ISIS Takes a Kurdish Village in Syria as Car Bombs Kill Dozens in Homs
The New York Times reports that as militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) arrived in a Kurdish village in Syria on Wednesday, just across the Turkish border, car bombs killed at least 45 in a separate attack on the western city of Homs, where the Sunni extremist group recently increased its presence.
“There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombings. Video posted online showed people running and shrieking amid black smoke, and sidewalks littered with body parts, before a second explosion went off,” the paper writes.
“The bombs struck near an elementary school in Akrama, a district that is home to many government supporters and has been targeted before by jihadist groups like the Nusra Front. Militants from the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, have recently increased their presence in Homs Province as well.”
Meanwhile, the AP reports that the second blast went off “as screaming parents frantically searched for their sons and daughters in a street littered with school bags and body parts.
“Syrian children are frequently among the victims of attacks in the country’s civil war, but on Wednesday they appear to have been the target. The first vehicle exploded as children were leaving school, and the second struck as adults carried away bodies, sending a new wave of panic through the crowd.
“The attack occurred outside the Ekremah al-Makhzoumi elementary school in a government-controlled area of the central city of Homs dominated by minority Alawites.”
And Reuters reports that as the intense fighting for Kobani reaches the Turkish border, pressure has “piled” on the NATO member “to play a greater role in the U.S.-led military coalition carrying out air strikes against the insurgents in Syria and Iraq.
“The militants are encroaching on the tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the Ottoman Empire’s founder, which lies in northern Syria but which Ankara considers sovereign territory. [Turkey] has made clear it will defend the mausoleum.”
U.N. Mission on Chemical Weapons in Syria Is Closed
The U.N. said in a statement that its joint mission to oversee the destruction of the Syrian government’s chemical weapons cache “has completed its mission and been shut down.”
“The work of the Joint Mission has been vital to the success of international efforts to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons program,” said OPCW Director-General, Ahmet Üzümcü. He called the Joint Mission “an excellent example of how practical cooperation between international organizations can achieve tangible results in disarmament.”
“In a statement from his spokesperson, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag, as well as all the staff members from both the UN and the OPCW ‘who have worked under difficult and often dangerous conditions’ to eliminate the declared chemical weapons in Syria.”