Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Show all posts

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Syrian army takes full control of Deir al-Zor from Islamic State: observatory

NOVEMBER 3, 2017 / 03H:16  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME
BEIRUT - The Syrian army and its allies have taken full control of Deir al-Zor city from Islamic State, the largest and most important city in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday.
There was no immediate comment from Syrian state media, but a commander in a military alliance fighting in support of Damascus said that while advances had been made, some IS-held pockets still remained in the city.
The Syrian army launched its attack against Islamic State there in September, backed by Russian air strikes and fighting alongside Iran-backed militias and the Lebanese Shi‘ite group Hezbollah.
The Islamist group had held most of the city since 2014, except for one large pocket where Syrian army troops and 93,000 civilians had been holed up for three years.
The provincial capital is located on the western side of the Euphrates River. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the U.S.-led coalition, launched their own attack on Islamic State in the province in September, advancing along the eastern side of the river.
The city’s strategic significance for Islamic State stemmed from its location near the Iraqi border, where the group also controlled territory, as well as its importance as the oil-producing province’s capital.
The recovery of the eastern province’s capital underscores President Bashar al Assad’s re-established control over the eastern part of Syria.
As the army has pushed east in recent months, oil and gas fields have once more fallen to the government, as well as to the SDF.
Islamic State still controls parts of Deir al-Zor province, its territory extending across the border to neighboring Iraq where Iraqi forces are waging a separate offensive against the militant group.
The Islamist group also controls a small pocket in Hama province in western Syria, and a besieged enclave south of Damascus where it is fighting rebel factions.
The Syrian army is also advancing on Albu Kamal city in Deir al-Zor province, located on the Iraqi-Syrian border. Russian bombers struck Islamic State targets in the border town on Thursday, RIA news agency reported.
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Saturday, October 14, 2017

BREAKING: Syria war: Turkish forces set up positions in Idlib


  • 14 October 2017
    •  10H40  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME
  • From the sectionMiddle East
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Handout photo made available by Turkish General Staff Press Office shows Turkish military vehicles as they cross into Idlib province, Syria (13 October 2017)Image copyrightEPA
Image captionThe Turkish convoy crossed into Idlib from Reyhanli, in the southern Turkish province of Hatay
by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Beirut
Turkish soldiers and armoured vehicles have crossed into Syria as part of an operation Ankara says is aimed at stopping fighting in Idlib province.
A military statement said the forces would set up observation posts to help monitor a "de-escalation zone" in line with an agreement with Russia and Iran.
Idlib is largely controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a jihadist alliance linked to al-Qaeda.
It also borders the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, which Turkey wants to contain.
Turkey backs the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and last year supported a rebel offensive against so-called Islamic State (IS) along the border in neighbouring Aleppo province.
That operation also served to prevent a US-backed alliance that is led by the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) seizing the territory and reaching Afrin.
Ankara considers the YPG an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades.
Map showing control of Iraq and Syria (9 October 2017)
Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported that military convoys had crossed into Idlib from Reyhanli in the southern Turkish province of Hatay.
The Hurriyet newspaper said about 30 armoured vehicles and more than 100 soldiers were taking part in the operation, and speculated that more troops could be sent in the coming days.
The Turkish military statement said its soldiers had started their activities in Idlib by establishing observation posts in line with a plan agreed last month with Russia and Iran - which back President Assad - in the Kazakh capital Astana.
The three powers said they would each send about 500 observers to positions along the edge of the de-escalation zone to prevent clashes between Syrian government and rebel forces, allow the delivery of humanitarian aid and establish conditions necessary for the return of displaced people.
HTS, which was formed in January by a group previously known as al-Nusra Front, warned that the move would "end with restoring Bashar's rule" to Idlib.
However, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that HTS fighters had escorted the Turkish troops towards a western area adjoining Afrin.
A Turkish military armoured vehicle guards the border with Syria's Idlib province, near the town of Atimeh (10 October 2017)Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionTurkey wants to ensure Kurdish forces do not attempt to capture rebel-held areas of Idlib
A Kurdish militiaman told the Associated Press that the troops were stationed in three separate points along a "front" between Afrin and Idlib.
An official in a Free Syrian Army (FSA) faction said the Turkish deployment would "ensure the area is protected from Russian and regime bombing and to foil any attempt by the separatist YPG militias to illegally seize any territory".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed last week that he would not allow the YPG to form a "terror corridor" to the Mediterranean, which would require the Kurds capturing mountainous areas held by opposition and government forces.
CNN Turk reported that there had been a clash in the Idlib countryside near the Ogulpinar border crossing, but it was not clear which forces were involved.

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Tuesday, July 18, 2017

BREAKING: Suicide car bomb blast kills 4 at Kurdish checkpoint in Syria

by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, France24, Beirut. Disclosure: Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla had a romantic relationship when she was based in Jerusalem.


    © AFP | Kurdish forces from the People's Protection Units (YPG) are spearheading the fight for the Islamic State group's Syrian stronghold Raqa as part of a US-backed alliance

    BEIRUT - 
    A suicide car bomb attack killed four people overnight at a Kurdish security checkpoint in northeast Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Tuesday.
    The attack comes as Kurdish forces from the People's Protection Units (YPG) spearhead the fight for the Islamic State group's Syrian stronghold Raqa as part of a US-backed alliance.
    The Britain-based monitor said the blast hit a checkpoint manned by the Asayesh security forces in Hasakeh province, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the town of Ras al-Ain.
    At least two of the dead were Asayesh members, the monitor said, while the identities of the other two were not yet confirmed.
    Syrian state television also reported the blast on Tuesday and said four people were killed.
    Kurdish-controlled areas have come under regular bomb attack, with IS often claiming responsibility. There was no immediate claim for Tuesday's incident.
    The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which is dominated by Kurdish forces, is battling IS for control of the jihadist group's Syrian stronghold Raqa.
    The militia now controls around 35 percent of the city, according to the Observatory.
    More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
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    Sunday, April 16, 2017

    Syria evacuees bomb blast death toll rises to 112: monitor


    by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, France24, Beirut


      © AFP | Smoke billows from the site of a suicide car bombing in Rashidin, west of Aleppo, that targeted buses carrying Syrian evacuees on April 15, 2017

      BEIRUT - 
      The death toll in a suicide car bomb attack on buses carrying Syrians evacuated from two besieged government-held towns has risen to at least 112, a monitoring group said Sunday.
      The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 98 evacuees from the northern towns of Fuaa and Kafraya were killed when an explosives-laden vehicle hit their buses at a transit point west of Aleppo on Saturday.
      It said the remainder of the dead were aid workers and rebels tasked with guarding the buses.
      It warned the death toll may rise further as "hundreds" more were wounded in the blast.
      Dozens of buses carrying thousands of refugees had been stuck by the roadside in the rebel-held town of Rashidin after leaving Fuaa and Kafraya on Friday under a deal reached between the government and opposition groups.
      Fuaa and Kafraya have been under rebel siege for more than two years. As part of the deal, several hundred people including armed rebels will be transported out of Madaya and Zabadani, towns near Damascus, which are surrounded by pro-government forces.
      Syria's six-year civil war has seen several similar deals, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad says are the best way to end the violence. Rebels say they are being forced to relocate through bombardment and seige.

       
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