Car Bomb Kills More Than 40 People at Turkish Border Crossing
The New York Times reports that a car bomb killed at least 43 at the Bab al-Salam border crossing between Turkey and Syria, wounding more than 80 and appearing to be “the latest instance of civilians bearing the brunt of clashes between Islamist groups in insurgent-held territory.”
Mohammad Wissam, an activist with the Aleppo Media Center, “said that the attack had been carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a radical group aligned with al-Qaida, and that it had targeted the Tawhid Brigade, part of the Islamic Front, an insurgent coalition including many former members of the Free Syrian Army. The Tawhid Brigade controls the border post.
“The Islamic Front has clashed repeatedly with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, known as ISIS, which many Syrian insurgents say is more focused on establishing Islamic rule in Syria than fighting against President Bashar al-Assad. Some accuse ISIS of collaborating with the government.”
Rebels Blow Up Army Base in Major Hit Against Assad Government
Insurgents say that they have blown up the Syrian army base of Wadi al-Deif in northwest Idlib, detonating 60 tons of explosives packed underneath the base and “blowing a hillside hundreds of yards into the air.”
If true, Reuters reports, it would be a blow to Assad’s operation in the province. Syrian army troops have controlled the large, hotly contested base for the bulk of the country’s three-year war.
A commander with the rebel Islamic Front said that his brigade “dug an 850-meter [2,800-foot] tunnel underneath Wadi al-Deif base, which is surrounded by rebels but has remained under government control for the entirety of the three-year-long civil war. Rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad regularly carry out guerrilla attacks but have only started using large tunnel bombs in recent weeks on military targets, including a hotel used by soldiers in Aleppo last week.”
Kerry Says Intelligence Suggests Syria Used Chlorine Weapons
Bloomberg News reports on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s declaration that he has seen “raw data” indicating that Assad’s government has used chlorine gas “in a number of instances” against the country’s opposition.
“If that’s proven, there will be consequences,” Kerry said Thursday, adding that the Obama officials are “not going to pin ourselves down to a precise date, time, manner of action.”
His French counterpart, Laurent Fabius, said on May 13 that “France had ‘credible witnesses’ testifying to 14 instances of chemical gas attacks since last October. While France had been prepared to strike Assad’s regime in the aftermath of last August’s sarin gas attacks that killed more than 1,400 people, the U.K. Parliament and U.S. President Barack Obama decided against attacking, and France couldn’t act alone, he said. ‘We regret it because we think it would have changed a lot of things.’”
Iran Recruiting Afghan Refugees to Fight for Syria’s Regime
The Wall Street Journal reports that Iran is recruiting Afghans to fight alongside Assad forces in Syria, offering $500 stipends and Iranian residency.
“The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, recruits and trains Shiite militias to fight in Syria. Details of their recruitment efforts were posted this week on a blog focused on Afghan refugees in Iran and confirmed by the office of Grand Ayatollah Mohaghegh Kabuli, an Afghan religious leader in the Iranian holy city of Qom. A member of the IRGC also confirmed the details,” the Journal reports.
“They [IRGC] find a connection to the refugee community and work on convincing our youth to go and fight in Syria,” the office administrator of Ayatollah Kabuli told the paper. “They give them everything from salary to residency.”
Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team
Economist: Syria’s Civil War: Business as Usual. Bloody as Ever
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