PHOTO: Kurdish fighters in the Guweiran district of Hasakah


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UPDATE 1300 GMT: Journalist Wladimir van Wilgenburg, embedded with Kurdish forces, says a ceasefire agreement went into effect at 2 p.m. local time throughout Hasakah.

The agreement appears to hand over near-total control to Kurdish authorities. The Kurdish militia and police have taken key positions such as the university and parts of the Nashwa and Ghweiran districts, the two areas which had been overseen by pro-Assad forces.

An official of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces published terms which include Kurdish control of all-recently liberated areas. Regime troops and militia are to leave the city and cannot re-enter. The regime retains a “security square”, but this must be overseen by civil police.

The Syrian military retains a base at Kawkab, near the city.

Van Wilgenburg says thousands of civilians who fled the seven days of fighting are now returning.

State news agency SANA reports the ceasefire but ignores any mention of diminished control by regime forces. Instead, it focuses on the exchange of bodies, the injured, and captives; the reopening of roads; and discussions over discharged State employees.

A report on the takeover of Hasakah prison by Kurdish forces:


ORIGINAL ENTRY: After almost a week of fighting in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah, Kurdish forces are close to victory over the regime military and militia, according to local activists.

The Kurdish YPG militia and Asayish security forces advanced on Monday in the two remaining districts controlled by President Assad’s troops, Nashwa and Ghweiran. Reports said they had captured the police station and were driving back the regime troops in the remaining “security box”.

The Kurdish forces declared the eastern part of Nashwa “liberated” and said clashes were ongoing in the Laylia neighborhood. They said that key points had been taken in Ghweiran, including the ring road, and that they had surrounded the Basel stadium and the museum.

HASAKAH 23-08-16

(Map by Artur Rosinski of NewsMap)

Syrian State media have said nothing about the situation, but the pro-regime Al-Masdar News insisted this morning that the Assad regime and “YPG and Asayish leaderships” had reached a ceasefire agreement under Russian supervision. Points include confirmation of areas of control, including police stations, prisons, and immigration and passport offices.

Pro-Assad activists reported a similar agreement last weekend, only for Kurdish officials to deny the claims and the YPG-Asayish to advance further inside the city.

Control of Hasakah has been divided since 2013, with periodic clashes between the two sides. The current fighting began last Wednesday, with each side claiming that the other had attacked checkpoints, and soon expanded after the collapse of a brief ceasefire on Wednesday night.


Reports: Islamist Factions Close to “Grand Merger”

Rebels and activists report that a “grand merger” of Islamist groups, including Ahrar al-Sham and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), is close to completion.

The military spokesman for Ahrar al-Sham, Abou Youssef al-Muhajir, said in a video statement:

Preparatory sessions for major integrations projects on the Syria-wide level are underway. There will be unification and mergers among the biggest Syrian revolutionary groups, and the results will come very soon.

One activist close to JFS said the talks were advancing, but added that large Aleppo factions are resisting the merger.

The possibility of a merger was advanced last month when Jabhat al-Nusra renounced formal allegiance to Al Qa’eda and renamed itself as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham. The leader of the faction, Abu Mohammad al-Joulani, said the realignment — sought by other rebel groups and backers like Saudi Arabia for more than a year — was to advance “unity” in the Syrian revolution and called on other groups to join the effort.

See Syria Analysis: The Dangerous Misunderstanding of “Al Qa’eda”


Pro-Assad Forces Attack Again After Latest Failure to Take Base on SW Aleppo Front

The Syrian military and foreign allies have renewed attacks on the artillery base captured by rebels in their offensive southwest of Aleppo city.

A pro-opposition activist said the attackers, covered by intense Russian airstrikes, are trying to advance on the north and east of the base.

A pro-regime activist posts:

Earlier on Wednesday, a pro-regime site as well as pro-opposition activists reported that the pro-Assad forces had failed in their latest assault. The attackers briefly entered the base but were unable to hold positions in the northwest.

The Syrian military has made at least three attempts in the past week to reclaim the base, but has suffered heavy casualties on the perimeter.

A pro-Assad attack did take the hill of Umm Qara, but rebels are counter-attacking on Tuesday.

Rebels took the artillery base, an air force college, and the surrounding area in early August. as they broke the month-long siege of opposition-held areas of Aleppo city.

SW ALEPPO 17-08-16


Regime Cut Off Food to Damascus Town After Rebels Attack Checkpoint

The Syrian military has imposed a blockade, cutting off food, on the town of Qudsaya in Damascus Province.

The regime shelled residential neighborhoods and cut off roads, following a rebel attack on a checkpoint last Tuesday.

Dozens of people have been detained.

Qudsaya was encircled by the Syrian military in July 2015 after a soldier was kidnapped by an Free Syrian Army faction.


Regime’s UN Ambassador: We Did Not Bomb Omran’s Family

The Assad regime’s ambassador to the UN, Bashar al-Jaafari, has denied that Syrian or Russian warplanes bombed the home of the family of Omran Daqneesh, the five-year-old boy whose photograph quickly became a symbol of the deaths and destruction of the 5 1/2-year conflict.

Jaafari told a Security Council session on Monday that neither the regime nor the Russians targeted the al-Qaterji neighborhood in Aleppo city last Wednesday.

He stopped short of putting forth the claim of Assad supporters that a rebel mine had struck the home, saying, “Uou have to search about the real criminal.”

However, he pointed to “governments that falsely claimed they are friends of the Syrians” being responsible for the suffering of civilians.

Omran, his parents, and three siblings were injured in the bombing. His 10-year-old brother Ali later died from his wounds.

See also Syria Feature: Omran’s Picture Got World’s Attention — These 7 Went Unnoticed
Syria Opinion: Omran’s Picture — “This Moment Must Become a Movement to End the War”

Jaafari said that Omran “is like other Syrian children who suffer the repercussions of the crisis and the conspiracy hatched against the country”.


Top UN Aid Official: Aleppo is “Apex of Horror”

The UN’s top aid official has said that suffering in Syria’s largest city Aleppo is the “apex of horror.”

Briefing the Security Council, Stephen O’Brien, the Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, said there had been no support from combatants over Russia’s backing of a 48-hour ceasefire in Aleppo which he had proposed earlier this month: “This cannot be a one-sided offer. Plans are in place, but we need the agreement of all parties to let us do our job.”

O’Brien said access to Aleppo and other areas is blocked by fighting, security concerns, and the Syrian bureaucracy. He said no convoys were dispatched in August after limited deliveries in July.

The official expressed little hope of avoiding “a humanitarian catastrophe unparalleled in the over five years of bloodshed and carnage in the Syrian conflict”. He said the crisis in Aleppo is “the apex of horror at its most horrific extent of the suffering of people”.


Russia: Iran Didn’t Kick Us Out of Airbase

Russia’s Defense Ministry has denied that its warplanes were forced by Tehran to leave an airbase in western Iran after only a week of operations.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday that Russian bombing of northern Syria from the base in Hamedan Province “had finished for now”. The announcement came after days of criticism inside Iran, particularly from MPs, of the agreement for deployment of Russian Tu22-33M “Backfire” long-range bombers and Su-34 tactical bombers.

Now see Syria Feature: Russia — Iran Didn’t Kick Us Out of Airbase