Iraq & Syrian Civil Wars - Page 271

BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of Hezbollah supporters marched Monday behind the yellow-draped coffin of one of its most prominent fighters killed the day before in what the group said was an Israeli airstrike in Syria, pumping their fists angrily in the air and chanting, "Death to Israel."

Tehran added to the combustible mix even further, announcing Monday that a senior Iranian general also died in the airstrike in the Golan Heights, along with the six Hezbollah members.

The airstrike — neither confirmed nor denied by Israel — was a serious blow to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, stretched thin and neck-deep in Syria's civil war where the group's Shiite fighters are battling alongside President Bashar Assad's forces.

YPG/J on Mishentur Hill in Kobani.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters in Syria, massed close to the Lebanese border, are threatening to launch attacks across it, the Telegraph has witnessed.

The group has been training new recruits and defectors from smaller rebel factions in Qalamoun, a militarily strategically important province in the south-west of Syria that borders Lebanon.

Several of those smaller rebel groupings, some aligned with the more moderate "Free Syrian Army", have capitulated to the jihadists in recent months with many of their fighters joining Isil.

The growth of the group in the area means Sunni Isil fighters in Syria are now at the edge of the Lebanese heartland of its Shia arch enemy Hizbollah, whose men are fighting alongside the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A well-informed source revealed an imminent political rapprochement between Riyadh and Ankara, noting that the differences and rifts began to fade in recent times.

The Syrian opposition figure told Zaman al-Wasl that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had intended to visit Saudi Arabia, but the health status of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz led to the postponement of the visit.

The source says the train programme of Syrian moderate rebels has pushed the Saudi-Turkish relations forward since the key regional states have common interests in Syria and share same fears of radical Islamists.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has condemned an apparent threat by the Islamic State group to kill two Japanese hostages.

A video purportedly from the group shows a militant threatening to kill two hostages unless a ransom is paid.

In the video, which has not been independently verified, the militant also criticises Japan for pledging aid to countries fighting IS.

Mr Abe said the threat was unacceptable and vowed to save the hostages.

He added that their lives were his "top priority" and that Japan would not give in to terrorism.

(Reuters) - An Iranian general killed in an Israeli air strike in Syria was not its intended target and Israel believed it was attacking only low-ranking guerrillas, a senior security source said on Tuesday.

The remarks by the Israeli source, who declined to be identified because Israel has not officially confirmed it carried out the strike, appeared aimed at containing any escalation with Iran or the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla group.

On January 21 2015 01:22 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
ot: But Yemeni Rebels have seized the Presidential Palace.

Syria-based Field reporter, Thaer Ajlani, interviewed an NDF fighter in the eastern province of Deir ez-Zor as the city`s government-held airbase was under attack by ISIS jihadists last
month.

The fighter, apparently a local as evident by his dialect, spoke about the coexistence the city was famous for before the crisis. The entrance of foreign fighters, according to the pro-government fighter spoiled everything.

The young man voiced confidence to expel ISIS jihadists out of his country, refusing to be forced to follow the Afghani or Chechen retarded lifestyle.

Kata'ib Hezbollah target ISIS with a barrage of Fajr-1 rockets in Balad Iraq.

On January 12 2015 09:57 Nyxisto wrote:
By that definition Saudi Arabia is an illegitimate Western colony, which is obviously a silly statement. I find it troublesome if even accomplished journalists resort to statements which sound very much like propaganda that certain countries like to spread from time to time.

On January 21 2015 02:26 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
Also Iran has threatened to open the Golan front in retaliation of the killing.

https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/557481428968275968



Soure

KFAR KILA, Lebanon: Israeli tanks were witnessed taking up new positions along Lebanon’s southeastern border Wednesday, as UNIFIL and Lebanese Army troops boost their patrols in the area amid tensions following a deadly weekend Israeli strike on a Hezbollah convoy in the Golan Heights.

“Five Israeli tanks repositioned from the Riaq [military outpost] to the highlands southeast of the Metula settlement,” a security source told The Daily Star.

UNIFIL helicopters were observed carrying out their routine reconnaissance flights over the Blue Line as a number of shepherds reported seeing Israeli military vehicles and flashing lights across the border.

Kobani.

Several French former soldiers have joined the ranks of jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq, the country’s government confirmed on Wednesday, as it outlined a series of new anti-terrorism measures following the Islamist attacks in Paris.

Most of the ex-soldiers, reportedly numbering around 10 and including former paratroopers and French foreign legionnaires, are said to be fighting on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Most worrying is the reported presence of an ex-member of France’s elite First Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment, considered one of Europe’s most experienced special forces units and which shares the “Who Dares Wins” motto of the SAS.

The unnamed individual, of North African origin, had received commando training in combat, shooting and survival techniques. He served for five years before joining a private security company for which he worked in the Arabian peninsula, where he was radicalised before heading for Syria, according to L’Opinion, a news website.