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Syria
Rebel groups and NGOS in Libya are donating weapons and aid to the Syrian opposition. Salafist-controlled NGOS and private donors in Kuwait are sending guns and money to al Qaeda-linked forces in Syria, including the Syrian Islamic Front, which has refused to join the Free Syrian Army. The Islamic state of Iraq and al-Sham released a commander of the A’bad al-Rahman rebel battalion and head of the Free Syrian Agency, along with nine other activists who had been held for weeks; the al Qaeda-linked group is estimated to be holding more than 1,500 people captive in Raqqah, including dozens of…
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Syria
U.S. arms showing up in hands of pro-Assad militias
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Jabhat al-Nusra
How Syria’s mould-breaking al-Nusra Front is winning hearts and minds
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Egypt
Revealed: How Egyptian Islamists are manipulating the media
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Syria
Syrian rebels in Aleppo dispersed civilians protesting against a rebel blockade of food and medical supplies into government-held areas of the city; the head of the sharia council told rebels to allow food through the blockade. Protesters in Menbej city demanded that Islamic state of Iraq and al-Sham fighters leave. Influential Islamist cleric Sheikh Anas Ayrout, a member of the Syrian National Coalition and a commander of the Islamic Liberation Army Front, called on rebel forces to concentrate on Syria’s Alawite heartland and “create a balance of terror.” Al Nusrah Front forces in al Hasaka province tortured six civilians; one…
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‘313 Brigade’ claims car bombing that targeted Hezbollah in Beirut
The 313 Brigade shares the same name as an al Qaeda military formation that is based in Pakistan.
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Hezbollah
Bomb in heavily secured Beirut neighborhood may be retaliation for Hezbollah’s role in Syria
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Did Israel strike in Syria again?
Speculation is swirling that Israel may have recently conducted its fourth strike against advanced weaponry in Syria since the start of the uprising against Bashar al Assad.
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Saudi Arabia
Saudi arms will arrive soon: Syria rebel chief
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Israel
Speculation Swirls Regarding Possible Israeli Link to Syrian Army Base Explosion
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Libya
Syria claims discovery of enough chemical weapons to “destroy a country”
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Qatar
Online videos showcase Syrian rebels’ foreign weaponry
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Syria
At its first central party leadership committee meeting since 2005, the Assad regime’s ruling Baath party replaced 16 of its top leaders, including Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa, who will nonetheless remain in office. Ghassan Hitto, prime minister of the rebel Syrian National Coalition, resigned today, citing an inability to form an interim government. Hitto is said to be closer to Islamists and less favored by Saudi Arabia, whose candidate, secular dissident Ahmad Assi Jarba, was selected two days ago to lead the Syrian National Coalition. Jarba said the rebels’ position was weak and proposed a truce for Ramadan; the regime…
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Syria
Syria is a ’10-year issue,’ top US general says
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Iran
Iran’s Ayatollahs Blame Morsi’s ‘Pro-Israeli, Pro-US’ Stance For Egypt Crisis
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Syria
The rebel Syrian National Coalition chose a new leader, Ahmad Assi Jarba, a Syrian dissident with close ties to Saudi Arabia; he has previously been charged with obtaining arms for the Free Syrian Army. Both state and opposition media reported a clash near the Turkish border in the town of al-Dana between rebels and an Islamist group; 14 people were said to have been killed, and a local rebel commander and his brother were beheaded. Regime forces advanced on rebel-held areas of Homs.
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Syria
A suicide bomber detonated in Aleppo. Regime forces increased shelling of Homs. Pro-regime forces along with Hezbollah clashed with rebels in Homs. Russia blocked a draft UN statement calling for humanitarian access to be granted “immediately “in Homs, and proposed instead that civilians be allowed to leave not only Homs but also Nubul and Zahra. Russia claimed that terrorist groups in Homs are holding civilians hostage. The Syrian National Coalition’s meeting to name a new leader is deadlocked; the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood is said to play a key role in the decisionmaking process.
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Syria
Two Syria shrine towns: Worlds apart yet united in battle
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Hezbollah
The Lebanese mood shifts on Syria’s war
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Lebanon
Tugged by Syria storm, Lebanon risks drifting into chaos
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Syria
In official remarks, Bashar al-Assad called the overthrow of the Morsi government in Egypt a defeat for political Islam. The rebel Syrian National Coalition, which has been leaderless for months, is meeting in Istanbul today to name a new leader. A senior opposition source said the US and France are providing aid to rebel units in Aleppo, where new antitank weapons have been employed by rebel units. Activists claimed that Jordanian authorities tortured a Syrian civilian to death.
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Syria
A Tunisian commander in the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham was killed in fighting with a military motorcade near Ein Issa in Raqqah. Regime forces assisted by Hezbollah fighters attempted to retake rebel-held areas in Homs, but despite fierce regime shelling did not advance. The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council asked the UN to intervene to prevent a “massacre” in Homs. A video purporting to show the beheading of a Catholic priest and two other men by jihadists in Syria surfaced on the Internet.
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Syrian jihadists behead Catholic priest, 2 others
The Vatican reported last week that the priest was captured by fighters “linked” to the Al Nusrah Front for the People in the Levant, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria. A graphic video of his beheading has been published on the Internet.
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Free Syrian Army
Sending Missiles to Syrian Rebels, Qatar Muscles In
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Syria
Regime forces launched a major assault on rebel-held areas of Homs, which they have been trying to regain for a year. Saudi Arabia is thought to have recently speeded up shipments of heavy weapons to the rebels. A German aid group announced that three of its employees were kidnapped over six weeks ago in northwest Idlib near the Turkish border and are still missing. The regime’s deputy minister for the economy said Syria is doing its business in Russian, Chinese, and Iranian currency.
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Syria
The Trials of Running a Syrian Refugee Camp
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Al Nusrah Front
Terror nexus threatens Tunisia
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France
Syria: France’s evidence of chemical weapons use increases with 14 samples
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Al Nusrah Front claims joint operations, including a suicide assault, with Syrian rebel groups
Al Qaeda’s affiliate carried out a suicide assault with the help of the Nasser Salahuddin Brigade, and conventional attacks with the help of Dera’ al Assima, Liwa al Habib al Mustafa, and Liwa’ al-Tawhid brigades, three Free Syrian Army units in Damascus.
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Suicide bomber kills 4 in Christian neighborhood in Damascus
Today’s suicide attack is the third in the Syrian capital this month. It is unclear if the bomber targeted Christians or a pro-Assad militia.
