Turkish Prime Minister Crosses into Syria to Visit Ottoman Tomb

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu briefly crossed into Syrian territory to visit the historic tomb of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, the BBC reports.

Suleyman Shah’s tomb – which Turkey considers its sovereign territory – was originally located further inside Syria, but was relocated in a covert Turkish military operation in February over concern that the Islamic State would destroy it.

The relocation of the tomb, which involved tanks, drones and reconnaissance planes, as well as several hundred ground troops, was the first incursion by Turkish troops into Syria since the start of the conflict.

The Syrian government condemned what it described as Davutoglu’s “infiltration” without its permission.

“The infiltration of Davutoglu inside Syrian territory without the agreement of the Syrian government is a clear aggression on a country with sovereignty, and a breach of laws and international accords,” said the Syrian government in a statement released on the state news agency SANA.

Davutoglu made the trip over the border shortly before addressing campaign rallies in the southern cities of Sanliurfa and Adana for a June general election.

“I bring you the salutations of Suleyman Shah, the leader of our revival,” he told the Sanliurfa rally. “Our red flag will fly over Suleyman Shah forever.”

Turkey, a NATO member with a 900km border with Syria, is a vocal opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and has refused to take a front-line military role in the U.S.-led coalition strikes against the Islamic State, arguing that the aim should be fighting Assad’s forces, not just bombing Islamic State militants.

Syrian Rebels Storm Besieged Hospital Near Idlib

Syrian rebel groups including supporters of Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria, on Sunday stormed the National Hospital in Jisr al-Shughour, where some 250 regime forces have been trapped for two weeks, AFP reports.

“The fighters this morning stormed the hospital complex on the southwestern edge of Jisr al-Shughour,” Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP. “They entered one of the buildings and are engaged in heavy fighting with soldiers inside the complex.”

The offensive comes after Jabhat al-Nusra claimed responsibility for a daytime suicide bomb attack, prompting a round of fierce fighting inside the hospital and also outside Jisr al-Shughour that claimed the lives of at least 39 opposition fighters and dozens of army troops.

Regime aircraft pounded the perimeter of the complex and nearby areas of Idlib province with “at least 33” airstrikes as army troops and paramilitaries advanced in a bid to break the siege, the Observatory reports.

Among the 250 people trapped inside the hospital are around 150 regime troops, including “high-ranking officers,” as well as family members and some civil servants.

Government forces began their counteroffensive to reach the hospital and relieve the siege on Wednesday, as President Bashar al-Assad acknowledged what he said were recent “setbacks” in the war against insurgents trying to topple him, vowing that those in the hospital would be rescued soon.

A coalition of groups calling itself Conquest Army – an alliance of Islamist groups including Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham – has been working collectively to erode Assad’s front. The alliance took the city of Idlib and the strategic town of Jisr al-Shughour in the past two months.

Weapons Inspectors Find Traces of Chemical Weapons Precursors in Syria

Inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have found traces of the chemical precursors used to make the nerve agents sarin and VX at a military research site in Syria that had not been previously declared to the global chemical weapons watchdog, Reuters reports.

Syria joined the OPCW in 2013 and agreed to destroy its entire chemical weapon stockpile after hundreds of people were killed in a sarin gas attack in eastern Ghouta.

Since then, its 1,300-ton chemical weapon stockpile has been destroyed, though some council members worry that the Syrian government did not declare everything it held.

“The finding of VX and sarin supports assertions by Western governments that Assad withheld some of his stockpile, or did not disclose the full extent of Syria’s chemical capability or arsenal to the OPCW,” Reuters writes.

“This is a pretty strong indication they have been lying about what they did with sarin,” one diplomatic source told Reuters. “They have so far been unable to give a satisfactory explanation about this finding.”

Syria has denied accusations that it used sarin or any other chemical weapons in battle during Syria’s conflict.

However the OPCW, which is not mandated to assign blame, said chlorine has been used “systematically and repeatedly” as a weapon in Syria after Syria handed over its declared toxic stockpile.

Recommended Reads:

• Associated Press: In Syrian Civil War, AP Journalists Gain Rare Glimpse as Hezbollah Fights for Mountain Range
• Al Monitor: Syria’s Last Bookstores
• The Independent: Syria Conflict: With the Men Away Fighting, Women Take the Mantle of Community Leaders in – – Lebanon’s Refugee Camps
• Reuters: Exclusive: Weapons Inspectors Find Undeclared Sarin and VX Traces in Syria – Diplomats