Syrian Forces Are Seen Stepping Up Attacks on Rebels
The New York Times reports that across Syria, rebel fighters who oppose both the Syrian regime and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are being “pummeled by a new wave of attacks and assassination attempts.”
The assaults, write Anne Barnard and Mohammed Ghannem, “are coming at a crucial moment, as President Obama tries to intensify efforts to defeat the Islamic State extremists.
“Something new is going on,” Hassan Abu Nouh, an antigovernment activist in Talbiseh who has close ties to the local insurgent force, told the paper. “They are hitting us like crazy … Maybe no one will be alive to tell the story next week.”
Meanwhile, the paper’s U.N. correspondent, Somini Sengupta, weighs in on whether a U.S, attack on ISIS militants in Syria would be legal – an ongoing debate that could slow military action there.
“The White House has articulated no rationale for airstrikes on Syrian territory, nor has it sought a Security Council resolution to authorize going to war,” Sengupta writes.
“Syria has not consented to strikes within its territory, and Ban [ki-Moon] has demurred on the question of whether a Security Council resolution authorizing them is necessary, saying only that he expects the 15-member body to take it up — and not without disagreement.”
Amid Skepticism, House Approves Obama’s Iraq-Syria Military Strategy
The Washington Post reports that the House on Wednesday approved the Obama administration’s plan to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels to counter ISIS – though politicians on both sides of the aisle “remain deeply skeptical about its chances for success.”
The paper says that the vote “placed Congress one step closer to authorizing the third significant U.S. military operation in Iraq in the past quarter-century, and it put lawmakers on record approving U.S. engagement in the years-long Syrian civil war. It delivered Obama much-needed domestic political support as he seeks an international coalition to combat the growing threat of Islamist terrorism in the Middle East.
“But the tally — 273 to 156 — also revealed widespread misgivings in both parties about the plan’s chances of success, even among lawmakers who voted in favor of it.”
Syrian Children’s Deaths Caused by Vaccine Mix-Up
The BBC confirms that the deaths of 15 children in rebel-held areas of Idlib province are attributed to the administration of muscle relaxant instead of a vaccine for measles.
“A preliminary investigation by the National Coalition found atracurium was given to the children instead of a solution used to mix measles vaccines,” the network reports. The packaging for the drug is similar to that of a solution used to mix measles vaccines. Parents have accused the SNC’s health authorities of not storing the vaccines properly.
“The three-year-old conflict in Syria and the resultant breakdown in state institutions have meant that diseases such as measles and polio have been spreading. In response, U.N. agencies and NGOs have launched immunization campaigns in rebel-held parts of the country’s north and east.”