Al-Qaeda sent 50 suicide bombers to attack Aleppo prison

Source : http://en.alalam.ir/news

Al-Qaeda-linked militant groups have retreated after two days of futile attacks on Aleppo’s central prison in northwest of Syria, which were blocked by the Syrian army.

Militants from al-Nusra Front, Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS), both offshoots of al-Qaeda operating in Syria, along with Shaam al-Islam and Lewa al-Towhid militant groups brought Aleppo’s central province under attack two days ago but they had to step back on Saturday after suffering heavy losses.

The Arabic language Asia News quoted sources among militants as saying that, the terrorist groups sent 50 suicide bombers to open their way to the prison, but they failed to get in.

The sources said this was the first time they used this many suicide bombers in a single mission, according to Asia News.

Most of the suicide attackers who were killed in their attacks had foreign nationalities including Iraqi and Palestinian.

A source close to al-Nusra Front was quoted as saying that the armed groups have retreated and there only ten people left around the prison. Aleppo’s prison holds a large number of al-Nusra and ISIS terrorists.

The conflict in Syria started in March 2011, when pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of Western and regional states.

The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history.

SHI/SHI

Rebels clash with Qaeda-linked opposition group in Syria

Source : LBCI

Rebels clashed with an opposition unit linked to al Qaeda in northern Syria, activists said on Saturday, in a deadly battle that signals growing divisions among rebel groups and rising tensions between locals and more radical Islamist factions.

The rebel infighting comes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have made gains on the battlefield and drawn comfort from the downfall this week of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which under ousted President Mohamed Morsi had thrown its weight behind the Syrian opposition.

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), the new al Qaeda franchise announced by the head of global network's Iraq leader, has been quickly working to cement power in rebel- held territories of northern Syria in recent months.

ISIS units have begun to impose stricter interpretations of Islamic law and have filmed themselves executing members of rival rebel groups whom they accuse of corruption, and beheading those they say are loyal to Assad.

This as an activist and Syrian state media said that regime troops are advancing in parts of the rebel-held city of Homs.

In this regard, Homs-based activist Tarik Badrakhan said that Syrian troops seized control of buildings in the rebel-held district of Khaldiyeh; the first time government forces entered Homs neighborhoods held by rebels for over a year.

Badrakhan added that troops began the move Friday night and mentioned that they continued to pound the area with mortar shells and missiles until Saturday.

On another note, the Syrian opposition voted to elect a new leader, but the top two candidates failed to gain a simple majority needed to become president of the coalition fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

A runoff ballot was scheduled for later on Saturday after Ahmad Jarba, a tribal figure linked with Saudi Arabia, and Mustafa al-Sabbagh, a businessman who is Qatar's point man, did not gain more than half of the votes in the 115 member Syrian National Coalition in an early morning ballot in Istanbul.

The coalition is split into three power centers: the Muslim Brotherhood, the Sabbagh faction, and a Saudi-backed bloc that includes Jarba.

The three factions held the vote for a new leader after failing to agree on a compromise candidate.

The coalition has been without a leader for months after its head quit over disagreement over potential talks with Assad's government.

Syria's two-year revolt against four decades of Assad family rule has degenerated from a peaceful protest movement into a bloody civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people