Assyrian town asks for arms after ISIS advance
Now Lebanon/December 10/15/BEIRUT – ISIS has dealt a blow to regime forces by recapturing the town of Maheen outside Syria’s mountainous Qalamoun region, raising fears once again in a nearby government-controlled Assyrian Christian town. On Friday morning, Sadad residents asked to be provided with “heavy weapons” shortly after reports emerged that ISIS had stormed into Maheen, which lies 13 kilometers to the southeast. “We ask all concerned, honorable and caring people to think seriously about supporting the town with heavy weaponry that will allow us to stand up to any attack,” a pro-regime Facebook page based in the town said. “The matter is very urgent,” the Sadad New Net stressed. The local news page explained that light weapons were of no use in “open, desert areas against vehicle born bomb attacks,” in reference to ISIS’s preferred tactic of using car bombings against fixed positions in the initial stages of offensives.
GPF
ISIS previously advanced on Sadad in early November, however the group’s offensive was stymied after Russia airlifted members of the Assyrian Gozarto Protection Force (GPF) militia from the northeastern Hasakeh province to reinforce defensive positions in the town. After deploying in the Assyrian town, the GPF insisted on November 9 that it would remain in Sadad “until its safe” and called on residents to return. Two weeks later after the Syrian regime retook nearby Maheen from ISIS, the GPF announced its fighters were returning to Qamishli as Sadad was “fully secured.” Around the same time Russia transported the GPF fighters into Sadad, a televised Russian Defense Ministry briefing indicated that Moscow might also have deployed an artillery brigade in the area. On November 17, Russian TV showed a map that listed the Russian army’s 120th artillery brigade as being deployed outside Maheen.
ISIS storms back into Maheen
An image published Thursday by the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news purports to show the arms depots the group claimed to have seized. Despite confidence among regime ranks following its reversal of ISIS’s early November offensive, the extremist group struck back and again changed the tide of the see-saw battles the southeast Homs region has seen. “ISIS has managed to advance and recapture the town of Maheen and the village of Hiwarayn in southeastern Homs countryside,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported early Friday afternoon. “Clashes are still ongoing between regime forces and pro-regime militants on [one side] and ISIS [on the other] in the area around [the two settlements] amid fierce bombing on areas in both,” the monitoring NGO added. Earlier Friday, ISIS issued a statement announcing that its fighters had seized a number of positions, including the Jabal al-Kabir and Jabal al-Saghir mountains, which overlook the town, “in a surprise attack.” “The soldiers of the caliphate were able to reestablish control over all of the positions, kill a number of Nusairis [a pejorative term for Alawites] and plunder an amount of ammunition and light weapons, leaving the Nusairis in the town of Maheen under fire by the soldiers of the caliphate,” the extremist group boasted.
Pro-regime Masdar News also reported that ISIS had retaken Maheen following a “massive counter-offensive.”
Regime forces backed by Russian airstrikes wrested Maheen—a majority Sunni-populated town—from ISIS control on November 23 following two-days of fierce battles. The extremist group had originally seized Maheen on November 1 in a renewed offensive in the region near the vital M-5 highway linking Homs to the Syrian capital. ISIS advanced into the region in early August after routing pro-regime forces in nearby Qaryatayn, a mixed-Christian Muslim oasis town situated on the edge of the Syrian semi-desert, where ISIS maintains a strong presence.
Syria Opposition Forms Negotiating Body as Ahrar al-Sham Quits Riyadh Talks
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/December 10/15/ One of Syria’s main rebel groups, Ahrar al-Sham, on Thursday pulled out of opposition talks aimed at forging a united front ahead of potential discussions with President Bashar Assad’s regime. It said it took the decision because of “the fundamental role… given to personalities linked to the regime” at the conference in Riyadh. It named the Syria-based National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, which is generally tolerated by the regime and participated in talks organized by Moscow on the conflict in 2014 and 2015. Allied with the Qaida-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham said it “rejects the outcomes” of the meeting which “did not affirm the identity of our Muslim people” in Syria. The Riyadh conference which opened Wednesday and its outcomes were not “truly” representative of the Syrian “revolutionary factions,” the group said.
Ahrar al-Sham had agreed to attend the Riyadh talks despite the “lack of representation of jihadist factions at a level matching their… role” on the ground in Syria. But the Islamist group had warned it “will not accept the results of this conference” unless they include “cleansing Syrian territories of the Russian-Iranian occupation and sectarian militia supporting them.” Russia has been conducting air strikes in support of Assad for more than two months, while Iran has provided military assistance. Shiite militia from neighboring Iraq and Lebanon are also fighting alongside Assad’s troops. Ahrar al-Sham had insisted the priority should be overthrowing the regime, preserving Syria’s unity and rejecting sectarianism. A source in the National Coalition, the main opposition group which is based in Istanbul, said Thursday that the delegates had agreed on a set of basic principles, including ensuring Syria is a “pluralist and civil state” and guaranteeing the country’s territorial integrity. The source, whose information was confirmed by a second opposition figure, said delegates also agreed on “the preservation of state structures, the restructuring of military and security bodies, and the rejection of terrorism and the presence of foreign combatants.”
The dismantling of Assad’s military and security services is among the key demands of Ahrar al-Sham. Opposition figures also agreed to create a body of 23 to 31 members to supervise a negotiating team, another source said. The opposition groups met for a second day in the Saudi capital on Thursday.
Some 100 delegates began meeting on Wednesday under tight security at a luxury hotel in Riyadh, the first time a broad range of both political and armed factions from the Syrian opposition have sat at the same table. The talks follow a major diplomatic push to resolve Syria’s nearly five-year civil war, with top diplomats from 17 countries — including backers and opponents of Assad — agreeing in Vienna last month on a transition plan. It would see a transition government set up within six months and elections held within 18 months, and calls for negotiations between the opposition and Assad’s regime by January 1.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the meeting had made progress, boosting the chances that peace talks could take place. “It’s not locked in yet, but the meeting in Saudi Arabia appears to be very constructive at this point, and we need to wait for the results of that conference,” Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. climate summit in Paris. “But I think everybody is moving in the direction that they want to rapidly try to get to a political process and get it underway under U.N. auspices,” he added. The Riyadh talks aim to form a unified bloc for the potential talks and opposition sources said some progress had been made on the first day. Few details were emerging from the talks but there were no signs of agreement yet on one of the most contentious issues, the fate of Assad. Western- and Arab-backed rebel groups insist the Syrian leader must step down immediately but internal opposition groups disagree, as do Assad’s key backers Tehran and Moscow. Some delegates have nonetheless expressed hope the end result of the talks will be positive, with questions on Assad’s future potentially put off until later. National Coalition chief Khaled Khoja said Wednesday he expected the meeting to agree on “forming a negotiating team and on the principles of negotiations” with Assad’s regime.Not all of Syria’s armed factions are attending the talks, with jihadists such as the Islamic State group and the al-Qaida affiliated al-Nusra Front excluded.
Assad must leave: Saudi
Kurdish fighters have also been excluded and at parallel talks in Syria this week a Kurdish-Arab coalition fighting IS in northern Syria announced the creation of a political wing called the Syrian Democratic Council (SDF). But groups that include hardline Islamists, such as the Saudi-backed Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) which sent to two delegates, are taking part. Riyadh has been among those calling most strongly for Assad’s departure and on Thursday Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir insisted he must leave. “Bashar Assad has two choices: leave through negotiations, which would be fastest and easiest, or he will be removed by force, because the Syrian people refuse for this man to be allowed to stay in power,” Jubeir said. Jubeir’s comments came as leaders from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council held their annual summit in Riyadh. In a declaration after the talks, the Gulf monarchs said they “support a political settlement… that guarantees the territorial integrity and independence of Syria.”The United States will hold further discussions on Syria with Russia and the United Nations in Geneva on Friday. The next meeting between top diplomats in the Vienna process is expected to take place later this month in New York.
Since erupting in mid-2011, the conflict in Syria has left more than 250,000 dead and forced millions from their homes.
