More than 50 Jihadists, Rebels Killed
The AFP reports that more than 50 rebels and jihadists were killed in fighting in northeast Hasakeh province this weekend as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) overran other rebel groups in Markada, a strategic town near the Iraq border.
The deaths were confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which says ISIS also lost 13 of its fighters during the skirmish.
“Markada is important because it provides ISIL with a supply route from Iraq into the road linking Hasake to Deir Ezzor,” the Observatory told the wire. “Oil-rich Hasakeh and Deir Ezzor provinces border Iraq, where ISIS has its roots. While ISIS has withdrawn from much of the west and north of Syria, it has held its ground firmly in the east, near the Iraqi border.”
Iranians Begin to Feel the Heavy Burden of Syria’s War
NPR’s Deborah Amos reports that in Iran, divisions are emerging between those who are pro-Syrian government and those who oppose Iran’s unwavering support of President Bashar al-Assad, which has cost billions of dollars over three years of conflict.
“At Tehran University, students of international relations study the Syria-Iran alliance, one of the most enduring in the region. Yet there are now more questions about Iran’s recent role in the Syrian bloodshed. ‘What is happening in Syria, it’s related to us; it is an obvious catastrophe,’ says one student in a discussion on campus.
“The student believes Syrian civilians are paying the price. Innocent children are dying, he says, his voice rising. ‘But nothing is being declared as a solution,’ he says, ‘because of the balance of power.’ Another student, Masa, 23, says she follows the news of the Syrian uprising on Iranian television. When it comes to insurgents, she says, ‘For me, I think they are just people, but Iran TV wants to show them as terrorists. Our media is not neutral.’”
The Jihadi Town Where ‘Brides’ Are Snatched from Schools
The Telegraph reports from Azaz, just across the Syrian border from Turkey, where it says “opportunities for marriage in the Syrian jihad – and before ‘martyrdom’ – is a recurring theme of the blogs and other online forums favored by ISIS’s foreign fighters in Syria, many of whom write in English.”
Women in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa say that “that the imbalance of the sexes means ISIS has begun to “recruit” brides from local schools and colleges. Among those who resisted, they say, was a 21-year-old student called Fatima Abdullah from a tribal area outside the city, whose brother had joined ISIS and persuaded their father to hand her over for marriage to a Tunisian. She refused, and when her family insisted, killed herself with rat poison. The story was confirmed by other activists from the town.”
Journalists Held by Syrian Militants Reunite with Family
Two Spanish journalists, including El Mundo’s Middle East Correspondent Javier Espinosa, were released after six months in ISIS custody in the first high-profile release of Western hostages in Syria this year. There are currently more than 40 Western journalists and aid workers reportedly held hostage in Syria.
“Kidnapping by insurgent and criminal groups has become so pervasive in northern Syria during the three-year war with the government of President Bashar al-Assad that many news organizations have stopped sending journalists there, and aid groups have struggled to carry out their work,” writes Anne Barnard in the New York Times.
“Across Syria, efforts are under way, through mediators, to catalog, find and perhaps exchange captives, but so far, there have been no mass releases. With insurgent groups fragmented and government security agencies operating in secret and often without coordination, would-be mediators say, it is often difficult to find out who is holding a captive, let alone negotiate for release.”
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