Assad’s Troops Launch a Major Offensive in Aleppo. Syrian troops recaptured part of a military base captured by rebels earlier this year in fierce fighting near Aleppo’s international airport, says the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Reuters called it an after-dawn attack that would significantly advance the regime’s position towards rebel-held areas of Aleppo city.
“We did not see it coming. The attack came as a real shock to us,” one rebel fighter told Al Jazeera. “There is an insane campaign going on. The regime is employing a scorched-earth policy.”
Base 80, located outside the city of Aleppo, is a strategic foothold in the fight for Syria’s largest city.
“Regime troops have advanced inside the base and now control large parts of it, and rebel groups and the Islamic State [of Iraq and the Levant] are bringing in reinforcements,” according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It cited the presence of Hezbollah troops supporting the Syrian regime advance.
Saudi Arabia to Spend Millions to Train New Rebel Force. The Guardian reports that Saudi Arabia is preparing to spend millions of dollars to train Jaysh al-Islam, or the Army of Islam, a union of dozens of Syrian rebel groups.
Jaysh al-Islam was created as a counterbalance to al-Qaida-linked groups, though it does embrace conservative Islamist and Salafi units. It does not include the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, and rejects the SNC leadership in exile, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Foreign Policy calls the training program part of Saudi’s shadow war.
“Saudis with knowledge of the training program describe it as an antidote to extremism, not a potential cause of it. They have described the kingdom’s effort as having two goals – toppling the Assad regime, and weakening al-Qaida-linked groups in the country,” the magazine wrote.
The move comes as Saudi Arabia has found various ways to express its frustration with the course of Syria policy, seeing the U.S. approach as tepid and ineffectual. Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former Saudi intelligence chief and envoy to Washington, told Al Monitor there is “a high level of disappointment in the U.S. government’s dealings” with the Syrian conflict.
Kurds Protest Against Turkish Plans for a Border Wall. Reuters reports that “thousands of Kurds protested on Thursday against Turkish plans to build a wall along the Syrian border, calling it a move to stop Kurdish communities strengthening cross-frontier ties.” One Kurdish woman in Turkey, who serves as the mayor of the town of Nusaybin, led a hunger strike to rally Kurds against the so-called “wall of shame,”according to the Guardian. The wall would have separated Nusaybin from the mostly Kurdish city of Qamishli in Syria.
Since the start of the civil war, Syria’s Kurds have taken control of northeastern parts of the country, including Qamishli. Regime troops have largely withdrawn from majority Kurdish regions, while jihadi groups fighting to claim those areas have been repeatedly beaten back by Kurdish militias.
The rising influence of Kurds in Syria is seen as a nuisance, if not a direct threat to Turkey – one of the complicating factors of Syria’s war. International Crisis Group dives deep into the Kurdish dimension of Syria’s war in a report from earlier this year, calling it a struggle within a struggle.
Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team:
BBC: Europe at Polio Risk from Syria
AP: Syrian Opposition Refuses Moscow Talks, says Foreign Ministry
The Guardian: George Soros Pledges $1m for Syria Humanitarian Work
AP: Danes Could Transport Syria Chemical Weapons
TIME: Taking the Lead, Hezbollah Girds for Key Syria Battle on Assad’s Behalf
Economist: To Stop the Slaughter
BBC: Hundreds of Britons Fighting in Syria – M15 Chief
AFP: Russia Rejects U.S. Skepticism About Syria Chemical Arms