Special to WorldTribune.com Al Qaida affiliate Nusra Front and its Sunni Islamist allies seized an Alawite village in central Syria on May 12. Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham, an ultraconservative Sunni Islamic militant group, launched an assault on the village of Zara, killing more than 30 pro-Assad regime fighters, according to the Local Coordination Committees […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Young Syrians who have been left without a school, a job or any meaning in their lives by the country’s devastating civil war are finding that Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) offers “a new meaning to their life in extremism,” a peace activist group’s survey found. “Extremism opens a door […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Amid heavy casualty figures in Syria, Iran is telling teenage recruits they have the opportunity to defend sacred Shi’ite shrines in Syria and eventually invade Israel. It is the first time Teheran has turned to children volunteers since its war with Iraq in the 1980s, Shahin Godabi, an official with the opposition National Council […]
Special to WorldTribune.com More than 30 soldiers from an elite brigade of Iranian commandos were killed in battle in Syria just days after being deployed, reports say. Senior commanders from Iran’s special forces Brigade 65 were among those killed, according to unofficial Syrian reports. On April 12, Al Qaida affiliate Nusra Front released a video […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) has taken control of most of a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus that was held by Al Qaida’s Syria affiliate. ISIL on April 12 attacked Nusra Front positions “and took control of 60 percent of the (Yarmouk) camp,” Anwar Abdel Hadi, the Palestine Liberation Organization […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) has taken back a key supply town at the Syria-Turkey border after losing the town last week to a rebel alliance that includes Al Qaida’s Syria affiliate. ISIL jihadists on April 11 recaptured Al-Rai from rebel forces who are allied with Al Qaida affiliate Nusra […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Anti-Assad regime rebels, jihadists and activists received a huge morale boost with the surprise withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria. Moscow’s move is also seen by the opposition as a major blow for the Damascus regime. “Our morale is sky high. The regime will not be able to survive alone,” said Raed al-Elewi, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Russia’s air strikes against anti-Assad regime rebels may have united Syrian rebel factions in a way the hesitant Obama administration never could. A group of 41 Syrian rebel factions, in a joint statement, condemned Moscow’s attacks on rebel targets and vowed to take the fight to the Russian “occupiers.” Backed by Russian […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Iran and Turkey, who support opposing sides in the Syrian civil war, negotiated a 48-hour ceasefire on Aug. 12 after a month of behind-the-scenes negotiations. The ceasefire stopped fighting between Syrian insurgents, backed by Turkey, and Syria’s military and Hizbullah, supported by Iran. The rebel-held town of Zabadani and a pair of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com A new Islamist alliance of eight groups has formed in southern Syria near the Israeli border and will focus on fighting Syrian regime forces. The alliance, which is called Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest), is led by Al Qaida’s Nusra Front and “they excluded all the groups that have not been crystal […]