Islamist-Kurdish Fighting Spreads in Rebel-Held Syria

[Comrade Grumpy]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Clashes between Islamist rebel forces and Kurdish militias spread to a second Syrian province on Saturday, activists said, as factional tensions rose in the north of the country.

The fighting is further evidence that the 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's rule has splintered into turf wars that have little to do with ousting him and highlight the risk of regionalized conflicts that could have an impact on neighboring countries.

The new round of fighting broke out in Tel Abyad, a border town near Turkey in the rebel-held Raqqa province. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said clashes began after Kurdish militias in the area discovered fighters from an al Qaeda-linked rebel group trying to rig one of their bases with explosives.

The Kurds retaliated by kidnapping several fighters, including the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham, one of the most powerful Qaeda-affiliated forces fighting in Syria.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/20/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE96J06D20130720

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. "Kurds Capture Jihadist Commander in North Syria: NGO"

[link:http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/07/20/kurds-capture-jihadist-commander-in-north-syria-ngo/]

BEIRUT (AFP) – Syrian Kurdish fighters in the north fought fierce battles against jihadists and captured a commander of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) late Saturday, a monitoring group said.

"Battles pitting fighters from the Kurdish Fighters brigade against ISIS and other groups are raging on in several areas of Tal Abyad in Raqa province, after (Kurdish) fighters captured ISIS' emir in the town," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP the emir's nom-de-guerre is Abu Musab, though it was unclear whether he is Syrian or foreign.

The development comes just days after fighters loyal to the Committees for the Protection of the Kurdish People (YPG) expelled Al-Nusra Front and ISIS from the strategic Kurdish town of Ras al-Ain in Hasake province.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/07/20/kurds-capture-jihadist-commander-in-north-syria-ngo/#ixzz2ZeTYuTtW

[quadrature]

2. whose side are we on? .nt

[bemildred]

3. And how many sides are there anyway?

I'm starting to run out of fingers.

[pscot]

5. It doesn't matter

If we go in they'll all discover common ground.

[bemildred]

6. Yep, no doubt we can bring them all together for a while ...

And no doubt the defense business will rake it in as usual. Let the good times roll.

[Eugene]

4. Syrian Islamist rebel leader freed after clashes among rival rebels

Source: Reuters

Syrian Islamist rebel leader freed after clashes among rival rebels

By Erika Solomon
BEIRUT | Sun Jul 21, 2013 11:42am EDT

(Reuters) - The local commander of a Syrian rebel group affiliated to al Qaeda was freed on Sunday after being held by Kurdish forces during a power struggle between rival organizations fighting President Bashar al-Assad, activists said.

However, the pro-opposition activists gave conflicting reports of how the Islamist brigade commander in the Syrian town of Tel Abyad near the Turkish border had come to be free.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamist rebels had exchanged 300 Kurdish residents they had kidnapped for the local head of their group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS). Other activist groups challenged this account, saying Islamist fighters had freed Abu Musaab by force, with no Kurdish hostages released.

Sporadic fighting over the past five days in towns near the frontier with Turkey has signaled the struggle as Islamists try to cement their control of rebel zones while Kurds assert their autonomy in mostly Kurdish areas.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/21/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE96J06D20130721