region:northwestern syria

Asia Times | Mysterious oil company a key player in Idlib | Article
▻https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/06/opinion/mysterious-oil-company-a-key-player-in-idlib

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Watad, la très étrange société pétrolière active sur le marché d’Idlib, avec inévitablement la bénédiction de Daech et des Turcs...

Fuel and cooking gas are in very short supply in the parts of Syria controlled by the Assad regime. Yet in Idlib, the last rebel-held pocket of the country and currently the target of an intense military offensive, these and other essentials are not only available, but affordable. This is thanks to a company named Watad Petroleum.

But who or what is Watad? If suspicions are true, Watad – about which little is known – represents yet another way in which Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an organization labeled a terrorist group by much of the world, is strengthening its grip on Idlib.

Life in this province of northwestern Syria has, without a doubt, been made easier by Watad’s presence. But with no information available publicly about who owns or runs it, there is a persistent suspicion about it.

The first that anyone had heard of Watad was in January last year, when it was granted a monopoly over the fuel market in greater Idlib, with exclusive rights to import oil and gas from Turkey and to regulate their sale, price and distribution. Ostensibly, the deal, which also eliminated any domestic competition, was struck with Idlib’s Salvation Government, but in reality it was with HTS, the de facto power in that area.

Before then, people in Idlib were reliant on motor fuel and gas transported from government-controlled areas and on crude oil brought in from northeastern Syria, which is now controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. But economic sanctions and the Turkish-led offensive to capture the predominantly Kurdish region of Afrin led to those supply lines being severed. Enter Watad Petroleum.

Some reports say the company was founded in Idlib in 2017, while others maintain it was established in early 2018 by a group of Syrian businessmen living in Turkey. What is certain is that the mysterious Watad Petroleum has become a key player in Greater Idlib.

#syrie #business

’Nothing is ours anymore’: Kurds forced out of #Afrin after Turkish assault

Many who fled the violence January say their homes have been given to Arabs.
When Areen and her clan fled the Turkish assault on Afrin in January, they feared they may never return.

Six months later, the Kurdish family remain in nearby villages with other Afrin locals who left as the conquering Turks and their Arab proxies swept in, exiling nearly all its residents.

Recently, strangers from the opposite end of Syria have moved into Areen’s home and those of her family. The few relatives who have made it back for fleeting visits say the numbers of new arrivals – all Arabs – are rising each week. So too is a resentment towards the newcomers, and a fear that the steady, attritional changes may herald yet another flashpoint in the seven-year conflict.

Unscathed through much of the Syrian war, and a sanctuary for refugees, Afrin has become a focal point of a new and pivotal phase, where the ambitions of regional powers are being laid bare and a coexistence between Arabs and Kurds – delicately poised over decades – is increasingly being threatened.

The small enclave in northwestern Syria directly reflects the competing agendas of four countries, Turkey, Syria, Russia and the US – though none more so than Ankara, whose creeping influence in the war is anchored in Afrin and the fate of its peoples.

Turkey’s newfound stake has given it more control over its nearby border and leverage over its arch foe, the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), which had used its presence in Afrin to project its influence northwards.

But the campaign to oust Kurdish militias has raised allegations that Ankara is quietly orchestrating a demographic shift, changing the balance of Afrin’s population from predominantly Kurdish to majority Arab, and – more importantly to Turkish leaders – changing the composition of its 500-mile border with Syria.

Ahead of the January assault, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said: “We will return Afrin to its rightful owners.”

Erdoğan’s comments followed a claim by US officials that it would help transform a Kurdish militia it had raised to fight Islamic State in northeastern Syria into a more permanent border force. The announcement incensed Turkish leaders, who had long feared that Syria’s Kurds would use the chaos of war to advance their ambitions – and to move into a 60-mile area between Afrin and the Euphrates river, which was the only part of the border they didn’t inhabit.

Ankara denies it is attempting to choreograph a demographic shift in Afrin, insisting it aimed only to drive out the PKK, not unaffiliated Kurdish locals.

“The people of Afrin didn’t choose to live under the PKK,” said a senior Turkish official. “Like Isis, the PKK installed a terrorist administration there by force. Under that administration, rival Kurdish factions were silenced violently. [The military campaign] resulted in the removal of terrorists from Afrin and made it possible for the local population to govern themselves. The vast majority of the new local council consists of Kurds and the council’s chairperson is also Kurdish.”

Many who remain unable to return to Afrin are unconvinced, particularly as the influx from elsewhere in Syria continues. Both exiles and newcomers confirmed to the Guardian that large numbers of those settling in Afrin came from the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, where an anti-regime opposition surrendered to Russian and Syrian forces in April, and accepted being transferred to northern Syria

Between bandits, militiamen, and wayfarers, Afrin is barely recognisable, say Kurdish locals who have made it back. “It’s not the Afrin we know,” said Areen, 34. “Too many strange faces. Businesses have been taken over by the Syrians, stores changed to Damascene names, properties gone. We feel like the Palestinians.

“The Syrian government couldn’t care less to help us reclaim our property, they won’t even help us get back into Afrin. We want to go back, we couldn’t care less if we’re governed by the Kurds or Turks or Assad, we just want our land back.”

A second Afrin exile, Salah Mohammed, 40, said: “Lands are being confiscated, farms, wheat, furniture, nothing is ours anymore; it’s us versus their guns. It’s difficult to come back, you have to prove the property is yours and get evidence and other nearly impossible papers to reclaim it.

“There is definitely a demographic change, a lot of Kurds have been forcibly displaced on the count that they’re with the PKK when in fact they weren’t. There are barely any Kurds left in Afrin, no one is helping us go back.”

Another Afrin local, Shiyar Khalil, 32, said: “When the Kurds try to get back to their house they have to jump through hoops. You cannot deny a demographic change, Kurds are not able to go back. Women are veiled, bars are closed; it’s a deliberate erasing of Kurdish culture.”

Umm Abdallah, 25, a new arrival from Ghouta said some Kurds had returned to Afrin, but anyone affiliated with Kurdish militias had been denied entry. “I’ve seen about 300 Kurds come back to Afrin with their families in the past month or so. I don’t know whose house I am living in honestly, but it’s been registered at the police station.”

She said Afrin was lawless and dangerous, with Arab militias whom Turkey had used to lead the assault now holding aegis over the town. “The Turks try to stop the looting but some militias are very malicious,” she said. “They mess with us and the Kurds, it’s not stable here.”

Both Umm Abdallah and another Ghouta resident, Abu Khaled Abbas, 23, had their homes confiscated by the Assad regime before fleeing to the north. “The Assad army stole everything, even the sinks,” said Abbas.

“These militias now are not leaving anyone alone [in Afrin], how do you think they will treat the Kurds? There are bad things happening, murder, harassment, rapes, and theft. They believe they ‘freed’ the land so they own it now.”

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Ghouta orientale, un verrou est tombé, au moins partiellement, celui de l’information. On en apprend de belles sur nos amis les « rebelles » !

Assad’s Divide and Conquer Strategy Is Working – Foreign Policy
▻http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/03/28/assads-divide-and-conquer-strategy-is-working

Eastern Ghouta’s politics are complex, but the main armed groups there have been at one another’s throats with pathological persistence, often fighting over smuggling profits. Before the current offensive, the enclave had suffered a three-way split. To the north, Jaysh al-Islam ruled Douma, the largest city in the area. Its rival, Faylaq al-Rahman, dominated the Damascus suburbs farther south alongside a smattering of jihadis, while a smaller town, Harasta, was run by the Islamists of Ahrar al-Sham.

Assad has made good use of these divisions. When his government launched its attack in February, it went straight for the soft tissue between rebel lines, slicing Eastern Ghouta into three small pieces. Halfway into the offensive, loyalist media began to broadcast video clips of protests in Ghouta neighborhoods such as Mesraba, Kafr Batna, and Hammouriyeh, where civilians waved Assad posters and Syrian flags. Locals have long been frustrated with Eastern Ghouta’s rebel factions, which stand accused of profiteering and authoritarian rule, but this was unprecedented.
[…]
Then there was Mesraba. A strategically located hub between the three rebel regions, this small village had also long enjoyed a special status in Eastern Ghouta’s war economy. In 2014, the Syrian military handed the Mesraba businessman Mohiyeddine Manfoush an informal monopoly on trade with the besieged enclave. Working with both rebel and regime commanders, he quickly emerged as a pivotal figure in the area’s political economy, moving regularly across the frontlines to manage his dairy factory in Mesraba while also cultivating patronage networks, given his role as the sole source of food imports to the hunger-ridden enclave. When the offensive began, Manfoush brokered a deal to let his hometown (and factory) escape the fighting, which allowed the army to seize Mesraba and cut Ghouta into first two, then three pieces.

Next to go was the frontline suburb of Harasta. Fighters there belonged to Ahrar al-Sham, a Turkish-backed militia that holds ground in northwestern Syria. Judging by the rhetoric of its deeply religious leadership, Ahrar al-Sham would be hard to sway — but a good number of its Ghouta fighters only flew the group’s flag for convenience. Most were local Harasta boys linked to a network of smugglers who had previously marketed themselves as Free Syrian Army fighters, pious Sufis, hardline jihadis, or whatever else was opportune. They now wanted to make a deal.

Putin’s Syrian dilemma: Back Israel or Iran?

All of the Russian president’s achievements in Syria could come crashing down unless he answers this one fundamental question

Anshel Pfeffer Feb 19, 2018

Russian President Vladimir Putin thought he could succeed where the U.S.’s then-President Barack Obama failed. Pacify Syria, rescue the regime of his client, President Bashar Assad, and balance the conflicting interests of Iran and Israel in the war-torn country. All this he did with a relatively small investment: the deployment of a couple of dozen aircraft and 2,000 men. As foreign campaigns go, it was power projection on the cheap. The United States on a similar mission would have used a force 10 times the size – aircraft carrier groups and hundreds of fighter jets, aerial tankers and electronic warfare planes. Not to mention boots on the ground.
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But Russia could pull it off thanks to the cannon fodder supplied by Iran. Tens of thousands of Shi’ite mercenaries, mainly refugees from Afghanistan, propped up Assad’s failing battalions. Hezbollah fighters came from Lebanon to carry out the more difficult operations. Russia made do with small teams of special-force troops and, where more muscle was needed, its own mercenaries.
It was a relatively small investment with few casualties and not, as some predicted two years ago, a rerun of the Soviet Union’s disastrous occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

President Vladimir Putin addressing Russian troops at Hemeimeem air base during a surprise visit to Damascus, December 12, 2017.Mikhail Klimentyev/AP
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>> Iran and the Assad regime are drawing a line in Syria’s skies | Analysis <<

With perfect timing, and taking advantage of the vacuum left by Obama’s decision not to get involved in Syria, Putin had put Russia back on the geopolitical map. He made a surprise visit to Damascus in December to declare: Mission accomplished. He should have learned from former U.S. President George W. Bush never to say that – because now everything is starting to fall apart for the Russians.

A serviceman holds a portrait of Russian air force pilot Roman Fillipov, who was killed after his aircraft was shot down over rebel-held territory in Syria, February 8, 2018.\ HANDOUT/ REUTERS
There was last month’s Sochi conference, where attempts to agree a political process for Syria’s future under Assad, with the usual farce of elections, failed even before the delegates arrived. Turkey has launched a large-scale incursion into northwestern Syria, in an attempt to prevent Kurdish YPG (People’s Protection Units) forces from establishing a military presence on its border. Meanwhile, the Turks are clashing with the Iranians as well, and as of Monday with regime forces too.
Much more worrying for Russia is that in the east of the country, another Kurdish force – the Syrian Democratic Forces, which also includes Arab, Turkmen, Assyrian and Armenian forces – is widening its control of areas once held by the Islamic State. The SDF is now the only player in Syria with U.S. military support: During a clash 10 days ago between the SDF and regime forces working together with Russian mercenaries, the United States launched a devastating airstrike. The Kremlin still won’t acknowledge any casualties, but unofficial reports from Russia claim that as many as 200 Russian mercenaries died.
And then last week there was the first direct confrontation between Israel and Iran.
The Turkish front is less concerning for Putin, since it doesn’t directly threaten Russia’s main interests. The clashes in the northeast are a much larger problem as they are sending coffins back home to Russia – the last thing Putin needs before the presidential election in mid-March.
For now at least, the Israeli-Iranian front may not directly put Russian personnel in the line of fire. But it is a much greater threat to the Assad regime itself. Damascus is close to the Israeli border and Assad, with Iranian encouragement, is trying to assert himself by firing anti-aircraft missiles at Israel Air Force planes.
>> Delve deeper into the week’s news: Sign up to Chemi Shalev’s weekly roundup
For the past two and a half years, the deal between Jerusalem and Moscow was simple: Israel allowed Russia to resupply Assad’s army and help the regime – through aerial bombardments of rebel-held areas, indiscriminately killing thousands of civilians – to retake large swaths of territory. Russia, meanwhile, turned a blind eye as Israel continued its periodic attacks on convoys and depots of Iranian-supplied weapons destined for Hezbollah. Russia collaborated with Iran in reviving the regime, while not intervening when Israel struck at Iran’s proxies.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that Russia prevent Iran’s forces from building permanent bases on Syrian soil, Putin tried to strike a compromise. Iran continued entrenching its Shi’ite militias, but at the same time didn’t come too close to the Israeli border or begin building large bases.

Israeli soldiers in the northern Golan Heights after an Iranian drone penetrated Israeli airspace and was shot done, February 10, 2018.Gil Eliahu
That balance can no longer hold. The decision by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to send a drone into Israeli airspace in the early hours of Saturday February 10, followed by Israel’s retaliation against the Iranian command unit that launched the drone and the ensuing air battle between Israeli fighter jets and Syrian air defense batteries, was proof that Russia can no longer contain the interests of all the different sides within Syria.
Putin has utilized “hybrid warfare” – a combination of military power, deniable proxies and cyberattacks – to destabilize neighboring countries like Georgia and Ukraine, which tried to get too close to the West. Relatively small investments for major gain.
But just like Russian interference with the U.S. presidential election, where the Kremlin wanted only to undermine America’s democratic process but never actually believed it could help get Donald Trump elected, he may have gone too deep. What was supposed to be an exercise in troublemaking is, despite Trump’s reluctance, now a full-blown confrontation with the U.S. intelligence services.
Managing a multitrack Middle East policy and engaging simultaneously with all of the regional players takes time, resources and, especially, experience. Until recently, the United States had the combination of seasoned diplomats, military and intelligence officers – with extensive contacts and time spent in the region – to maintain such a complex operation.
Under President Trump, many of these professionals have left the administration, and there is no clear sense of direction from the White House for those remaining. But the lack of any real U.S. presence or policy doesn’t mean someone else can just come along and take over its traditional role.
It’s not just that the Kremlin doesn’t have anything resembling this kind of network. Putin’s centralized way of doing business means that every decision goes through him in Moscow. This isn’t helping Russia keep a handle on evolving events on the ground, but it is an advantage for Netanyahu – who is currently the regional player with the best personal relationship with Putin.
There are currently two schools of thought within the Israeli intelligence community. The skeptics believe Putin will not give up on his Shi’ite boots on the ground and will ultimately limit Israel’s freedom to operate in the skies above Syria – pushing Israel to make a difficult choice between sitting on the sidelines while Iran and Hezbollah build up their outposts or confronting Russia as well. The optimists believe Putin knows Israel has the power to jeopardize its achievements and threaten the Assad regime, and will therefore rein in the Iranians.
Netanyahu’s team has been working closely with the Russian president for years, and the two leaders speak regularly on the phone and meet every few months. When they’re on their own, with just fellow Likud lawmaker Zeev Elkin to interpret, does Netanyahu openly threaten to destabilize the Assad regime? Probably not. The implied threat is enough.
Putin will have to make the call on Israel or Iran soon – or risk losing all he has invested in Syria.

Rebels, residents leave east Damascus district for Idlib: ‘It’s like starting over from scratch’ - Syria Direct
▻http://syriadirect.org/news/rebels-residents-leave-east-damascus-district-for-idlib-%e2%80%98it%e2%

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Hundreds of rebel fighters and residents left the embattled east Damascus district of al-Qaboun by bus on Sunday en route to northwestern Syria within an evacuation deal brokered between opposition factions and the regime the previous day.

We Have Tried Every Kind of Death Possible - The New York Times
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/21/opinion/we-have-tried-every-kind-of-death-possible.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

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ISTANBUL — I am from a small town in northwestern Syria called Jisr al-Shughour. Before the war I used to buy and sell electronics. In 2013, I joined a small group of fellow Syrians to form the Syrian Civil Defense, better known as the White Helmets, a group of volunteers who rush to the scene of recent bombings to try to save people trapped beneath the rubble. In 2014, my colleagues, now numbering 3,000 men and women, elected me to lead the organization.

Together we have saved more than 60,000 Syrians. Our work is guided by an Islamic principle, written in the Quran: “Whoever saves one life, it is as if he has saved all of humanity.” We take pride in this work, and every day we risk our lives to save others and serve our country.

#syrie #mort

Un article du Los Angeles Times évoque les combats entre rebelles syriens soutenus par le Pentagone et intégrés aux SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) et ceux soutenus par la CIA.
Il a été plusieurs fois question ici de ces affrontements entre groupes soutenus par l’Etat américain et qui continuent :
▻http://seenthis.net/messages/462463
▻http://seenthis.net/messages/460835
►http://seenthis.net/messages/435727

L’article clarifie la question en soulignant les 2 acteurs divergents au sein de l’appareil militaire américain. La CIA organisant la chute d’Assad. Le Pentagone essayant de créer une force anti-Da’ich. Et parfois ces deux projets entrant en collision au nord de la Syrie (poche d’Azaz et cheikh Maqsoud à Alep) quand les Russes ayant affaiblis les rebelles de la CIA, ceux au sein des SDF/YPG ont progressé (coupant avec le régime le corridor d’Azaz) :
▻http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-cia-pentagon-isis-20160327-story.html

While the Pentagon’s actions are part of an overt effort by the U.S. and its allies against Islamic State, the CIA’s backing of militias is part of a separate covert U.S. effort aimed at keeping pressure on the Assad government in hopes of prodding the Syrian leader to the negotiating table. [...]
At first, the two different sets of fighters were primarily operating in widely separated areas of Syria — the Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeastern part of the country and the CIA-backed groups farther west. But over the last several months, Russian airstrikes against anti-Assad fighters in northwestern Syria have weakened them. That created an opening which allowed the Kurdish-led groups to expand their zone of control to the outskirts of Aleppo, bringing them into more frequent conflict with the CIA-backed outfits.

Suivent des précisions sur certains de ces combats dont ceux ayant eu lieu à Marea (poche d’Azaz).
Au détour de l’article une précision : les déclarations du général américain commandant des troupes américaines au Moyen-Orient (Centcom) selon lesquelles 80% des combattants des SDF sont kurdes :

The group is dominated by Kurdish outfits known as People’s Protection Units or YPG. A few Arab units have joined the force in order to prevent it from looking like an invading Kurdish army, and it has received air-drops of weapons and supplies and assistance from U.S. Special Forces.
The group is dominated by Kurdish outfits known as People’s Protection Units or YPG. A few Arab units have joined the force in order to prevent it from looking like an invading Kurdish army, and it has received air-drops of weapons and supplies and assistance from U.S. Special Forces.Gen. Joseph Votel, now commander of U.S. Special Operations Command and the incoming head of Central Command, said this month that about 80% of the fighters in the Syrian Democratic Forces were Kurdish.

al-Nousra vient d’attaquer et de prendre le QG de la division 13 de l’ASL (groupe soutenu par la CIA) à Idlib, sur fond de manifestations pro-opposition réprimées par al-Nousra : ▻http://seenthis.net/messages/468132
Accusations réciproques sur qui a attaqué l’autre en premier :

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Combats rapportés également entre les deux groupes à Maarat al-Nouman qui ont tourné à l’avantage d’al-Nousra.

Via twitter Hassan Ridha
▻https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha/status/708794171830571009

#c'est_qui_l'patron ?

Russia, Assad deliver blow to Turkey in Syria
▻http://uk.businessinsider.com/russia-assad-turkey-syria-rebels-aleppo-2016-2

“Turkey lost its capacity to change the strategic situation both on the ground and in Syrian airspace as an independent actor” following the incident, Metin Gurcan, a Turkish military expert, told Business Insider at the time.

Paul Stronski, a senior associate in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment, agreed that the close proximity of Russia’s airstrikes to the Turkish border — a “matter of minutes” for fighter jets — has made it much more difficult for Turkey to defend its airspace and retain northwestern Syria as a Turkish sphere of influence.

On Twitter, Stein noted that another aspect of Turkey’s Syria policy is on the brink of total collapse — namely, restricting the movements of the Kurdish YPG, with whom Turkey has clashed, to east of the Syrian city of Marea.

“Weapons and aid now must be sent through Bab al Hawa via Idlib,” Stein wrote. “Turkish efforts to secure Marea line in trouble. Huge implications.”

To Turkey’s chagrin, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to help the Kurds consolidate their territorial gains in northern Syria by linking the Kurdish-held town of Kobani with Afrin in September. He apparently began to make good on his after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane, offering to arm and support the Kurdish YPG in the name of cutting Turkey’s rebel supply line to Aleppo.

Local al-Qaeda leader latest opposition figure assassinated in Syria | Middle East Eye
▻http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/local-al-qaeda-leader-latest-opposition-figure-assassinated-syria-183

A local leader of al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate was assassinated by unknown gunmen on Wednesday, the latest in a string of killings of hardline rebels, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Iyad al-Adl, “emir” for the town of Ariha in northwestern Syria’s Idlib province, was shot dead along with a second member of al-Nusra Front.

The Britain-based monitor said unidentified gunmen opened fire on the car in which the men were driving in a western neighbourhood of Ariha.

The assassination is the latest in a series of targeted killings over the past few weeks of senior rebels, including from the al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra and its ally Ahrar al-Sham.

Analysts say the killings could be the work of the government or the Islamic State group, which considers all factions that have not pledged allegiance to it to be its rivals.

At least 20 rebel commanders have been killed in the assassinations since early December in several parts of Syria, including central Homs province, southern Daraa and elsewhere in Idlib.

Idlib province is held by the powerful “Army of Conquest” coalition of rebels including Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham.

Rebel groups have regularly accused IS of having sleeper cells in their territory, but the militant group has not openly claimed the assassinations.

More than 260,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
– See more at: ▻http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/local-al-qaeda-leader-latest-opposition-figure-assassinated-syria-183

Insurgents killed 56 government troops at captured air base: Syria monitor (note: des photos circulent sur Twitter)
▻http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/19/us-mideast-crisis-syria-execution-idUSKCN0RJ06Z20150919

A group tracking the Syrian war said on Saturday that Islamist insurgents shot dead 56 members of Syrian government forces in a mass execution at an air base captured from the army earlier this month in northwestern Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the mass killing at Abu al-Duhur air base happened a few days ago, citing sources on the ground. The air base in Idlib province was captured by an alliance of groups including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front on Sept. 9.

$500-million [U.S.] program to train anti-Islamic State fighters appears stalled - LA Times
▻http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-us-syria-20150503-story.html

Partly as a result, several Persian Gulf powers and Turkey have begun arming the Army of Conquest, an umbrella opposition group that reportedly includes an #Al_Qaeda affiliate and other Islamist groups as well as “moderate” fighters. The Arab-backed force has dealt tactical setbacks to Assad’s troops in northwestern Syria in recent weeks, putting pressure on his government.

#Turquie #Arabie_saoudite #Qatar

Dans le titre, ce sont des « rebels », dans le premier paragraphe des « hard-line Syrian rebel groups », dans le troisième des « conservative Islamic factions », et pour te le dire clairement : « the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front ». (Pfiou, c’est si difficile à dire ?)

Rebels launch new offensive in northwestern Syria
▻http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/04/23/rebels-launch-new-offensive-in-northwestern-syria

Several hard-line Syrian rebel groups pushed a new offensive against government forces in northwestern Syria on Thursday, less than a month after seizing control of the provincial capital there.

The conservative Islamic factions, including the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, are coordinating a multi-pronged campaign whose main target appears to be the town of Jisr al-Shughour in Idlib province. Opposition fighters are also attacking government checkpoints in a sprawling agricultural plain south of the town as well as nearby military facilities.

ISIS infighting in Syria kills nine : activists
▻http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Mar-09/290152-isis-infighting-in-syria-kills-nine-activists.ashx

At least nine members of ISIS were killed during infighting in northwestern Syria after some of them tried to flee over the Turkish border, an activist group monitoring the conflict said Monday.

The fighters clashed on Saturday near the town of Al-Bab, 30 km (20 miles) south of the Turkish frontier, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Five of the escapees and four of those trying to prevent them were killed.

Those trying to escape included one Tunisian and nine European fighters, the Observatory’s Rami Abdulrahman said, adding it was not clear exactly which members of that group had been killed.

It is not the first time that ISIS, which controls tracts of Syria and Iraq, has killed its own members. The Observatory reported in December that the group had killed more than 120 of its fighters in two months, most of them foreigners trying to return home.