An ex-Guantanamo detainee, Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifah, has reportedly traveled from Bahrain to join the jihad in Syria. According to a leaked Joint Task Force Guantanamo threat assessment, Sheikh Salman had ties to senior al Qaeda and Taliban officials prior to his detention in Pakistan and transfer to Guantanamo.
Silence continues over abduction of Syrian human rights lawyer
Hezbollah Upgrades Missile Threat to Israel
Chatah’s assassination marks rise of extremism in Lebanon
The Syrian National Coalition charged that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham is linked to the Assad regime and serves its interests. An opposition activist group said the body of a British doctor who had been allied with the Islamic Front’s Ahrar al Sham but executed by ISIS was recently handed over in […]
Israeli study of foreign fighters in Syria suggests Shiites may outnumber Sunnis
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham has taken control of sections of Ramadi and Fallujah. In Ramadi, a large convoy of ISIS fighters has been seen moving through the city.
An opposition activist group that reports on the Syrian conflict said its network of sources is increasingly being threatened by Islamist extremists. The Syrian Electronic Army reportedly hacked Skype. The 11-nation Friends of Syria group plans to convene in the coming days in advance of the Geneva II talks.
Al Qaeda-affiliated emir arrested in Lebanon
Majid bin Muhammad al Majid, a Saudi jihadist who leads the al Qaeda-associated Abdullah Azzam Brigades, is thought to have been captured last month.
An opposition activist group claimed to have documented the deaths of over 130,000 people in the Syrian conflict so far. A member of the Syrian National Coalition alleged that President Assad had told Russia he aimed to take control of 80 percent of Syria prior to the Geneva II talks. The Vatican plans to host […]
Behind Assad’s Comeback, a Mismatch in Commitments
Syria – The Revolution Betrayed
At least 19 rebels have been killed in three days of fighting with regime troops for control of the Deir Izzour military airbase. Foreign Minister Muallem said yesterday that Syria wants Iran to attend the Geneva II talks. The UN asked the regime and rebels to allow aid into the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus. […]
Wary of rockets, IDF beefs up security on Golan Heights
Obama’s Failed Outreach to Syria’s Islamic Front
Syria Has Yet to Move Arms as Deadline Draws Near
An opposition activist group claimed that regime airstrikes and barrel bombs in and around Aleppo over the past two weeks have killed 471 civilians, 34 rebel fighters, and 12 Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham fighters. The UN has completed 24 humanitarian flights to Qamishli via Iraq in an airlift that began Dec. 15, […]
Regime aircraft dropped explosive barrels on an Aleppo market, killing at least 25 people. An Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham commander was killed in a clash with Kurdish YPG forces in Hasakah. ISIS and YPG forces battled violently in Aleppo’s Efrin district. The Al Nusrah Front and Islamic battalions fought against regime forces […]
How al Qaeda Changed the Syrian War
Syria’s civil war tests whether borders drawn less than a century ago will last
US aid to Syrian refugees generally stops at the border
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, the Al Nusrah Front, and other Islamist rebel groups clashed with regime, Hezbollah, and NDF forces in Aleppo. A regime ambush near Maloula killed “tens of Islamist fighters” said to be members of Al Nusrah. Residents of the blockaded rebel-held town of Moadamiyeh near Damascus raised Syrian […]
Fallout from Syrian conflict in Lebanon
As 2014 dawns, Israel keeps a nervous eye on regional jihadist groups
Tayseer Allouni aired the first televised interview with Abu Muhammad al Julani, the head of the Al Nusrah Front, earlier this month. Allouni was controversially convicted by a Spanish court on terrorism charges in 2005. A Spanish court alleged that Allouni assisted the al Qaeda operative who now heads al Qaeda in the Levant, among other charges.
Regime officials reached an agreement to allow food into the blockaded rebel-held town of Mou’adamiya if the rebels hand over their heavy weapons and residents raise the Syrian flag. A car bomb injured several people when it exploded yesterday at a bus station in the Kurdish city of Efrin in Aleppo, which is besieged by […]
AP Exclusive: Al Qaeda leader targeting UN workers
Exclusive: Assad’s secret oil lifeline: Iraqi crude from Egypt
Regime barrel bombing continued in Aleppo, killing 13 more civilians; barrel bombs were also dropped in the border city of Azaz, killing 15 people. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, the Al Nusrah Front, and other Islamist forces battled regime troops in Aleppo, and rockets were fired by rebels at the Palace of […]