Islamic State Withdraws From Areas Northeast of Aleppo

“Islamic State has withdrawn some of its insurgents and equipment from areas northeast of the Syrian city of Aleppo, rebels and residents say, adding to signs of strain in the Syrian provinces of its self-declared caliphate,” Reuters reports.

The Islamic State was recently ousted from the Kurdish town of Kobani by Kurdish forces backed up by U.S.-led coalition strikes and has lost ground to Syrian government forces elsewhere in Syria. The defeat was the group’s first major setback in Syria since last summer.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Islamic State redeployed its forces from Aleppo province to reinforce front lines with Kurdish forces and allied Syrian opposition groups that had taken advantage of the defeat in Kobani to launch new attacks against the militant group.

“They are tactical withdrawals. It’s not a complete withdrawal,” a leader of a mainstream rebel group told Reuters.

The leader went on to say that ISIS might be preparing for a bigger pullback, claiming they had “dismantled a bakery in the town of al-Bab, some 40 km (25 miles) northeast of Aleppo.”

“They are still there, but they have pulled out the foreign fighters, the heavy equipment, changed their positions,” the rebel commander said.

“Residents and activists in Aleppo said they saw Islamic State convoys evacuating several small villages in northeastern Aleppo, and heading eastwards,” Reuters added.

Assad Claims Syria Informed About U.S.-Led Coalition Strikes

In an Interview with BBC broadcast on Tuesday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his government was informed about U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria.

Assad told the BBC there was no direct cooperation with the U.S. since airstrikes began in Syria in September. However, third parties, including Iraq, were conveying “information” to Damascus.

Asked if there was indirect cooperation, Assad said: “That’s true, through third parties, more than one party, Iraq and other countries, sometimes they convey a message, a general message, but there is nothing tactical.”

Many U.S.-led coalition states have denied cooperating with Assad in the campaign against the Islamic State, describing Assad as part of the probe. The Syrian government is waging a separate campaign against Islamic State, and in his latest interview. Assad ruled out joining the international coalition.

“No, definitely we cannot and we don’t have the will and we don’t want, for one simple reason, because we cannot be in an alliance with countries which support terrorism,” he said.

The Syrian government routinely describes political opposition and jihadist groups as “terrorists.”

He also denied that Syrian government forces had been indiscriminately dropping barrel bombs on rebel-held territory, killing thousands of civilians.

“We have bombs, missiles and bullets … There is [sic] no barrel bombs, we don’t have barrels.”

The use of barrel bombs against civilian populations inside Syria is well documented by human-rights groups who claim the bombs are typically dropped from helicopters, which only government forces are believed to operate, “at high altitudes to avoid anti-aircraft fire. At that distance, it is impossible to target with precision, they add.”

ISIS Hostage Appears in New Propaganda Video from Aleppo

John Cantille, a British reporter held hostage by the Islamic State, appears in a new propaganda video entitled “From Inside Halab,” showing Cantile walking through Aleppo.

Cantile has been held captive by the Islamic State for over two years and has been forced to participate in a range of videos, including a series called “Lend Me Your Ears,” and two videos showing him walking through Kobani, Syria and the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Cantile reports on a range of topics including re-education, drone strikes and sharia law, in the latest video. “Cantlie is seen interviewing a member of the mujahideen, touring a school for children and running from a building that purportedly had just been hit by an airstrike,” Newsweek reports.

Cantile describes the “advance and stretch” of ISIS as “remarkable and breathtaking.” “He says huge sections of Aleppo have been smashed to rubble by bombings by both the Syrian and U.S. air forces. But he then moves on to show how the city is apparently still functioning well under ISIS rule, with a “thriving economy,” the Guardian writes.

Cantlie reports on education under ISIS. “One of the common accusations of the West is that under the Islamic State education will suffer, religious studies and changes to the curriculum don’t quite fit their image of progressive schooling. But here in Halab, these young men here are learning Quran recital and languages, and with any luck they will form the mujahideen for the next generation in this region.”

He refers to the latest video as “the last film in the series.”

ISIS has posted several videos of hostages being killed. Most recently, a film circulated online in which the Jordanian pilot Muadh al-Kasasbeh was seen being burned to death. In response, Jordanian fighter jets carried out 56 strikes against the militant group in three days.

Recommended Reads:

• Newsweek: The Fate of Two Human Rights Lawyers Missing in Syria
• Reuters: Islamic State Pulls Forces and Hardware from Syria’s Aleppo
• AP: Syria Says It Doesn’t Need Jordan in Islamic State Fight
• Los Angeles Times: Syria Accuses Jordan of Sponsoring Terrorist Groups on Its Soil
• Al Monitor: Syria Approves Budget

Photo Courtesy of AP Images