Regime Air Strike Kills 10 in Rebel Town

The AP reports that 10 civilians in the Aleppo province town of Bzaa have been killed by an air strike, part of the government’s escalated bombing campaign on Aleppo city and its surroundings.

Aleppo’s media center, along with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed that children were among the dead.

“The strike came amid the most serious infighting between Syrian rebels in the north. Activists say rebel-on-rebel clashes intensified Tuesday, as an alliance of opposition brigades tries to rout fighters from an al-Qaida-linked group from the north,” the wire said.

Rebel Infighting Spreads to Raqqa

Anne Barnard and Rick Gladstone of the New York Times have a terrific in-depth primer on the fighting between rebel and ISIS forces in the city of Raqqa.

“An internal war between Syrian insurgents and their onetime allies, members of a transnational jihadist group that even some fighters affiliated with al-Qaida reject as too extreme, widened on Monday from parts of northern Syria into Raqqa, the largest city in eastern Syria that had been under the group’s control,” they write.

“Some activists said the group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, had been largely evicted from Raqqa, which it had ruled for months. The group was known to have closed churches, arrested hundreds of Syrians who disagreed with its goals and even executed some perceived offenders of strictly interpreted Shariah law, the code of Islamic behavior it had sought to impose.

“If confirmed, its expulsion from Raqqa would be a setback for the group, known by the initials ISIS, in its effort to assert supremacy over the nearly three-year-old insurgency in Syria, which has devolved into a splintering of militias with no universally recognized authority.”

Iran Won’t Take Part in Syria Summit

Despite John Kerry’s assertion that Iran could play a role “from the sidelines,” TIME reports that the Assad ally will not have a role in Syrian peace talks later this month.

“Iran has thrown money and arms behind Assad’s embattled government in a bid to keep in power one of their chief allies in the Middle East. According to Reuters, White House spokesman Jay Carney said that in order to participate in Switzerland, Iran would effectively have to endorse the terms agreed during the Geneva I conference in 2012. These include creating a transitional government in Syria without Assad,” the magazine says.

“During a statement broadcast on Iranian state television on Monday, Tehran appeared to bristle at the proposal. ‘In order to take part in the Geneva II conference, the Islamic Republic of Iran will not accept any proposal which does not respect its dignity,’ Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Marzieh Afkham said.”

Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team:

Reuters: Syria Rebels Kill 34 Foreign Fighters in NorthWest

AFP: Syria Islamic Front Issues Strong Warning to Jihadists

LA Times: Extremist Syria Rebel Group Accused of Mass Executing Prisoners

NY Times: Jordan to Renew Appeal on Syrian Refugees

AP: U.N. Decides to Stop Updating Syria Death Toll

RT: Syrian Schools to Offer Russian as Second Language