Islamic fighters led by al-Qaida in Syria seize major city

[Lite Beer]

Islamic fighters led by al-Qaida in Syria seize major city
ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Islamic fighters led by al-Qaida's branch in Syria seized almost full control of the northwestern city of Idlib on Saturday, taking over major roundabouts and government buildings in a powerful blow to President Bashar Assad whose forces rapidly collapsed after four days of heavy fighting, opposition activists and the extremist group said.

Idlib, a major urban center with a population of around 165,000 people, is the second provincial capital to fall into opposition hands after Raqqa, now a stronghold of the Islamic State group. Its capture by the Nusra Front underscores the growing power of extremist groups in Syria who now control about half the country.

Opposition fighters including Nusra have controlled the countryside and towns across Idlib province since 2012, but Assad's forces have managed to maintain their grip on Idlib city, near the border with Turkey, throughout the conflict.

On Saturday, Islamic fighters jubilantly swept in, taking over key buildings and tearing down posters of Assad. Videos posted online by activists and the Nusra Front showed a group of heavily armed fighters kneeling down in prayer in the city's sprawling Hanana square as others fired their guns in celebration.

"Allahu Akbar!" — God is great — they shouted. The fighters then took down a Syrian flag flying in the center of the square and set it on fire to the backdrop of incessant shooting. The video appeared genuine and consistent with AP reporting on Idlib's takeover Saturday.

On its Twitter account, Nusra posted pictures of the Clock Tower and other landmark locations now under its control.

The Nusra Front is leading a group of ultra-conservative rebels in a major offensive that began earlier this week to take Idlib. They include the hardline Ahrar al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa groups and a few smaller groups loosely affiliated with the Free Syrian Army.

With the takeover of Idlib, an island of government territory in the midst of mostly opposition terrain, the Nusra Front further cements its hold over an impressive stretch of land it controls from the Turkish border to central and southern Syria.

With the world's attention focused on the Islamic State group, the Nusra Front has quietly consolidated its power in Syria in recent months, crushing moderate rebel groups the West may try to work with while increasingly enforcing its own brutal version of Islamic law.

Idlib, besides being a major population city, is located near the main highway linking the capital Damascus with Aleppo.

The main Western-backed Syrian National Coalition opposition group said the wresting of Idlib from government control is an "important victory on the road to the full liberation of Syrian soil from the Assad regime and its allies." However, it said more "decisive" assistance to Syrian rebels was needed for that to happen.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebel fighters seized control of Idlib in a push Friday evening and early Saturday after rapidly collapsing government forces withdrew.

The group, which relies on an extensive network of activists across Syria, said some fighting continued Saturday amid heavy artillery shelling from both sides. The Local Coordination Committees, another opposition activist collective in Syria, also reported the "almost complete" capture of Idlib by rebels.

An unnamed Syrian military official quoted by state-run news agency SANA said army forces were fighting "fierce battles" against "armed terrorist groups" to regain control in Idlib.

The government claimed earlier this week that "thousands of terrorists" streamed in from Turkey to attack Idlib and its suburbs. Turkey is one of the main backers of the rebels.

The humiliating losses in Idlib mark the second blow to government forces this week, after rebels, also led by Nusra, captured the ancient and strategic town of Busra Sham in southern Syria.

Also Saturday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was angry and shamed by the failure of the world to stop Syria's raging civil war. He promised to step up diplomatic efforts in comments at a summit of Arab leaders in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.

More than 220,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which began with popular protests amid Arab Spring uprisings in March 2011 and turned into an insurgency following a brutal military crackdown.

___

Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria and Hamza Hendawi in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt contributed to this report.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-03-29

[ColdSingha]

i'm losing track of who is fighting for who:

Assad bad.

al Qaida bad.

al Qaida moderate good (lol)

syrian national coalition good.

Nusra Front?

Ahrar al-Sham?

Jund al-Aqsa?

so is this good news or bad news??

you americans..

[ezzra]

The Syrian army always had wet dreams on taking Israel army on... now the shame is out the box, they can't even defeat a rag tag army on their own turf... why aren't the Russians coming to help? those Russians were the staunch allies of the Syrian for generations,, sold them billions in military aids,, what now> ahhh, no money left there to be made any more, so goodbye Syria......

[MaxYakov]

i'm losing track of who is fighting for who:

Assad bad.

al Qaida bad.

al Qaida moderate good (lol)

syrian national coalition good.

Nusra Front?

Ahrar al-Sham?

Jund al-Aqsa?

so is this good news or bad news??

you americans..

Too many Singhas?

[otherstuff1957]

I've had doubts about the Syrian version of the "Arab Spring" since it began. Assad is no angel, but he also isn't the oppressive demon that the western press has made him out to be. After the revolt began the US (CIA) set up "secret" training camps in Jordan to train supposedly democratic Syrian freedom fighters. As usual, the CIA has ended up with egg on its face as many of those US trained and equipped fighters went on to join ISIS and create a state that is far more violent and oppressive than Assad's dictatorship.

I suspect that the Syrian people will look back on Assad's regime with nostalgia when Syria degenerates into a middle-eastern version of Somalia.

[Scott]

Quite a number of years ago, while working in the ME, I spent considerable time in Syria. I found the country and the people quite different than what I expected. At that time, the country was under the Sr. Assad. Propaganda is a powerful tool. I also had the opportunity to meet a number of European embassy staffers. They frequented the lounge in the hotel where I was staying.

There was no mistaking that Assad held the country together with an iron grip and that human rights were not high on his agenda. But that said, it was a reasonably safe, peaceful country (Ok, they were horrible drivers).

A lot of the problems had to do with some clandestine operations by the Assad gov't and it's partners, including some major counterfeiting operations geared at undermining the US dollar and the US economy. Apparently, the counterfeiting was of extremely high quality, but they had been unable to reduce the cost and it was costing over $100 to produce a $100 bill. Apparently, some of these operations were taken out in a military strike. There were other types of operations as well.

So much of the talk of democratic reforms is not as high on the agenda as either getting Assad to give up some of his operations (and alliance that assist in them) or to change the regime.

I have no links to provide, but while working in Thailand some time later, there was a workshop given by the Secret Service to Embassy employees, and local staff on identifying counterfeit US dollar bills. At that time they mentioned that Syria was a major producer of counterfeit money and I believe North Korea was identified as another. It was interesting in that the US citizens almost always could identify a counterfeit bill from a real one, even when blindfolded. The local staff (and a few foreign staff) were much less successful. There were a few bills (but the Secret Service would not say where they came from) that were almost completely indistinguishable from an authentic bill.

The European embassy staffers in Syria indicated that Europe also had similar problems, although not counterfeiting (the Euro wasn't around), but it was to a much lesser degree than the US.

How much this plays into what is or isn't happening, I don't know but it is something to be considered.

[arjunadawn]

After reading the OP and the various posts observing how absurd this all is the only image that came to mind was when we were young kids; sometimes we would set a bag of dog crap on fire and ring a door bell and run away. Sometimes it worked and some old fool would come out on the porch and start stamping the bag of crap that was on fire. Every day I read about the Syrian debacle and the only image I have is of America stamping on a flaming bag of crap.

[Chicog]

i'm losing track of who is fighting for who:

Assad bad.

al Qaida bad.

al Qaida moderate good (lol)

syrian national coalition good.

Nusra Front?

Ahrar al-Sham?

Jund al-Aqsa?

so is this good news or bad news??

you americans..

I think it means the not that bad guys have taken a town from the bad guys, but the very bad guys are still around as well.

[Chicog]

After reading the OP and the various posts observing how absurd this all is the only image that came to mind was when we were young kids;

sometimes we would set a bag of dog crap on fire and ring a door bell and run away. Sometimes it worked and some old fool would come out

on the porch and start stamping the bag of crap that was on fire. Every day I read about the Syrian debacle and the only image I have is

of America stamping on a flaming bag of crap.

I think that image would be better applied to Iraq. That's what started this whole IS mess off.

Sad to say it but they should have left Saddam in power. Better the devil that you know, etc.

Edited March 29, 2015 by Chicog

[simple1]

I've had doubts about the Syrian version of the "Arab Spring" since it began. Assad is no angel, but he also isn't the oppressive demon that the western press has made him out to be. After the revolt began the US (CIA) set up "secret" training camps in Jordan to train supposedly democratic Syrian freedom fighters. As usual, the CIA has ended up with egg on its face as many of those US trained and equipped fighters went on to join ISIS and create a state that is far more violent and oppressive than Assad's dictatorship.

I suspect that the Syrian people will look back on Assad's regime with nostalgia when Syria degenerates into a middle-eastern version of Somalia.

It may well be that Syrians will look back in nostalgia, but it appears you have overlooked the violence and oppression used by Assad to counter the initial peaceful Arab Spring demonstrations that led to armed revolt and the consequences we see today. In addition, very early in the conflict, Assad's brother used his militia forces for ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in many towns and villages.

Prior to the outbreak of civil war, it had been documented that the Assad regeme used torture and killing of opponents in his detention centers; victims included children.

[ggt]

i'm losing track of who is fighting for who:

Assad bad.

al Qaida bad.

al Qaida moderate good (lol)

syrian national coalition good.

Nusra Front?

Ahrar al-Sham?

Jund al-Aqsa?

so is this good news or bad news??

you americans..

No one seems to be more confused than the American government...we arm the good guys...who become bad guys...and offer tacit assistance to entire populations who are being slaughtered...

The political landscape changes daily...

It appears that the joint efforts of Egypt and Saudi Arabia may form a coalition of Arab states to manage the terrorist threat in the ME...

The US...happily...may only be required to play a cursory role...

Edited March 29, 2015 by ggt