ISIS Blows Up Gas Pipeline Serving Damascus

ISIS militants blew up a pipeline used to provide natural gas from eastern Syria to the suburbs of the capital Damascus, Agence France-Presse reports.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims ISIS blew up the pipeline near the T-4 military airport in the east of central Homs province.

“This pipeline was used to carry gas into the suburbs of Damascus and Homs to generate electricity and provide heating in individual homes,” said Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman.

While sweeping across Syria, ISIS has seized several oil and gas fields in Homs province, most recently during its offensive on the ancient city of Palmyra after government defense lines collapsed there on May 21.

The pipelines are a key loss to the government at a time when its resources are low and when it has lost territory to rebel alliances including Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province and the Islamic State in the country’s center.

Thousands of Syrians Flee into Turkey as Kurds Battle the Islamic State

Thousands of Syrian refugees fled from Syria into Turkey on Wednesday, escaping clashes between Kurdish YPG fighters and Islamic State militants in the city of Tel Abyad, Reuters reports.

Nearly 2,000 refugees were being registered Wednesday after an estimated 6,800 people were admitted to Turkey last week. Turkey is currently the largest recipient of Syrian refugees in the region, with more than 1.8 million Syrians living there. Nearly 4 million refugees have already left Syria.

The latest wave of refugees crossing into Turkey follows an offensive launched by Kurdish forces backed by U.S. coalition strikes against ISIS that saw the Kurds seize several villages either side of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State.

The Kurds have sought to expand their territorial control over Syria’s northeastern corner stretching from Kobani to Qamishli.

“They aim to wrest control of the Tel Abyad border crossing in order to free up passage from Kobani, on the Turkish frontier, to Qamishli which is close to the Iraqi border,” Agence France-Presse writes.

The northeastern corner of Syria is also of strategic value to ISIS because it connects the area under its control in Syria and Iraq.

Capturing Tel Abyad would also give the group a link between Turkey and its de facto capital in the northern city of Raqqa.

“Since driving Islamic State from Kobani, the Kurdish forces backed by other Syrian armed groups have pursued Islamic State fighters as far their provincial stronghold of Raqqa,” Reuters reports.

U.N. Peace Envoy Extends Syria Peace Talks Until July

The U.N. Syria peace envoy Staffan de Mistura has extended the Syria peace negotiations in Geneva by another month until July, Agence France-Presse reports.

The U.N. launched wide-ranging consultations in Geneva in May with domestic and regional players, including Iran, in a bid to revive stalled talks to end the Syrian conflict.

Following the failure of U.N.-mediated talks between the Syrian government and opposition representatives last year, the U.N.’s Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, said he was planning to hold individual meetings with more than 40 groups over a period of six to eight weeks, and possibly longer.

Jessy Chahine, a U.N. spokesperson, said de Mistura and his deputy had so far met with Syrian government officials, the Syrian opposition coalition and 39 Syrian political and civil society groups. “They have also held 26 meetings with representatives of concerned member states from the Security Council and the region, as well as regional organizations,” she said.

“This process is expected to continue into July,” Chahine added. Iran, a key ally of the Syrian regime, has been invited to the talks despite being excluded from the previous Geneva I and Geneva II peace negotiations.

In May, de Mistura described it as a stock-taking process, saying there would be no big roundtable discussions and that his goal was to find a way to “operationalize” the Geneva Communiqué, a document that set out a plan for a political transition in Syria but left unresolved the future role of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Recommended Reads

• Agence France-Presse: U.N. Extends Syria Negotiations in Geneva Until July
• Reuters: Israeli President Says Syrian Druze Under Threat
• The New York Times: Conflicts in Syria and Region Take Toll on Jordan’s Tourism
• Al Jazeera: Valerie Amos: ‘I Feel a Sense of Shame’
• The Guardian: U.S. Citizen Killed in Syria While Fighting Against ISIS as Part of Kurdish Group
• Agence France-Presse: Norway to Take In 8,000 Syria Refugees in Three Years