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SATURDAY FEATURE
“Poison Gas” Attacks Near Damascus & in Hama Province
Fighting between insurgents and the Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham, now in its fourth month, has flared around the town of Abu Kumal in northeastern Syria.
Activists said on Friday that insurgents had pushed ISIS out of Abu Kumal, in Deir Ez Zor Province, after the Iraqi-led group had held the center for several hours.
ISIS had attacked from two or three directions on Thursday. Insurgents claim tha the first ISIS contingents were Syrians who entered the cultural center, professing to be on peaceful terms but then turning their weapons on those inside. The ISIS main force followed, taking the Shari’a Committee’s building, the Baghuz bridge, the industrial area, and the grain silos.
Insurgent contingents mobilized in the rest of the city. After intense fighting, most of the areas taken by ISIS were reclaimed by mid-afternoon by the opposition fighters. The Iraqi-led group was driven out of its other positions — the A’isha hospital, the industrial area, and the grain silos — by nightfall, retreating into the desert.
Sources reported at the end of the day that at least 70 people had been killed, as well as an unknown but “huge” loss on ISIS’ side. Those slain included the leaderof the local Kata’ib Ahfad A’isha battalion and the Sharia judge Abu al-Layth of Jabhat al-Nusra.
Opposition outlets, including the Local Coordination Committees, claimed on Friday that ISIS had executed dozens of people, with 30 bodies found in a mass grave.
Video of the celebration of the eviction of ISIS from Abu Kumal:
On the Brown Moses blog, Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi and Cedric Labrousse post full background and a summary of the fighting.
Video: Insurgents Capture Regime Barrier at Heesh in Idlib Province
Photo: Rescue Effort in Ansari Section of Aleppo After Saturday Airstrike
Family of Kidnapped Activist Zaitouneh Hold Islamic Front Leader “Responsible” for Lack of Assistance
The family of activist Razan Zaitouneh, kidnapped in December, have issued a statement holding Islamic Front leader Zahran Alloush “responsible” for her safety and calling on him to explain his lack of assistance over her case.
Zeitouneh, the co-founder of the Violations Documentation Center, her husband, and two colleagues were seized in Douma by gunmen. There has been no claim of responsibility and no sign of those abducted:
We, Razan Zaitouneh’s family, appeal to everyone in all areas of Gouta, particularly in Douma, to help us solve this puzzle and find an immediate solution for the release of the kidnapped. We…call on all parents in Gouta to provide us with any information that might help. We call on every father and mother who can feel what we feel. There is no justification for kidnapping our sons and or for the continued suffering of their parents. It is enough that the father of activist Wael Hamada –– Razan’s spouse —- died with the bitterness of not being able to see his son or know his fate.
We also call on Zahran Alloush, the Supreme Commander of the Army of Islam, the largest faction in Eastern Gouta, to issue a statement by which he clarifies his “point of view” about not searching for our daughter till now and not providing any help for us doing so. We hold him fully responsible in case any thing distasteful happens to her or to any of her companions because the kidnapping took place in the area under his authority. Furthermore, we appeal to the whole world to put pressure on the various factions of all affiliations to help us find our daughter and her colleagues.
Video: Insurgents Attack with “Hell Cannon” in Offensive Southwest of Aleppo
Claimed footage of insurgents causing a large explosion with “Hell Cannon” artilelry in at attack near Rammouseh hear Aleppo:
Opposition fighters launched an offensive this week to take five military targets southwest of Syria’s largest city and to cut highways providing the regime’s only routes between the airport and the city and to bases to the east — see Friday’s Daily.
Opposition Coalition Claims Regime “Poison Gas” Attack Near Damascus
Opposition Coalition Claims Regime “Poison Gas” Attack Near Damascus
This is now a feature: Regime “Poison Gas” Attacks Near Damascus & in Hama Province?