PHOTO: Morek in northern Hama Province

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Report: Assad Regime Using “Enforced Disapperance” to Extort Money — Amnesty

UPDATE 0900 GMT: Both pro-rebel and pro-regime activists are confirming rebel control of Morek. The pro-regime editor of al-Masdar News tries to portray a tactical withdrawal by the Syrian Army:

Pro-opposition media are reporting from the town:

Opposition activists and journalist are claiming that more than 50 regime troops were killed in the final assault and that 10 tanks, 4 Shilka weapons systems, and 5 BMP armored vehicles were captured.

Jund al-Aqsa moving through Morek:

Footage of the town, including an interview with Jund al-Aqsa fighters:

One of the captured tanks:

Elsewhere in northern Hama Province, rebels including Ajnad al-Sham have consolidated the takeover of the hilltop of Tel Sukayk, near Souran:

Reports are circulating that the opposition is attacking Atshan, the last gain held by the regime from its October 7 offensive:

And the Free Syrian Army has moved into al-Shanabra (see map):

Meanwhile, claimed footage has been posted of rebels attacking regime forces trying to escape in Latakia Province, where the Syrian military has pursued an offensive over the past month but made little headway:

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Syria’s rebels advanced farther in their counter-offensive in northern Hama Province on Wednesday, moving into the town of Morek on the Hama-to-Aleppo highway.

Rebels, including the Islamist faction Jund al-Aqsa and factions in the Jaish al-Fateh coalition, closed on Morek soon after the start of the counter-offensive two weeks ago and reported further gains on Tuesday. Their entry into the town came within hours of the announcement of an assault on Wednesday afternoon.

The opposition first claimed the town in February 2014; however, they lost it to the Syrian military eight months later.
Only last week Russian and State media were assuring that the Syrian military had secured Morek by establishing control of surrounding areas.

Pro-regime activists maintained early Thursday that the Syrian Army, reinforced by Hezbollah, was trying to move back into Morek. A Twitter account supporting the rebel coalition Jaish al-Fateh said there is some fighting in the town, although the morale of regime forces has “collapsed”.

Syrian State news agency SANA does not mention the battle for the town, saying only that the “Syrian Air Force targeted terrorists’ hideouts…near Morek…killing a number of terrorists and destroying their machine gun-equipped vehicles”.

Russian State outlet RT reporting on regime “success” near Morek last week:

The Syrian military — supported by Russian airstrikes and forces from Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan — launched six offensives from October 7, including two in northern Hama Province. The rebel counter-offensive took almost all territory lost in a 20-km (13-mile) salient and then captured regime areas as they advanced on Morek.

Elsewhere in the northern Hama salient on Wednesday, rebels claimed that they shot down a Syrian jet fighter near Kafr Nabouda, forcing the pilot to eject. A fighter said:

We targeted the [Russian-made] MiG aircraft while it was striking rebel positions on the front of Kafr Nabouda. We shot at it with our medium machine guns.

“One of the shots hit the plane, and we saw smoke coming out of it, then it crashed…near a regime-held area….We don’t know about the fate of the pilot, but he probably got killed.

Rebels captured the nearby hilltop of Tel Othman on Tuesday, and claimed the Ghanabra checkpoint (see map) on Thursday:

While the opposition is counter-attacking in Hama, regime forces have had notable success only on their front south of Aleppo city, and then primarily because of the role of well-trained foreign units from Hezbollah, Iran, and Iraq. The Syrian army also recaptured the main road east of Aleppo city on Wednesday, having lost it to the Islamic State in late October.

Activists: 50+ Killed by Russian Bombing of Town Near Iraqi Border

Activists says at least 50 people were killed on Thursday when Russian warplanes bombed a market in the center of the town of Al-Bukamal, in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border.

The town was occupied by the Islamic State in summer 2014.

10,000s Flee as Islamic State Advances in Eastern Homs Province

Tens of thousands of people are fleeing eastern Homs Province amid an advance by the Islamic State, while others are trapped in towns being bombarded by the Russian and Syrian air forces, according to a resident.

Qadour Ibn Mahin, who lives in the town of Mahin captured by the Islamic State last week, told Syria Direct that more than 40,000 people have fled the area. Many have gone to nearby villages such as IS-controlled Quraytayn, even though that is also being hit by airstrikes, and trying to move from there south towards Damascus or north towards Raqqa.

Ibn Mahin adds, “It is worth noting that there are still many families in Mahin and Huwarayn under bombardment who don’t have cars to get away.”

He says, “We are appealing to bus drivers and people with pickup trucks to transport fleeing people by offering them SP250,000 [$1,300].”

Iranian Officials Declare Continuing Support for Assad Regime — Situation “Better Than Before”

A series of high-level Iranian officials declared their continuing support for the Assad regime on Wednesday.

The Supreme Leader’s top aide, Ali Akbar Velayati, met Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Feisal al-Mikdad in Tehran and then denied any division with Russia over the future of the regime and Hezbollah’s role in the conflict:

Iran and Russia’s relations are very clear and friendly, and cooperation between [these] two countries will increase….Iran supports the government and nation of Syria and the person of Bashar al Assad, and just as the Supreme Leader ordered, the final decision about Syria’s fate is [with] the people of this country, without foreigners’ intervention.

See Syria Analysis: Is Russia Preparing to Dump Assad?

Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani also met Mikdad and insisted that Syria’s condition appears to be “better than before, and based on predictions, God willing, the situation will become even better”. Hardline politician Saeed Jalili, a Presidential candidate in 2013, proclaimed, “We should not allow America to create a conspiracy to destroy the heart of the resistance.”

Meanwhile, more Iranian commanders and troops are being killed in Syria amid Tehran’s escalating involvement in offensives by the Syrian military, supported by Russian airstrikes, Hezbollah, and Iranian-led Iraqi, Afghan, and Pakistani militias.

The funeral ceremony for Revolutionary Guards Colonel Ezatollah Soleimani, slain last week in Aleppo Province:

IRAN COLONEL FUNERAL

The latest confirmed casualties are Mohsen Fanousi, a member of a combat engineering brigade killed on Tuesday, Basij member Ruhollah Ghorbani, and fighters Ghadir Sarlak and Ali Karimi.

More than 40 Iranian commanders and troops have been slain since October 7.

“US Led Effort to Get Iran Into Syria Negotiations”

Unnamed “diplomats based at the United Nations” have said that the US led the effort to ensure Iran was at the high-level negotiations on the Syrian crisis in Vienna on October 30.

The diplomats said President Obama intervened personally to assure regional leaders, especially Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, that their positions would not be undermined if Iran participated.

Obama phoned Salman on October 27, four days after US Secretary John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pressed Saudi Arabia and Turkey in a closed-door meeting in Vienna to accept the Iranians — even if there were no explicit assurances that Syria’s President Assad would be required to step down.

The American effort had only limited success, however, when Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif clashed to the point of shouting in the one-day talks. The Iranian Foreign Ministry has since warned that Tehran will consider pulling out of the talks if the Saudis continue to be “unconstructive”.

See Iran Daily, Nov 3: Tehran Warns It Could Withdraw from “Unconstructive” Syria Talks

The US had held out for years against any Iranian involvement in the discussions, but Washington’s position shifted after the July 14 nuclear deal with Tehran and Russia’s escalating military intervention and bombing inside Syria.

US to Give More Weapons to “Successful” Kurdish-Led Syrian Democratic Forces

The US military said on Wednesday that it will provide more weapons to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces after the bloc took territory in northeastern Syria from the Islamic State.

The US airdropped about 50 tons of ammunition to the SDF last month. Created this autumn, the bloc is led by the Kurdish militia YPG and includes Arab and Assyrian Christian factions.

See Syria Feature: Kurdish-Arab “Alliance” — Myth or a Magical US Solution?

Baghdad-based spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said the SDF had reclaimed about 255 square km (about 98 square miles) from ISIS around the village of al-Houl in Hasakeh Province near the Iraqi border.

Warren said the operation was backed by 17 US-led coalition airstrikes, killing 79 Islamic State fighters and destroying weapons systems around al-Houl.

“While this is not a large tactical action, we believe the operation demonstrates the viability of our program to provide support to these forces,” the spokesman said.

Asked whether this meant more air drops of arms or ammunition, Warren said:

On the weapons resupply, yes. The answer is yes.

We have seen that. We believe that the success is 200-plus kilometers of ground that the Syrian Arab Coalition has managed to take, to some extent, validates this program.

It’s not a complete validation – I want to be clear about that. But we’re encouraged by what we see and…we intend to reinforce success.

“Dozens” of Russian Airstrikes on Islamic State’s Center of Raqqa

Local activists in the Islamic State’s center of Raqqa in northern Syria have spoken about this week’s Russian airstrikes on the city.

Dozens of attacks have damaged the main hospital, a police station, bridges, and other facilities. Opposition sites claiming more than 25 strikes on Tuesday, with an activist saying that 11 civilians and four ISIS fighters were killed.

“The people of Raqqa are caught between the knives of IS on the ground and bombardment by coalition, Russian and Syrian planes,” activist Iskander a-Raqqawi said on Wednesday. “Civilians are the victims.”

While “life returned in some sense” on Wednesday as electricity and water were restored to parts of the city, “civilians are still afraid”, activist Abu Sham a-Raqqa said.