commitment will be measured most likely in years, but our efforts are already having a significant impact.” He cited the recapture of dams and areas near oil refineries in Iraq and airstrikes in Syria.
The Secretary of State was also upbeat about the rebuilding of Iraq after an Islamic State offensive that has taken much of the north, west, and east of the country: “We are particularly excited at the prospect of having the region engage in a significant way across sectarian lines, I might add, in order to be able to address this reconstruction notion.”
