Special to WorldTribune.com NICOSIA — Sunni rebels have sustained heavy losses in a failed counter-offensive in central Syria. The opposition said Islamist rebel militias failed in an operation to end a siege by the Syrian Army around Damascus. Scores of rebels, including commanders, were said to have been killed in two days of intense battles […]
Special to WorldTribune.com ANKARA — Turkey has seized a large quantity of suspected chemical weapons precursors. Officials said Turkish border forces intercepted the chemicals from a convoy that sought to infiltrate from neighboring Syria. They said the chemicals, including sulfur, could be used in CW development. “They could be transformed into weapons,” the Turkish General […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — Gulf Arabs and their governments have been financing the Sunni revolt in Syria, a report said. Human Rights Watch asserted that leading clerics in several Gulf Cooperation Council states were raising money to fund Islamist militias in the war against Syrian President Bashar Assad. The New York-based group issued a […]
Special to WorldTribune.com NICOSIA — Al Qaida’s powerful militia has been defeated in northern Syria. Opposition sources said Kurdish forces overpowered the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant near the Syrian border with Turkey. The sources said ISIL lost a key position in three days of fierce battles around Yarubia. “They took control of the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The U.S. intelligence community, while still assuring allies of his regime’s imminent collapse, determined as early as April 2013 that President Bashar Assad was reversing Sunni rebel gains in Syria. The State Department issued a classified briefing on June 10 that warned of a rebel defeat, particularly that of the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com ANKARA — Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has been questioned over Turkey’s links to Al Qaida in Syria. The parliamentary opposition has formally submitted a request for the Erdogan government to detail alleged links with Al Qaida-aligned militias in Syria. The opposition has sought to determine whether the purported Turkish aid facilitated war […]
Special to WorldTribune.com ANKARA — A leading human rights organization has urged Turkey to stop aiding Al Qaida-aligned rebels in Syria. The Human Rights Association said Al Qaida militias in Syria were using Turkey for recruitment and financing. In a report, the association urged the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan to crack down on […]
Special to WorldTribune.com AMMAN — Officials said Al Qaida militias were recruiting Sunni Muslims in Jordan for the revolt against Syrian President Bashar Assad. The officials identified the militias as Nusra Front for the Defense of the Levant and Islamic State in Iraq and Levant. “They offer young poverty-stricken men financial incentives, with some money […]
Special to WorldTribune.com NICOSIA — Islamist militias have broken away from a Western-sponsored rebel coalition in Syria. Thirteen Islamist militias announced they would not cooperate with the Western-sponsored Syrian National Coalition. The militias said they did not recognize the authority of the new coalition, led by Ahmed Toumeh and financed by Saudi Arabia. “These forces […]
Special to WorldTribune.com NICOSIA — Al Qaida has been struggling in efforts to capture northern Syria. A leading Al Qaida militia has been battling a rival Al Qaida force as well as Kurdish fighters along the Syrian-Turkish border. On Sept. 22, Al Qaida’s Islamic State of Iraq and Levant lost a regional commander in clashes […]