LATEST
- Jabhat al-Nusra Halts Resistance to Islamic State Offensive in Northern Aleppo Province
- Video: Free Syrian Army Commander — No Expulsion of Arab Residents by Kurdish Forces in North
- Rebels Announce Operations Room for Offensive in Aleppo Province
- Video: 1st-Person View of Night Battle in Southern Idlib Province
- May is “Worst Month” for Regime Attacks on Hospitals
FRIDAY FEATURE
Special: Reuters Q&A with Scott Lucas on Nuclear Talks and Tehran’s Next Steps
Syria’s opposition and rebels are facing life-threatening shortages of fuel, including in areas they have captured this spring, because of the combined actions of the Islamic State and Assad regime.
Syria has been beset by a general crisis over oil and gas supplies amid the escalation of the four-year conflict, with the Assad regime losing almost all of its oil fields and about half of its gas fields to the Islamic State. However, IS has gone farther with a full cut-off of supply to rebel-held areas, blocking long-time smugglers from doing so — and beheading those who defy the ban.
[In partnership with The Conversation, we will post a Syria Special on Monday on the situation.]
This morning residents of Aleppo city report that the Islamic State has executed 14 truck drivers who were trying to transfer fuel, after arresting them near the town of al-Bab.
A driver from Jarjanaz said Islamic State fighters had stopped him at a checkpoint as he was leaving their area and forced him to abandon his tanker truck:
They said it was not allowed. You can’t discuss with them. If they say it is not allowed, you have to obey.
The lack of fuel is affecting agriculture, factories, businesses, aid deliveries, bakeries, water supply, and hospitals. The price of bread has doubled and even tripled in only a few weeks. Petrol prices have also tripled.
In northern Hama Province, the rebel-affiliated Health Administration has declared the suspension of all hospital and clinic work. A Syrian Civil Defence worker said 14 newborn children had died at a hospital in Maarat al-Numan because there was no fuel for incubators.
The situation has been compounded by the continuing regime bombing, retaliating for the loss of Idlib Province in northwest Syria and trying to destroy infrastructure, including hospitals (see entry below).
Hossam Ali, a doctor at an Aleppo hospital, said there have been on shipment of diesel in two weeks and reserves were depleted:
Despite appeals for assistance, there is no sign of supplies from outside Syria, and neither the Islamic State — which does sell oil and gas to the Assad regime — nor Damascus is likely to relent. Rebels are trying to provide some fuel from captured stocks, but this is likely to be a limited relief.
A local source anticipates the scale of the crisis:
Without instant help from NGOs and the UN, the situation in the north will soon escalate.
It is not only those who are internally displaced that suffer the most that will move to Turkey — there will also be hungry locals from Hama, Idlib, Latakia, and Aleppo Provinces.
Asked if she was projecting hundreds of thousands to add to the almost 2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, she replied: “More.”
Jabhat al-Nusra Halts Resistance to Islamic State Offensive in Northern Aleppo Province
Rebel sources confirm a report in the opposition outlet Eldorar that Jabhat al-Nusra units have halted resistance to an Islamic State offensive in northern Aleppo Province.
The Islamic State launched the attacks against rebels along a 25-km (16-mile) front north and northeast of Aleppo city last month. The militants made initial advances, including the capture of the town of Sawran, but have been checked since then.
The reason for Jabhat al-Nusra’s laying down of arms is unclear. The Islamist faction broke with the Islamic State in early 2014, but tried to serve as a broker for reconciliation as war broke out between the Islamic State and rebels.
However, recently Jabhat al-Nusra units have joined rebels in fighting against the Islamic State on various fronts.
Video: Free Syrian Army Commander — No Expulsion of Arab Residents by Kurdish Forces in North
A brigade commander with the Free Syrian Army-affiliated Burkan al-Farkat, which has been fighting alongside Kurdish units against the Islamic State in northern Syria, says there has been no expulsion of Arab residents as the Kurdish-FSA force has advanced:
Claims have circulated for weeks that Kurdish militia have forced Arabs from their homes and burned crops in Hasakah and Raqqa Provinces. On Thursday, the opposition Syrian National Coalition said a panel, with Kurdish and Arab members, would carry out interviews — including with Arab residents — to investigate the accusations.
The brigade commander assures, “The Islamic State is only group responsible for the displacement of people.”
Rebels Announce Operations Room for Offensive in Aleppo Province
Rebels have announced a coalition of 31 factions in the “Fateh Haleb” operations room for the offensive in Aleppo Province in northwest Syria:
INFO-GRAPHIC: "Fatah Halab" Military Op. Room – Coalition of 31 Rebel factions | #Syria
HD: http://t.co/cVWFHXYfW3 pic.twitter.com/G8gld41J56
— archicivilians (@archicivilians) June 18, 2015
The operations room, which takes over from the current Jaish al-Shamiya organization, parallels the Jaish al-Faith coalition that led the successful capture of almost all of neighboring Idlib Province from the regime this spring.
Rebels launched the offensive this week, taking areas in western Aleppo city. The ultimate goal is the unification of Aleppo, divided since rebels took over eastern sections in July 2012.
Video: 1st-Person View of Night Battle in Southern Idlib Province
A three-minute clip of rebels battling regime forces in southern Idlib Province on Wednesday night:
Rebels have renewed an offensive this week to take the remaining major positions of the regime in the province, but have faced resistance as they try to advance on the town of Frikka.
See Syria Daily, June 18: Rebels Attack Throughout the Country
May is “Worst Month” for Regime Attacks on Hospitals
Physicians for Human Rights reports that May 2015 was the worst month in Syria’s four-year conflict for regime attacks on hospitals, with 15 assaults on 14 medical facilities.
Seven of the hospitals and clinics had been attacked previously. Hama Central Hospital, in Hazareen in Idlib Province, was hit twice — once by a barrel bomb, killing a nurse and injuring five medical staff, and once by a missile that wounded two medics.
On Monday night, Busra hospital in Dara’a Province in southern Syria was destroyed by ten barrel bombs. The hospital was the only health facility providing neonatal and dialysis services in Dara’a.
Ten medical personnel were killed in May, seven by the regime attacks. PHR has found that government forces were responsible for all of the May facility attacks and seven of the 10 personnel deaths, all of which are documented on PHR’s interactive map.
Eight of the 15 attacks were with barrel bombs, and the remaining seven were with rockets and missiles from warplanes.
There were 44 regime attacks on hospitals between January and May, with the number rising since March as Syrian forces retaliate for rebel advances in Idlib and Hama Provinces.
