LATEST: US-Led Airstrikes Continue to Hit Islamic State Near Kobane

THURSDAY FEATURE

What Happened on the 1st Day of the Regime-Opposition “Peace Talks” in Russia?
Syria and Iraq Audio Analysis: The Islamic State, Hostages, and the Money to Run A “State”

A Reuters article highlights an important but largely unnoticed dimension of the Syrian conflict: the Assad regime’s growing crisis over fuel.

Since September, the cost of diesel fuel — if it can be found — has more than doubled as the regime has been forced by its funding difficulties to cut subsidies. There have also been large increases in the cost of petrol and heating oil.

The situation is likely to worsen during and after the winter. Damascus has lost about 95% of its pre-war oil production, as the Islamic State has taken the country’s largest oil and gas fields and the remaining regime refineries are limited by damage and lack of essential components and crude oil. The energy supply lifeline from Iran is in trouble because of Tehran’s own economic problems — the Islamic Republic is hesitating over the Assad regime’s pleas to extend a $3.6 billion line of credit when it soon expires.

The latest increase in prices on the official market came 11 days ago, with a rise in diesel from 80 SYP (about $0.37 per liter at the official exchange rate) to 125 SYP (about $0.58), the largest jump in the 46-month conflict.

In March 2011, the subsidized price was 7 SYP for diesel and 20 SYP for petrol in a subsidy program costing $8 billion per year.


US-Led Airstrikes Continue to Hit Islamic State Near Kobane

US-led airstrikes have continued against the Islamic State near Kobane in northern Syria, after the jihadists were finally pushed out of the city by Kurdish forces on Monday.

The US military announced 13 attacks over a 24-hour period on Tuesday and Wednesday. It claimed strikes on 12 tactical units, a vehicle, nine fighting positions, a staging area and three buildings.

“I Had No Money. What Other Choice Did I Have Left Other Than The Islamic State?”

Pointing to economic survival rather than religious ideology as a motive for men joining the Islamic State, Syria Deeply interviews Muhammad, a schoolteacher from Aleppo Province:

What other choices did I have left other than ISIS? After I lost my monthly salary, I started depending on what my land gave me and on private tutoring lessons, but none of them was sufficient to put food on my table. There are no economic prospects that could provide job opportunities, and I don’t have the money to start my own business. I’ve also been through many setbacks due to my mother’s health situation, which caused me to borrow a lot of money.

I tried to borrow from certain people who I know have the money, but they wouldn’t give me any, saying I didn’t have an income to cover my debts. Later on, I did find someone to lend me the money, but now I’m embarrassed when I see one of them in the street and I change my path if I can to avoid running into them.

Asked why he and his family did not become refugees in Turkey, Muhammad replies, “Our dignity is lost in other countries.”

Claim: 5 More Islamic State Fighters Assassinated in Eastern Syria

A pro-opposition media group claimed that five more Islamic State fighters have been assassinated by a shadowy group which has killed dozens of the jihadists across Deir Ez Zor Province in eastern Syria in recent weeks.

The latest victims were slain in the Khanat district of Mayadeen on Tuesday by the group labelled the Saraya al-Kawatim (“Silencers’ Brigade”).

The Islamic State has reportedly sent a letter to the governor of Mayadeen, demanding that he develop a security plan to kill the “apostates” who are targeting the jihadists.

Islamic State Releases New Audio of Japanese Hostage Goto; “Swap” Deal for Jordanian Pilot Still Unclear

The Islamic State released another message late Wednesday from Japanese hostage Kenji Goto.

Goto and a Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh, have been threatened with execution if Jordan does not release an Iraqi woman, Sajida al-Rishawi, serving a death sentence in Jordan since 2005.

See Syria and Iraq Audio Analysis: The Islamic State, Hostages, and the Money to Run A “State”

Jordanian authorities said on Wednesday that they were willing to free al-Rishawi in return for al-Kasasbeh’s freedom, but the deal never materialized.

Instead, Goto’s message extended the deadline for the exchange.

A Japanese Government spokesman said there was a “high probability” that the audio is authentic.