The main Islamist rebel groups in Aleppo, a key front line in Syria’s civil war, on Monday rejected the newly formed opposition bloc, saying they want an Islamic state, as clashes raged countrywide.
“We, the fighting squads of Aleppo city and province, unanimously reject the conspiratorial project called the National Coalition and announce our consensus to establish an Islamic state” in Syria, a spokesman announced in an Internet video.
“We reject any external coalitions or councils imposed on us at home from any party whatsoever,” he said.
Photo: Reuters
The unidentified speaker sat at the head of a long table with at least 30 other men and a black Islamist flag on the wall.
He listed 14 armed groups as signatories to the statement, including the al-Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham and Liwa al-Tawhid.
However, the Ahrar al-Sham group rejected the proclamation on its official Web site, saying that its leadership did not endorse the statement.
The al-Nusra Front, a formidable fighting force, has claimed the majority of suicide bombings in Syria’s deadly 20-month-old conflict.
Abdel Jabbar al-Okaidi, the head of the mainstream rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the embattled northern city of Aleppo, said the statement did not represent the opinion of all rebel groups in the province.
“These groups represent a number of military factions on the ground and reflect their position, but not all military forces in Aleppo agree with this,” the defected former army colonel said by telephone.
“The military council has announced its support for the National Coalition and is collaborating with them,” Okaidi added.
The new National Coalition aims to present a united front to the international community and is lobbying for weapons supplies to help topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
On the ground, fighting flared along the Turkish border after rebels took control of the large army Base 46 in the northern province of Aleppo that had been besieged for weeks.
Six rebels were killed in clashes with Kurdish fighters and the head of the local Kurdish People’s Assembly was shot dead in the town of Ras al-Ain, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
The clashes erupted after a Kurdish demonstration demanding that all rebels not from Ras al-Ain leave after they took the town last week.
The Kurdish fighters belonged to the People’s Defense Units, the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is linked to Turkey’s rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
“The rebels burned a flag of the [Kurdish] Democratic Union Party and the Kurds reacted by burning the FSA flag,” an activist told AFP.
Rebels accuse Kurdish groups of negotiating directly with al-Assad’s regime, while Kurds question why the rebels entered a safe area.
“The Kurdish regions provide safe havens to thousands of refugees from Damascus, Hama and Homs,” PYD leader Saleh Muslim said by telephone.
“We are not looking for a confrontation with the FSA, but its members who provoked the incident today in Ras al-Ain receive their orders from Turkey,” he said.
Elsewhere, the Observatory said a general it named as Abdullah Darawi was killed in a rebel attack on the town of Nabak, north of Damascus, along with four policemen accompanying him.
The official SANA news agency blamed “terrorists” for the killings.
Fighting also erupted at a border post near the town of Kasab in Latakia Province, the Observatory said.
In the mountainous region of Jabal al-Turkman, eight rebels and four soldiers were killed after insurgents attacked an army convoy en route to Kasab.
The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists and medics, said at least 96 people were killed nationwide on Monday — 45 rebels, 26 civilians and 25 soldiers.
It puts the death toll in more than 20 months of conflict at more than 39,000.
KINGPIN: Marset allegedly laundered the proceeds of his drug enterprise by purchasing and sponsoring professional soccer teams and even put himself in the starting lineups Notorious Latin American narco trafficker Sebastian Marset, who eluded police for years, was handed over to US authorities after his arrest on Friday in Bolivia. Marset, a Uruguayan national who was on the US most-wanted list, was passed to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration at Santa Cruz airport in Bolivia, then put on a US airplane, Bolivian state television showed. “The arrest and deportation were carried out pursuant to a court order issued by the US justice system,” Bolivian Minister of Government Marco Antonio Oviedo told reporters. The alleged kingpin was arrested in an upscale neighborhood of Santa
FAKE NEWS? ‘When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong,’ a civic group said The top US broadcast regulator on Saturday threatened media outlets over negative coverage of the Middle East war, after US President Donald Trump slammed critical headlines from the “Fake News Media.” The US president since his first term has derided mainstream media as “fake news” and has sued major outlets over what he sees as unfair coverage. Brendan Carr, head of the US Federal Communications Commission — which oversees the nation’s radio, television and Internet media — said broadcasters risked losing their licenses over news coverage. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will
SCANDAL: Other images discovered earlier show Andrew bent over a female and lying across the laps of a number of women, while Mandelson is pictured in his underpants A photograph of former British prince Andrew and veteran politician Peter Mandelson sitting in bathrobes alongside late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unearthed on Friday in previously published documents. The image is believed to be the first known photograph of the two men with Epstein. They are currently engulfed in scandal in the UK over their ties to their mutual friend. The undated photograph, first reported by ITV News, shows King Charles III’s disgraced brother and former British ambassador to the US sitting barefoot outside on a wooden deck. They appear to have mugs with a US flag on them
NASA on Thursday said that the long-delayed launch of Artemis 2, the first crewed flyby mission to the moon in more than 50 years, could come as soon as April 1. “We are on track for a launch as early as April 1, and we are working toward that date,” Lori Glaze, a senior NASA official, told a news conference, after technical difficulties delayed a launch originally expected last month. “It’s a test flight, and it is not without risk, but our team and our hardware are ready,” she said. “Just keep in mind we still have work” to do. The US space
RSS