U.S. Launches Renewed Strikes on Khorasan Group in Syria
“The United States launched five airstrikes on Wednesday night against the Khorasan group,” an al Qaida-linked militant faction based in Syria, Reuters reports.
U.S. officials claim the strikes targeted and possibly killed David Drugeon, a French-born militant who is reportedly the bomb maker for ISIS. It is unclear whether Muhsin al-Fahdli, the supposed leader of the group, was a target of the latest U.S. strikes.
According to U.S. Central Command, the latest series of strikes against the Khorasan Group were carried out near Sarmada in Idlib province, close to the Turkish border.
“Syrian Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham said in a statement on Thursday that overnight airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition had killed civilians including women and children and destroyed one of its bases near the Turkish border,” Reuters reports.
Foreign Jihadists Traveling to Syria on Cruise Ships
‘Would-be jihadi fighters are increasingly booking tickets on cruise ships to join extremists in battle zones in Syria and Iraq, hoping to bypass stepped-up efforts to thwart them in neighboring Turkey,’ Interpol officials told the Associated Press.
Turkey’s porous border has been a passage for thousands of foreign fighters seeking to join extremist groups like ISIS. Turkish authorities have stepped up efforts to stem the flow in recent months.
“Because they know the airports are monitored more closely now, there’s a use of cruise ships to travel to those areas,” Pierre St. Hilaire, director of counterterrorism at Interpol told the AP on Thursday.
Around 16,000 foreign fighters have traveled to Syria from over 80 countries according to top U.S. and British counterterrorism officials.
U.N. Security Council Hears Plan to Destroy Remaining Syrian Chemical Stockpile
“The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons [OPCW] is in the Syrian capital of Damascus this week to sort out the plan for the destruction of 12 facilities used to make chemical weapons,” CNN reports.
In October, the OPCW informed the Security Council that Syria had failed to disclose four chemical weapons sites, including one production facility, prompting fears that the remaining chemical weapons could fall in the hands of Jihadist groups.
Plans to destroy seven hangars and five underground tunnels will begin later this month and are expected to be finished by the summer of 2015.
The team in Damascus is also looking into plans to destroy these chemical weapons facilities, including the ricin production facility.
An estimated 98% of Syria’s chemical weapons have been removed from the country, amounting to more than 1,300 tons destroyed.
The Syrian government agreed to eliminate its chemical weapons program after a sarin gas attack in August 2013 killed nearly 1,000 people in the rebel stronghold of eastern Ghouta.
Syria Asks Russia to Speed up Delivery of Anti-Aircraft Missiles
“Syria has asked Russia to speed up delivery of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, concerned about a possible U.S. attack, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said in an interview Thursday, cited by the Daily Star.
“We do not know how Obama will act under mounting pressure, and the pressure will only increase if the Republicans achieve a majority in the U.S. midterm elections, so we have to prepare ourselves,” he said.
Muallem confirmed that he was expecting S-300 anti-aircraft missiles and other advanced weapons to be delivered from Russia soon.
Last September Vladimir Putin said the delivery of the “weapons was suspended” without indicating why.
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