ISIS brutally subdues rebellion in Syria, beheading and crucifying tribesmen who resisted their rule - http://www.vancouversun.com
Islamic militants have crushed a tribal uprising against their rule in eastern Syria after three days of clashes in a string of villages near the border with Iraq, beheading and crucifying opponents along the way, activists said Monday.
The fighters from the Al-Qaeda breakaway Islamic State group control huge swaths of territory in eastern and northern Syria and are fighting rival rebels, Kurdish militias and the Syrian army for more territory.
Meanwhile, at least 10 people including four children and two women were killed Monday when Syrian forces dropped explosives-filled barrels from a helicopter over the Bab Nayrab district of Aleppo in northern Syria, activists said. Many others were buried under the rubble of buildings, they said.
The Syrian army regularly dropped the so-called barrel bombs over populated areas in rebel-held territory. Aleppo, once Syria's commercial capital, has seen heavy fighting since rebels seized part of the city in 2012.
The civil war in Syria, now in its fourth year, has continued to bleed while attention has shifted to conflicts in Gaza and Iraq. The Islamic State group - also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) - which consists mainly of foreign fighters, has taken over much of northern and eastern Syria as well as western and northern Iraq.
The group has declared a self-styled caliphate in territory it controls along the Iraqi-Syrian border, imposing a harsh interpretation of Islamic law.
The armed revolt by the Shueitat tribe in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour was the first sign of local resistance by tribesmen to the Islamic State group since its fighters swept into the province.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Turkey-based activist Thaer al-Deiri said Monday that Islamic State group fighters regained control of three villages from the Shueitat tribe after being expelled earlier this month.
Two men in the region were convicted of "dealing with apostates" and crucified by the militants, Reuters reported.
The Observatory said Islamic State fighters beheaded two tribesmen after they fled to the nearby village of Shaafa. It had no immediate word on other casualties in the area.
Clashes over the past two weeks left more than a dozen people dead and both sides.
The clashes in eastern Syria came as Islamic State fighters tightened their siege of a major military air base in the town of Tabqa in the northern province of Raqqa. The air base is the last army position in the Raqqa province that is an Islamic State stronghold.
The Observatory's chief Rami Abdurrahman said the group was bombarding the base with artillery and appears to be preparing to storm it.
Last week, Islamic State fighters seized the nearby Brigade 93 base after days of heavy fighting. Late last month they captured another base in which they took dozens of prisoners, some of whom were later beheaded and their bodies paraded in one of Raqqa's main squares.
Syria's conflict began in March 2011 as a popular uprising against President Bashar Assad's rule, but turned into an insurgency after government forces violently cracked down on demonstrators. It has since deteriorated into a civil war with sectarian overtones. Over 170,000 people have been killed in Syria in over three years of fighting, activists say.
Islamic State Twitter accounts report a major victory in Syria, bringing the jihadist group closer to the Turkish border - and an ancient town associated with the countdown to Armageddon.
Update, 14 August 2014: since this article was written it has been reported that Islamic State fighters have captured the town of Dabiq.
Accounts verified as official Islamic State accounts, those belonging to Islamic State fighters and pro-Islamic State accounts tweeted that the towns of Akhtarin, Al-Masoudiya and Turkmen Barah had been taken overnight.
Militant fighters are reported to have beaten fighters from the extremist Islamic Front and more moderate Free Syrian Army to take the towns.
The significance is how far west into Syria this puts Islamic State fighters, and how close they now are to the Turkish border.
Advancing across the west will enable Islamic State to "choke off" supplies reaching rebels across the Turkish borders. There is also speculation that foreign fighters heading to the Syrian civil war through the Turkish border will be drawn into the Islamic State's ranks.
The advance into the north and west of Syria shows confidence and stronger control of the Islamic State's territory, Shiraz Maher, an expert in Iraq and Syria in the War Studies department at King's College London told Channel 4 News.
The group had previously controlled a town just 20 miles from the Turkish border last year, Azaz, but was "badly beaten" by the Free Syrian Army and withdrew.
Mr Maher told Channel 4 News: "Back then they (Islamic State) were not so well connected in terms of their land, Azaz was a bit of an outpost.
"This allowed the FSA to surround them and beat them up."
Since then Islamic State has made enormous gains in Iraq - and in doing so took large stockpiles of US-made weaponry that had belonged to the Iraqi army. This weaponry was quickly moved across the border into Syria.
Mr Maher said the militants were clever in getting the weapons out of Iraq - where it was feared they might face a Western-backed offensive in which they could lose their new arsenal - and into Syria where it was expected the US and other allies would not venture.
Since the fall of Mosul, and the subsequent international attention on Iraq, the Islamic State has made advances through northern Syria - but has also been consolidating the areas it controls.
"What they have now provides more of a corridor into the northern Aleppo countryside," Mr Maher said. "That is important."
It is thought that the Islamic State may now be planning a return to Azaz. If they do so they will likely capture an important border crossing at Bab al-Salam. As well as stifling supplies and gaining foreign fighters, this could also be very lucrative for Islamic State.
"You generate large revenue if you control the border crossing," Mr Maher said. "Goods come through and the people bringing them through have to grease the palms of certain people.
"If you are at the border you can also direct those goods into your own areas."
Armageddon
Between Akhtarin and Azaz there is another town whose significance to Islamist fighters is as much symbolic as it is strategic: Dabiq.
Islamic militants have crushed a tribal uprising against their rule in eastern Syria after three days of clashes in a string of villages near the border with Iraq, beheading and crucifying opponents along the way, activists said Monday.
The fighters from the Al-Qaeda breakaway Islamic State group control huge swaths of territory in eastern and northern Syria and are fighting rival rebels, Kurdish militias and the Syrian army for more territory.
Meanwhile, at least 10 people including four children and two women were killed Monday when Syrian forces dropped explosives-filled barrels from a helicopter over the Bab Nayrab district of Aleppo in northern Syria, activists said. Many others were buried under the rubble of buildings, they said.
The Syrian army regularly dropped the so-called barrel bombs over populated areas in rebel-held territory. Aleppo, once Syria's commercial capital, has seen heavy fighting since rebels seized part of the city in 2012.
The civil war in Syria, now in its fourth year, has continued to bleed while attention has shifted to conflicts in Gaza and Iraq. The Islamic State group - also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) - which consists mainly of foreign fighters, has taken over much of northern and eastern Syria as well as western and northern Iraq.
The group has declared a self-styled caliphate in territory it controls along the Iraqi-Syrian border, imposing a harsh interpretation of Islamic law.
The armed revolt by the Shueitat tribe in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour was the first sign of local resistance by tribesmen to the Islamic State group since its fighters swept into the province.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Turkey-based activist Thaer al-Deiri said Monday that Islamic State group fighters regained control of three villages from the Shueitat tribe after being expelled earlier this month.
Two men in the region were convicted of "dealing with apostates" and crucified by the militants, Reuters reported.
The Observatory said Islamic State fighters beheaded two tribesmen after they fled to the nearby village of Shaafa. It had no immediate word on other casualties in the area.
Clashes over the past two weeks left more than a dozen people dead and both sides.
The clashes in eastern Syria came as Islamic State fighters tightened their siege of a major military air base in the town of Tabqa in the northern province of Raqqa. The air base is the last army position in the Raqqa province that is an Islamic State stronghold.
The Observatory's chief Rami Abdurrahman said the group was bombarding the base with artillery and appears to be preparing to storm it.
Last week, Islamic State fighters seized the nearby Brigade 93 base after days of heavy fighting. Late last month they captured another base in which they took dozens of prisoners, some of whom were later beheaded and their bodies paraded in one of Raqqa's main squares.
Syria's conflict began in March 2011 as a popular uprising against President Bashar Assad's rule, but turned into an insurgency after government forces violently cracked down on demonstrators. It has since deteriorated into a civil war with sectarian overtones. Over 170,000 people have been killed in Syria in over three years of fighting, activists say.
Heading for Armageddon? Islamic State advances in Syria - http://www.channel4.com/news/islamic-state-syria-iraq-akhtarin-aza-armageddon
Islamic State Twitter accounts report a major victory in Syria, bringing the jihadist group closer to the Turkish border - and an ancient town associated with the countdown to Armageddon.
Update, 14 August 2014: since this article was written it has been reported that Islamic State fighters have captured the town of Dabiq.
Accounts verified as official Islamic State accounts, those belonging to Islamic State fighters and pro-Islamic State accounts tweeted that the towns of Akhtarin, Al-Masoudiya and Turkmen Barah had been taken overnight.
Militant fighters are reported to have beaten fighters from the extremist Islamic Front and more moderate Free Syrian Army to take the towns.
The significance is how far west into Syria this puts Islamic State fighters, and how close they now are to the Turkish border.
Advancing across the west will enable Islamic State to "choke off" supplies reaching rebels across the Turkish borders. There is also speculation that foreign fighters heading to the Syrian civil war through the Turkish border will be drawn into the Islamic State's ranks.
The advance into the north and west of Syria shows confidence and stronger control of the Islamic State's territory, Shiraz Maher, an expert in Iraq and Syria in the War Studies department at King's College London told Channel 4 News.
The group had previously controlled a town just 20 miles from the Turkish border last year, Azaz, but was "badly beaten" by the Free Syrian Army and withdrew.
Mr Maher told Channel 4 News: "Back then they (Islamic State) were not so well connected in terms of their land, Azaz was a bit of an outpost.
"This allowed the FSA to surround them and beat them up."
Since then Islamic State has made enormous gains in Iraq - and in doing so took large stockpiles of US-made weaponry that had belonged to the Iraqi army. This weaponry was quickly moved across the border into Syria.
Mr Maher said the militants were clever in getting the weapons out of Iraq - where it was feared they might face a Western-backed offensive in which they could lose their new arsenal - and into Syria where it was expected the US and other allies would not venture.
Since the fall of Mosul, and the subsequent international attention on Iraq, the Islamic State has made advances through northern Syria - but has also been consolidating the areas it controls.
"What they have now provides more of a corridor into the northern Aleppo countryside," Mr Maher said. "That is important."
It is thought that the Islamic State may now be planning a return to Azaz. If they do so they will likely capture an important border crossing at Bab al-Salam. As well as stifling supplies and gaining foreign fighters, this could also be very lucrative for Islamic State.
"You generate large revenue if you control the border crossing," Mr Maher said. "Goods come through and the people bringing them through have to grease the palms of certain people.
"If you are at the border you can also direct those goods into your own areas."
Armageddon
Between Akhtarin and Azaz there is another town whose significance to Islamist fighters is as much symbolic as it is strategic: Dabiq.
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