Jaafari: Saudi Releases Criminals from Jails, Sends Them to Syria

Source : http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=123815&cid=23&fromval=1&frid=23&seccatid=20&s1=1

Syrian permanent envoy to the United Nations, Bashar al-Jaafari, accused the Saudi Arabia of releasing the criminals from its prisons in a bid to send them to Syria for the so-called “Jihad”.At a press statement after a Security Council session in New York, Jaafari said that Saudi intelligence knows all Saudis who traveled to fight in Syria. He added that a large number of them have been sentenced to death or to life imprisonment and they were released in return for going to "jihad" in Syria and kill the Syrians."The Saudi authorities release those criminals, the majority of them are affiliated to extremist, terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda, to send them to Syria through hidden agreements through which they are given amnesty in return for their travelling to Syria to kill the Syrians,” the Syrian envoy told reporters.He added that those terrorists enter Syria through borders with Jordan, Lebanon while the others come through Turkey with facilitations by the Turkish, Qatari intelligence."At the same time when the Security Council recognizes that Nusra Front is a terrorist organization and the other groups are terrorists, some international officials name them as opposition," Jaafari said.On the number of victims in Syria, the official news agency, SANA, quoted the Syrian envoy as saying: "We are regretful over the death of any Syrian citizen, wondering "Do you inform me about the number of soldiers and their average within the number of the victims, about the number of policemen, women or those who died because of the suicide explosions… the answer would be that we should take into consideration that all the victims are Syrians, and a lot of them were killed at the hands of the armed terrorist groups which are active in Syria by the instigation of external sides.

US-Israel led Al-Nusra-Front rapes the Free Army militants

Source : Islamic Invitation Turkey

Both Al-Nusra, that resides under the umbrella of Al-Qaeda, and the ‘Free Army’ have several times coincided and fought against each other on the loots, something which may not be new. However; local sources informed our network from inside the city of Idlib that a new milestone which can be considered as a turning point in the usual fighting since a month ago as the battalions and brigades of the rebels have withdrawn from the circumference of Wadi-Al-Daif and Al-Hamidiah strategic sites in Ma’arat-Al-Nowman town in Idlib countryside.

The source maintained as 10 of the ‘Free Army’ militants were kidnapped by Al-Nusra, those militants who follow their leader jamal-Ma’arouf in Idlib, were taken, tortured and sexually ‘raped’.The main reason of this incident was because of the withdrawal of the ‘Free Army’ militants from Ma’arat-Al-Nowman in a battle against the Syrian Army leaving Al-Nusra alone in the battle which caused them heavy casualties.Incidents of hostage- exchange have increased lately between the two sides along with mediators for the increasing tension especially where retaliation started to appear where every side now is only aiming to prove their domination and existence

Syrian soldiers kill militant leaders

Source : Tehran Times

On Sunday, Syrian troops repelled a militant attack on a military checkpoint in the Muhardeh district of the western province of Hama, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.

A local militant leader of the terrorist group Jabhat al-Nusra, identified as Suhaib Hassan al-Najeb, was killed in the process, SANA said.

Unrest has gripped Syria for nearly two years, and many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the turmoil.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that the government did not start the conflict and the militant groups were the ones killing Syrian citizens and destroying the country’s infrastructure.

On Sunday, a unit of the Syrian army also killed dozens of militants in the Palmyra district of Homs. Mansour bin Mufdi bin Mohammad al-Khaledi, a local and non-Syrian militant commander of the Jabhat al-Nusra group, was among the slain militants. Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Damascus says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving factor behind the unrest and deadly violence while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings.

Western states have been calling for Assad to step down. However, Russia and China are strongly opposed to the Western drive to oust Assad.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals, mostly from Egypt, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia.

Battles for control over Syria's al-Raqqa city continue, U. S. speaks of "greater guarantees" about arming rebels

Source :  Xinhua

DAMASCUS, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Ferocious battles continued Tuesday between the government troops and armed rebels trying to take full control over the northeastern city of al-Raqqa, as the U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry claimed that the vast majority of weapons sent by regional countries to the rebels are falling in the hands of the moderate rebels, not the radicals.

The Syrian army targeted the positions of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front in al-Raqqa, state TV reported, adding that the armed militias have attacked public and private properties in the city.

Meanwhile, pro-government Sham FM radio said that large numbers of al-Raqqa residents fled to Deir al-Zour and other Syrian cities, adding that the governor of Deir al-Zour ordered all the competent parties in the city to receive the displaced people and provide them with all they need.

The pro-opposition Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Syrian air force carried out two air raids Tuesday that hit the state intelligence branch in the city after the rebels captured it.

It also said violent clashes took place between government forces and rebel fighters around the ammunition depots in the northern part of al-Raqqa on Tuesday, adding that it has received news that rebel fighters had taken control of the depots.

The observatory also claimed that the rebel fighters fired RPGs at the ruling Baath headquarters in the city.

In the meantime, U.S.'s Kerry said Tuesday in Qatar that the U. S. administration has become more confident that the weapons that are being sent to the rebels in Syria by regional countries, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, are falling in the hands of the moderate rebels, not the radical members.

After holding discussions with Qatari officials on Tuesday, Kerry told reporters at a joint conference with Qatar's Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim that "there are greater guarantees now that the weapons are being transferred directly into the moderate Syrian opposition."

"We did discuss the question of the ability to try to guarantee that it is (weapons) going to the right people and the moderate Syrian Opposition Coalition, and I think it's really in the last months that that has developed as a capacity that we have greater confidence in," he said, adding that, however, "you can't guarantee that one weapon or another may not fall in that kind of a situation into the hands that you don't want it to."

Kerry's remarks came to deepen the conviction about the role of regional countries such as Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in fanning the flames of the conflict in Syria by rendering arms to the rebels, whose ranks have been overwhelmed with jihadist fighters, some of whom are foreigners.

Paradoxically, Washington has rejected to send arms to the rebels in Syria out of fear that they might fall in the "wrong hands," while it is OK for them to nod at the help that regional countries have been sending to the rebels over the past two years of crisis.

Qaida-linked group attack anti-gov't protest in northwestern Syria

Source : APA

Baku-APA. Members and supporters of the al- Qaida-linked Nusra Front attacked Friday an anti-government protest in Syrian northwestern province of Idlib, tearing down the protesters' flag and chanting for establishing a "caliphate," APA reorts quoting Xinhua

An online video shot by Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights showed the radical group storming the "pro-democracy protest" held in Idlib's Sarqeb town. After tearing down the protesters' black, white and green flag, the Nusra fighters and supporters chanted that "it will only be an Islamic caliphate."

The observatory said the incident is the second within a week in which radicals disperse activists in Sarqeb, a town allegedly under the rebels' control.

The United States branded Nusra Front as a terrorist organization last month, after it claimed responsibility for almost all the explosions that rattled security and military posts across Syria.

Fighting currently alongside the rebels' Free Syria Army, the Nusra Front has recently said it is interested in neither freedom nor democracy and its ultimate goal is to establish an Islamic state on the "wreckage" of the current administration.

Analysts said the Nusra Front is believed to be a striking force in the fight against the government troops nationwide, and Friday's incident manifests that the 22-month "revolution" in Syria has been hijacked by radical groups affiliated with al-Qaida.

Meanwhile, fights renewed in several areas in the unrest-torn country on Friday, most notably in areas surrounding the capital Damascus.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported clashes in Damascus' eastern suburb Jobar, as well as shelling and airstrike on the nearby areas of Zamalka and Qaboun. Clashes also continued in Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees in the capital and the western countryside of Daraya and Muadamieh.

The observatory said three young men from the Dummar neighborhood in Damascus were tortured to death by government forces, adding that the government troops carried out Friday a campaign of raids and arrests in the Damascus neighborhood of Adawi. Several residents were taken away, the report said.

The capital's fighting started Wednesday when rebels waged attacks on army checkpoints in Jobar and tried to push their way to enter the capital. With the Syrian army responding with heavy shelling and firepower, sounds of shells have become daily routine since Wednesday.

Earlier Friday, the state media said the sheikh of Salahuddien Mosque in northern city Aleppo was killed when mortar shells fired by armed groups landed at the mosque.

Syria has been engulfed in a bloody conflict between opposition forces and government troops since March 2011. It has so far claimed some 60,000 lives, according to UN estimates.

Dispute Flares between Nusra Front, Other Terrorists in Syria

Source : Islamic Invitation Turkey

Dispute has erupted between militants in Syria and al-Qaeda affiliated group, “Nusra” front in the province of Aleppo, media reported.

According to the Syrian daily, al-Watan, the dispute changed to be armed clashes between the militants and “Nusra front” which is believed to be the most powerful armed group in Aleppo.

The newspaper said that the clashes left four militants killed, adding that the militants were from Tawheed Brigade, another armed group in Aleppo.

Al-Watan quoted an Aleppo resident as saying that the clashes broke out after militants from Tawheed Brigades tried to kidnap a gunmen, of the Libyan nationality, from Nusra Front, in Tareeq al- Bab (the road of the door) neighborhood.

However, the daily added, that the Nusra”front discovered the kidnapping attempt, and then executed four militants of Tawheed in front of residents in a bid to scare them.