Pejuang Free Syrian Army pusat pemeriksaan manusia untuk menghalang ahli-ahli Negara Islam al-Qaeda - gabungan Iraq dan Levant (ISIL) daripada memasuki kejiranan Masaken Hanano di Aleppo 7 januari 2014. (Free Syrian Army fighters man checkpoints to prevent members of the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from entering Masaken Hanano neighborhood in Aleppo January 7, 2014. (Reuters/Jalal Alhalabi – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)
SitiWanMahani - Hampir 500 orang, termasuk 85 orang awam, terbunuh semasa dalam per-tempuran antara kumpulan pemberontak dan cawangan Al-Qaeda di Syria pada minggu lepas, sebuah kumpulan aktivis dilaporkan.
Balai Cerap Syria berasaskan Britain bagi Hak Asasi Manusia menyatakan bahawa sekurang-kurangnya 482 orang telah mati sejak pertempuran antara sederhana dan puak pemberontak arus perdana berbanding Negara Islam Iraq dan Levant (ISIL) dipergiatkan pada 3 Januari.
Kumpulan ini menambah bahawa 157 individu adalah dari ISIL, 240 yang lain tidak daripada puak lebih sederhana dan 85 orang awam.
Pada mulanya, Negara Islam Iraq dan Levant (ISIL) telah berjuang di sebelah yang sederhana untuk menggulingkan Presiden Syria Bashar Assad dalam konflik yang bermula pada Mac 2011.
Pertempuran di antara pemberontak telah tersebar di utara Syria sejak minggu lalu. Keganasan terbaru berlaku pada hari Jumaat di wilayah Aleppo, selepas ISIL membunuh seorang doktor tempatan.
Nusra Front, yang juga berkongsi ideologi radikal tetapi kebanyakannya terdiri daripada pejuang tempatan , bersatu dengan beberapa kumpulan-kumpulan serpihan lain untuk melancarkan serangan balas terhadap ISIL di seluruh negara.
Terdapat telah kebencian sebelumnya ke arah kumpulan - dianggotai kebanyakannya dengan pejuang bukan orang Syria - untuk rejim keras ia telah dikenakan ke atas kawasan kawalan di negara ini sejak memasuki perang tahun lepas.
ISIL juga terlibat dalam konflik di Anbar Province Iraq, yang merancang untuk bersatu dengan Syria yang untuk membentuk khilafah. Kumpulan tentera yang dikenali sebagai sayap jihad yang paling radikal pemberontak Syria. Negara Islam Iraq dan akar Levant kita kembali ke tahun-tahun awal Perang Iraq. Ia telah ditubuhkan pada bulan April 2004 oleh pelampau Sunni, dan kemudian berjanji setia kepada Osama bin Laden.
Pada masa itu, ISIL dipanggil Al-Qaeda di Iraq. 2 tahun kemudian kumpulan itu dijena-makan semula sebagai Negara Islam Iraq. Pada tahun 2013, ia telah mendapat kehadiran yang kuat di utara Syria, menambah ‘Levant’ namanya.
Pada hari Jumaat Majlis Keselamatan PBB mengkritik serangan pengganas terkini di Iraq dan diterima pakai Penyataan pertama tahun baru, menyatakan sokongan kepada kerajaan Iraq dalam menentang keganasan.
“Majlis Keselamatan kesal kerasnya peristiwa baru-baru ini di bandar-bandar Ramadi dan Fallujah di wilayah Anbar di Iraq. Majlis Keselamatan mengutuk serangan yang sedang dilakukan oleh Al-Qaeda affiliate, Negara Islam di Iraq dan Levant,” kenyataan itu.
“Majlis Keselamatan menggesa rakyat Iraq , termasuk puak-puak Iraq, pemimpin tempatan dan pasukan keselamatan Iraq di wilayah Anbar, berterusan, berkembang dan mengukuhkan kerjasama mereka terhadap keganasan dan keganasan.”
Pelampau Syria merekrut Barat
Kembali di Syria, konflik telah berkembang dan ‘Preoccupying’ minda pemimpin-pemimpin DUNIA.
Pengarah FBI mendedahkan bahawa mengesan yang Amerika yang telah pulang dari Syria telah menjadi antara tertinggi keutamaan memerangi keganasan biro ini. Menurut pegawai kanan memerangi keganasan, kumpulan pelampau Islam di Syria yang mem-punyai kaitan dengan Al-Qaeda cuba untuk mengenal pasti, merekrut dan melatih rakyat Amerika dan Barat yang lain yang telah mengembara di sana, dan ingin mempunyai mereka melancarkan serangan apabila mereka telah pulang ke rumah.
Pegawai Amerika Syarikat mengatakan bahawa sekurang-kurangnya 70 rakyat Amerika sama ada mengembara ke Syria atau cuba sejak perang saudara sejak 3 tahun lalu. Jumlah bilangan yang tidak pernah didedahkan sehingga Khamis.
Perang saudara Syria telah menjadi sebuah magnet untuk orang Barat yang mahu berjuang dengan pemberontak terhadap kerajaan Presiden Bashar Assad.
Dalam pada itu, Presiden Amerika Syarikat, Barack Obama membuat keputusan sama ada untuk menyambung semula bantuan ketenteraan tidak membawa maut kepada pembangkang sederhana Syria. Amerika Syarikat menghentikan penghantaran bulan lalu selepas gudang dipenuhi dengan peralatan telah dirampas oleh Barisan Islam, satu gabungan pejuang pemberontak itu berakhir dari Tentera yang disokong Free Syrian Army.
Pakar memberi amaran mengenai meneruskan bantuan yang tidak membawa maut. “Amerika Syarikat menyediakan bantuan maut melalui Jordan, CIA dan melalui Turki untuk pembangkang. Tetapi pembangkang berpecah-belah, tidak berupaya dan elemen-elemen yang lebih radikal, terutamanya, pejuang asing telah diambil alih pembangkang dari segi pertempuran. Dan tidak dapat dielakkan apa yang akan berlaku jika anda mula lulus senjata kepada pembangkang, mereka akan jatuh ke tangan pelampau,” penganalisis keselamatan dan bekas pegawai Pentagon Michael Maloof memberitahu RT.
Nearly 500 killed in fighting between Syrian
rebels and Al-Qaeda . . .
Almost 500 people, including 85 civilians, were killed during in-fighting between rebel groups and an Al-Qaeda branch in Syria in the past week, an activist group reported.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated that at least 482 people were dead since the fighting between moderates and mainstream rebel factions versus Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) intensified on January 3.
The group added that 157 individuals were from the ISIL, 240 others were from more moderate factions and 85 were civilians.
Initially the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were fighting on the side of the moderates to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad in a conflict that began in March of 2011.
The fighting between the rebels had spread across northern Syria over the past week. The most recent violence broke out on Friday in the province of Aleppo, after the ISIL killed a local doctor.
Nusra Front, which also shares a radical ideology but is composed mostly of local fighters, united with several other splinter groups to carry out reprisal attacks against ISIL throughout the country.
There had been previous resentment towards the group – staffed predominantly with non-Syrian fighters – for the harsh regime it has imposed on controlled areas in the country since entering the war last year.
ISIL is also engaged in conflict in Iraq's Anbar Province, which it plans to unite with Syria to form a caliphate. The military group is known as the most radical jihadist wing of the Syrian rebels. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s roots go back to the early years of the Iraq War. It was established in April 2004 by Sunni extremists, and then pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden.
At that time, ISIL was called Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Two years later the group was rebranded as the Islamic State of Iraq. In 2013, it gained a strong presence in northern Syria, adding ‘Levant’ to its name.
On Friday the UN Security Council criticized the latest terrorist attacks in Iraq and adopted its first statement of the new year, expressing support for the Iraqi government in its fight against terrorism.
“The Security Council deplores in the strongest terms the recent events in the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah in Anbar province in Iraq. The Security Council condemns the attacks that are being perpetrated by Al-Qaeda affiliate, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant,” the statement read.
“The Security Council urges the people of Iraq, including Iraqi tribes, local leaders, and Iraqi security forces in Anbar province, to continue, expand and strengthen their cooperation against violence and terror.”
Syrian extremists recruit westerners
Back in Syria, the conflict has been growing and preoccupying world leaders’ minds.
The FBI’s director revealed that tracking Americans who have returned from Syria has become among the bureau’s highest counter-terrorism priorities. According to senior counter-terrorism officials, Islamic extremist groups in Syria with ties to Al-Qaeda are trying to identify, recruit and train Americans and other westerners who have travelled there, and looking to have them carry out attacks once they have returned home.
US officials say that at least 70 Americans have either travelled to Syria or tried to since the civil war started three years ago. That number was never disclosed until Thursday.
Syria’s civil war has become a magnet for westerners seeking to fight with rebels against the government of President Bashar Assad.
In the meantime, US President Barack Obama is deciding whether or not to resume non-lethal military aid to Syria’s moderate opposition. The US halted shipments last month after warehouses filled with equipment were seized by the Islamic Front, a coalition of rebel fighters that broke off from the US-backed Free Syrian Army.
Experts warn about resuming the non-lethal aid. “US provided lethal assistance through Jordan, CIA and through Turkey to the opposition. But the opposition is fragmented, incapable and more radical elements, principally, the foreign fighters have taken over the opposition in terms of the fighting. And inevitable what will happen if you start to pass weapons to the opposition, they will fall into the hands of the extremists,” Security analysts and former Pentagon official Michael Maloof told RT.
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