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Syria
In Yabroud, regime forces found a site used by the Al Nusrah Front to make rockets and another site used to rig car bombs. Regime forces tried to seize territory between Yabroud and the Lebanese border. In Deir Izzour, the Al Nusrah Front looked for Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham fighters. In Reef Dimashq, Al Nusrah, ISIS, and Islamic fighters battled regime and Hezbollah forces outside Yabroud; ISIS killed many regime forces in an ambush. In Aleppo, the Islamic Front’s Tawhid Brigade blew up a tunnel beneath the Justice Palace; Al Nusrah and Islamic fighters fought against with…
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Ansar Bayt al Maqdis
Disillusioned foreign fighters abandon rebel ranks in Syria
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Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham
Syria conflict: UN reports mass executions by ISIS
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Islamic Caucasus Emirate confirms death of emir Doku Umarov
Umarov was rumored to have been killed late last year, but his death has not been confirmed by the Islamic Caucasus Emirate until now.
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Al Nusrah Front
Searching for Al Qaeda in Lebanon (I): Coming of Age
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Syria
Robert Ford, the former US ambassador to Syria, said his biggest complaint about the Syrian opposition has been its failure to distance itself from al Qaeda and affiliates. Regime forces closed in on rebel holdouts in Yabroud; a Hezbollah source claimed the city fell to regime forces after a Hezbollah raid killed 13 rebel commanders. The Army of Mujahedeen hauled a female activist and another woman into sharia court in Aleppo for refusing to wear a headscarf. The Islamic Front and the Al Nusrah Front battled regime forces in Aleppo, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham clashed…
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Al Nusrah Front names training camps after top al Qaeda leaders
The Al Nusrah Front videos from the Abu Ghadiya and Ayman al Zawahiri camps are reminiscent of others released by al Qaeda from the network of training centers in Afghanistan during the 1990s.
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Syria
The strategic town of Yabroud has fallen to regime forces backed by Hezbollah, after weeks of fighting against rebel forces including the Al Nusrah Front, the Islamic Front, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham. In Aleppo, Al Nusrah and Islamic fighters battled regime forces, and ISIS detained eight members of a family for supporting rebel battalions. In Idlib, the Islamic Front clashed with regime forces and launched shells at Shiite towns. ISIS fought against rebels in Hasakah, and executed an Arab sheikh in Raqqah. Islamic factions and the Jund al Sham clashed with regime forces in Homs.
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Al Nusrah Front
Syrian Forces Seize Key Town From Rebels
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Al Nusrah Front
Syria conflict has third anniversary amid offensive
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Syria
Pro-regime Sunni fighters in Aleppo defy sectarian narrative
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Syria
Regime forces conducted 15 air raids on Yabroud and entered eastern parts of the strategic city; some of the rebels have fled south to Rankos, but others, including the Al Nusrah Front, have remained in the city. Abu Azzam al-Kuwaiti, the Al Nusrah deputy for Qalamoun, was killed yesterday on the outskirts of Yabroud; he had negotiated a prisoner swap involving the kidnapped Syrian nuns. In Raqqah, a rebel battalion killed at least 14 Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham fighters in an ambush. ISIS clashed with Kurdish YPG forces in Aleppo. The Islamic Front and the Jund al…
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Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham
Syrian forces enter last rebel bastion near Lebanese border
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Hezbollah
Iran official: Hezbollah Syria move ‘logical’
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Syria
The Syrian army backed by Hezbollah advanced closer to Yabroud, taking the hill of Aqaba, 2 km from the city, battling the Al Nusrah Front, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, and the Islamic Front. The ISIS has withdrawn from Idlib and Latakia, and has retreated to eastern Reef Aleppo and Raqqah; the retreats were carried out under the protection of the Al Nusrah Front. An activist observer group said that about 4,000 people have been killed in clashes between the ISIS on the one side and the Islamic Front and “fighting battalions” on the other since early…
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Al Qaeda
Saudis hardened by wars in Syria, Iraq join al Qaeda in Yemen
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Al Nusrah Front, Free Syrian Army launch joint operation
Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria teamed up with the the Liwa al Ummah to overrun Syrian Army positions in the city of Khan Sheikhun in Idlib province.
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Syria
Regime and Hezbollah fighters continued to try to wrest the strategic town of Yabroud from rebel forces, including the Al Nusrah Front, the Islamic Front, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham. Al Nusrah and the Islamic Front fought against regime forces in Hama; in Aleppo, where they are besieging the central prison; and in Deir Izzour. The ISIS fired rockets at the regime’s 17th division in Raqqah, and clashed with the Islamic Front and the Jabhat Al-Arkrad in Aleppo. The head of the Syrian Orthodox Church said some of the comments of the recently freed nuns were…
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Syria
Rebels in Homs fight for a shattered dream
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Syria
The Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front clashed with regime forces in Deir Izzour, in Idlib, and in Aleppo. The Islamic Front battled regime forces in various towns in Reef Dimashq, including around Yabroud. Syria plans to close its embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait because those countries have refused to accredit the Syrian envoys. President Assad visited the Damascus suburb of Adra, in his first public appearance outside the capital since August. A new Syrian law requires visitors to have a visa to enter the country.
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Al Nusrah Front
Seeing a Threat at Home in a Fight Abroad
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Syria
A prominent jihadist forum said it supports the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham and urged the Al Nusrah Front to resolve differences with the group. Information Minister al Zoubi said 25 persons, not 150, were released in exchange for the nuns freed yesterday; other sources said 141 women and a “small” number of men were freed. In Aleppo, ISIS executed 12 rebels and at least 10 other people, and clashed with the Jabhat Al Akrad brigade and the Islamic Front near Ein Al-Arab city. In Hasakah, three ISIS suicide bombers, one of whom was female, detonated in a…
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LWJ’s prior warnings about 9/11 recruiter’s release
Twice during congressional hearings last year, The Long War Journal warned that jihadists were looking to secure Mohammed Zammar’s release in Syria. Zammar recruited the Hamburg cell, including the suicide hijack pilots for 9/11.
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9/11 recruiter reportedly freed in Syria
Mohammed Zammar, who recruited al Qaeda’s Hamburg cell, has reportedly been freed inside Syria. His freedom was negotiated by Ahrar al Sham, an al Qaeda-linked group.
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Ahrar al Sham
Siege of Syrian arms depot in Tal Al Jabiyeh exposes chemical weapons fears
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Free Syrian Army
Secret HQ in Amman helps and directs Syrian rebels in south
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Free Syrian Army
Syria war: new push against Assad being planned, reports suggest
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Al Nusrah Front
Al Qaeda hijacks spirit of Syria revolt three years on
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Hezbollah
Israel Watches Warily as Hezbollah Gains Battle Skills in Syria
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Syria
Among the roughly 150 regime detainees released in the swap for 13 kidnapped Syrian nuns are some rebel fighters; the Lebanese negotiator said the Al Nusrah Front had first demanded the release of 1,000 prisoners. Mohammed Haydar Zammar, the al Qaeda recruiter who helped assemble the “Hamburg cell” that carried out the 9/11 attacks, is reportedly living in Aleppo after being freed last fall in a prisoner swap between Ahrar al Sham and the regime. In Aleppo, Al Nusrah and the Islamic Front clashed with regime forces in Shekh Najjar, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham fought…
