LATEST: Video: An Iftar in Aleppo
We open Monday, amid headlines of tensions within the Syrian insurgency, with an analysis of the growing presence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant inside Syria.
While writing the piece, I was reminded of the conclusion to last week’s EA analysis, “4 Lessons from an Article on Jabhat al-Nusra“:
Even the “Free Syrian Army” is an umbrella term for a range of different groups, with different aims and approaches, brought together primarily by shared opposition to the Assad regime. Nor are those factions beyond the FSA a single bloc: a short-handed “Islamist” front set up against “secular” groups within the insurgency.
The Islamic State of Iraq contest with Jabhat al-Nusra is testament to this. So is the Free Syrian Army’s current fight with Kurdish groups in the north. So is the ISI’s gaining of a foothold in al-Dana, near the Turkish border. So are the myriad of brigades who have been quarrelling for control in insurgent-held areas of Aleppo.
The “Al Qa’eda”, “Islamist”, “extremist”, “secular” tags try to control this fragmentation with easy explanation.
(Featured Photo: Insurgents in Saleheddine in Aleppo — Damascus Bureau)
Latest Updates, From Top to Bottom
Video: An Iftar in Aleppo
An iftar — the evening meal breaking the Ramadan fast in insurgent-held Aleppo: note the opposition troops guarding the dinner and the flags of insurgent brigades, including the Free Syrian Army, Jabhat al-Nusra, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant:
Video: Clashes In Qaboun, Damascus
Footage posted by activists on Sunday purports to show insurgents from the Harun al-Rashid Brigade [named for the fifth Abbasid Caliph] in Qaboun, northeastern Damascus, in clashes with regime forces:
Moscow, Tehran Push For Iran’s Inclusion In Geneva II Conference
Both Russia and Iran pushed again on Monday for Iran to be included in the Geneva II peace conference on Syria.
Iran’s Ambassador to Damascus, Mohammad-Reza Raouf-Sheibani, said that a resolution to the conflict can only happen if Iran attends the talks.
“The presence of Iran in the Geneva 2 conference will contribute to the settlement of the Syria crisis,” Raouf-Shabani said.
Meanwhile, Russian media took a slightly more subtle approach, by emphasizing that former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had also said that Iran ought to be present at the Geneva II talks.
“I hope that the Geneva conference will be organized as soon as possible, and the states must accept the fact that Iran has to be one of the decision-making parties,” RIA Novosti quoted Annan as saying.
A date for the conference — let alone its agenda — have not been agreed on. The Syrian opposition has insisted that a solution to the conflict can only be found if President Bashar al-Assad steps down. However, the Syrian government has said that President Bashar Assad would not resign, with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem saying last month that “if your condition [for the talks] is President Assad’s resignation, don’t bother coming.”
UN Special Envoy On Children In War In Syria
The UN secretary general’s special representative on children and armed conflict was in Syria for talks on Monday, the UN said.
According to the UN, Leila Zerrougui,, will spend three days in Syria, where she will meet with government officials, UN representatives and NGOs. Zerrougui will also visit Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey, where hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees are currently living.
FSA Commander: Assad Besieged Qaboun With T-72 Tanks
Following earlier accusations by the Syrian National Coalition that regime forces in Qaboun, northeastern Damascus, are using civilians as human shields, Reuters has more on the situation. A Free Syrian Army commander told the news agency that Assad’s Republican Guards “overran the industrial area and besieged Qaboun with T-72 tanks while units on high ground in the centre of the capital hit Qaboun with rockets and artillery”, and that civilian hostages were still being held in a mosque as well as in two schools.
“They made inroads into Qaboun. We are still on the high buildings but they took lots of civilians to prevent us from hitting them,” said Mohammad Abu al-Hoda.
Reuters also notes that the Qaboun Coordination Committee, an activist group, said at least 60 people had been killed in the neighborhood over the last few days.
Activists Say Several Dead In Car Bomb In Deir Attiyah
Activists reported on Sunday that several people had been killed in a bomb explosion outside a sentry station in the village of Deir Atiah, about 50 miles north of Damascus.
The Deir Atiah News Network (DANN) reported on its Facebook page that a car bomb had exploded, causing a number of deaths and widespread material damage over a large area. Two houses near the station had partially collapsed, injuring some residents, the activists said. The local mosque issued an urgent call for people to go to the hospital and donate blood to help those killed. The electricity supply to the local area was later shut off, DANN reported.
While the UK-based organization the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that 13 people including a child had been killed — without saying who its sources were or how it had obtained that detail — the locally-based DANN were far more cautious about giving a death toll, explaining that they would not mention the names of those killed without making totally sure they had accurate information. DANN listed the names of four people who had died in the blast.
Syrian State news agency SANA also reported on the blast, blaming the explosion on terrorists. SANA cited a “source in the leadership of the Damascus countryside police” as saying that a number of civilians, including a child, had died in the explosion.
Syrian National Coalition: Assad Using Civilians As Human Shields In Qaboun
The Syrian National Coalition (SNC) on Monday accused the Assad regime of using civilians in the northeastern Damascus suburb of Qaboun as human shields.
In a statement, the SNC said that Assad’s forces are “holding civilians hostages in a Qaboun mosque, while there are other reports that Assad’s forces are using civilians as human shields to protect themselves.” The SNC called on the Arab League and the UN to urge Assad to open up corridors for humanitarian relief to reach Qaboun, which continues to be subjected to heavy attacj by regime forces.
Videos: Insurgents In Northern Homs Prepare Mortars
Footage uploaded on Monday afternoon shows a citizen journalist explaining that insurgents in northern Homs are preparing mortars to fire on the military academy (see map):
Meanwhile, this promotional video posted on Saturday by activists in support of the Islamic State of Iraq and As-Sham purports to show ISIS fighters in a large convoy en route to Homs [NB: An EA source has questioned the veracity of the video]:
Video: Activists Claim Regime Trapping Civilians In Qaboun, Damascus Amid Fierce Fighting
Video footage posted by activists in the northeastern Damascus neighborhood of Al-Qaboun on Monday claims to show civilians unable to leave the area, as regime forces push to control it.
The Syrian regime has waged a fierce campaign to recapture Qaboun and Jobar to its south, both key to control over Damascus.
Deutche Welle reports claims by a Syrian government official on Monday that forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had recaptured 60 percent of Jobar.
Also according to Deutche Welle, Syria’s Information Ministry organized a tour of Jobar for reporters on Sunday. The Associated Press reported on widescale destruction that pointed to heavy fighting in the district. Entire factories that manufactured marble tiles had been razed to the ground, with holes knocked in walls. The military officers on the tour warned reporters of opposition snipers in the area.
On Saturday, Syrian State news agency SANA reported that regime forces had captured “large swathes” of Qaboun.
Video: In Aleppo, FSA Helps Aid Pass From Insurgent-Held To Regime-Controlled Areas
While human rights groups called on Monday for the UN to demand humanitarian access to treat and evacuate civilians trapped in areas of Syria where heavy fighting is taking place, this footage, posted on Sunday, claims to show how the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo is facilitating the passage of aid from areas of the city controlled by the insurgency to regime-held areas.
Ankara Denies That Israel Hit Syria from Turkish Airbase
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has denied reports that Ankara allowed Israel to use a Turkish airbase, striking a Syrian port on July 5.
Davutoglu said the claims are “absolutely wrong” and those who spread such rumors are in an “act of betrayal.”
“Turkey will neither be a part nor a partner of such ‘attacks.’ The ones who claim this want to damage Turkey’s power and reputation,” he added.
Russia Today is reporting, from an “unnamed source”, that Israeli planes used the Turkish base to hit the Syrian facilities near Latakia. US officials said this weekend that Israel had targeted Russian-made Yakhont anti-ship missiles.
UN Should Demand Humanitarian Access To Syria, Rights Group Says
Human Rights Watch on Monday called on the UN Security Council to demand that both Assad and the insurgency allow humanitarian organizations access to civilians and wounded fighters.
According to HRW, the problem of lack of humanitarian access is ongoing since the start of the conflict, and has led to deaths. The most recent example, HRW say, was following the assault by regime and Hezbollah forces on on al-Qusayr, near Homs, when Assad’s refusal to allow humanitarian organizations access likely resulted in “several dozen” deaths, since wounded civilians could not be either treated or evacuated.
What Happened To US Plans To Arm Insurgents? They Are “Far More Limited” Than Publicly Indicated, NYT Says
Little has happened since the very public announcements last month that the US planned to send military aid to vetted Syrian insurgents to help level the battlefield in their fight against the much better equipped Syrian Army.
The New York Times on Monday offers some suggestions — but little actual information of substance — as to why, noting that “the administration’s plans are far more limited than it has indicated in public and private.”
Although last month’s announcement that Washington planned to go ahead and send military aid was deemed to be a response to an urgent situation on the ground, Monday’s report gives a far more resigned, and even bleak impression, noting that US plans to train insurgents “could take months to have any impact on a chaotic battlefield.”
The entire plan might be pointless anyway, the NYT suggests, adding that “[m]any officials believe the assistance is unlikely to bolster the rebellion enough to push President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to the negotiating table.”
The report goes on to make the startling revelation that the Free Syrian Army is actually not a coherent military force but is in fact fragmented:
For example, the group that officials in Washington have designated to be recipients of American arms, the Free Syrian Army, is actually an umbrella organization composed of hundreds of different battalions in Syria.
Many of those battalions are not under the direct command of Gen. Salim Idris, the commander the administration has identified as its chief interlocutor with the opposition. Some of the battalions receive General Idris’s orders only after they gradually trickle down through a byzantine command structure.
Battalions that affiliate with the Free Syrian Army range from small teams in rural areas that make their own weapons to larger, more organized factions that receive the most powerful weapons. The opposition groups are dispersed throughout the country — the more organized and well-equipped factions residing in the north and the less cohesive operating in the south.
Casualties
The Local Coordination Committees claim 126 people were killed on Sunday, including 37 in Idlib PRovince, 35 in Damascus and its suburbs and 21 martyrs in Homs Province.
Among the figure, a surge from relatively low figures last week, were claimed deaths of 16 children and seven women. Twenty of the slain were reportedly in Qaboun, a strategic area of Damascus under heavy shelling by regime forces.
The Violations Documentation Center reports that 66,191 people have been slain since the start of the conflict in March 2011, an increase of 103 since Sunday. Of these, 50,499 were civilians, a rise of 91 from yesterday.
