Al-Qaida Affiliate Warns of Retaliation, Amid Emerging Alliance with ISIS
Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the head of al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, has said that the U.S.-led strikes in Syria are doomed to fail, according to Reuters. He also cautioned that the strikes could further spur extremists to launch retaliatory attacks in the West.
In an audio message posted to jihadi forums, he urged civilians in Europe and the U.S. to denounce the military’s latest actions.
“Muslims will not watch while their sons are bombed. Your leaders will not be the only ones who would pay the price of the war. You will pay the heaviest price,” he said. He added that the battle would be brought “to the hearts of your homes … You should protect yourselves from this war by standing against the decisions of your rulers and stop them from bringing you the woes [of war].”
And Martin Chulov of the Guardian reports that as it continues its advance on the strategic majority-Kurdish city of Kobani, ISIS is also moving towards a “new alliance” with Nusra.
“A senior source confirmed that Nusra and ISIS leaders were now holding war planning meetings,” Chulov writes. “While no deal has yet been formalized, the addition of at least some Nusra numbers to ISIS would strengthen the group’s ranks and extend its reach at a time when air strikes are crippling its funding sources and slowing its advances in both Syria and Iraq.
“A senior Nusra figure told the Guardian that 73 members had defected to ISIS last Friday alone and that scores more were planning to do so in coming days.”
U.S.-Led Raids Hit Grain Silos, Kill Workers
Reuters reports that airstrikes by a U.S.-anchored coalition have hit grain silos and other targets in territory in northern Syria controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-backed monitoring group, told the wire that militants were injured and civilians killed.
“The aircraft may have mistaken the mills and grain storage areas in the northern Syrian town of Manbij for an [ISIS] base,” the wire reports. “There was no immediate comment from Washington.
Aided by a coalition of five Arab allies, the U.S. has hit ISIS targets in Syria since last week, aiming “to damage and destroy the bases, forces and supply lines of the al-Qaida offshoot that has captured large areas of both countries. The strikes in Manbij appeared to have killed only civilians, not fighters, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory that gathers information from sources in Syria.”
Refugees Flood Turkish Border as ISIS Attacks Syrian Kurds
Karam Shoumali and Anne Barnard of the New York Times report that as shelling intensified Sunday on Kobani, ISIS set fire to buildings and drove a new stream of refugees towards the Turkish border.
The Sunni militants “have been closing in on the town from the east and west after moving into villages with tanks and artillery, outgunning Kurdish fighters struggling to defend the area,” they write. “The Kurds fear a massacre, especially after recent Islamic State attacks on Kurdish civilians in Iraq. More than 150,000 people have fled into Turkey over the past week.
“There were no sounds of jets overhead to indicate to the Kurds that help was coming from the American-led coalition, whose stated mission is to degrade and destroy [ISIS]. Two airstrikes on the eastern front hit [ISIS] armored vehicles on Saturday, but did not appear to halt the advance.”