Internal U.S. Timeline Has Assad Exit in March 2017
Bashar al-Assad has until March 2017 to “relinquish” his position as president and disband his “inner circle,” according to an internal U.S. timeline obtained by the Associated Press.
The State Department has said the timeline was prepared last year as a guide for U.S. diplomats working on a peace process in Syria.
The proposed strategy would have Syrians hold new presidential and parliamentary elections in August 2017.
John Kirkby, the State Department spokesman, called the document a “staff-level think piece” that is “preliminary and predecisional” and not “an official position.”
“[It is] not an accurate projection of plans by the international community to effect a political transition in Syria,” he said.
Other officials, however, have said the internal timeline’s steps align with much of the U.N.-endorsed plan.
One official, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, said the March 2017 exit date for Assad may be pushed back even further.
Key Ahrar al-Sham Leader Killed in Ambush
A key leader of Ahrar al-Sham, one of the most powerful rebel groups in northern Syria, was killed in an ambush in Homs on Tuesday, the Middle East Eye reports.
Abu Rateb al-Homsi was reportedly shot in the head as he was travelling through a village in northern Homs with his wife.
According to pro-rebel website Syria Mubasher, two gunmen on motorcycles ambushed Homsi’s vehicle, firing more than 50 bullets at the car.
In the lead-up to his death, Homsi had called for the unification of all rebel factions in northern Homs.
Homsi spent five years incarcerated in the Syrian government’s Sednaya Prison near Damascus early on in the crisis. He went on to head the Liwa al-Haqq rebel group before it merged with Ahrar al-Sham.
U.S.-Led Coalition Killed ‘About 2,500’ ISIS Fighters in December
The international coalition carrying out an aerial campaign against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has killed nearly 2,500 militants in the last month, AFP reports.
“In December, we estimate approximately 2,500 enemy fighters were killed in coalition strikes across Iraq and Syria,” Baghdad-based coalition spokesman Colonel Steve Warren told reporters on Wednesday.
The Pentagon has been cautious about providing body counts, but Wednesday’s release comes as officials attempt to depict ISIS as a group on the defensive.
“We believe that ISIL [ISIS] is now in a defensive crouch,” Warren said.
Since the coalition began bombing ISIS targets in August 2014, the extremist group has lost nearly 40 percent of the territory it once controlled.
“Probably in May was really when they reached their culminating point of offensive operations. Since then, all they have really managed to do is lose ground,” Warren said.
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Top image: U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, left, listens as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, address a gathering in the U.N. Security Council of foreign ministers following a vote on a draft resolution concerning Syria, Friday, Dec. 18, 2015 at U.N. headquarters. U.N. Security Council members have unanimously approved a U.N. resolution endorsing a peace process for Syria including a cease-fire and talks between the Damascus government and the opposition. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)