Saudi to Abandon Support for Syrian Rebels if Iran, Hezbollah Withdraw

Saudi Arabia has promised to abandon its support for anti-Assad rebel groups in Syria in exchange for Iran and Hezbollah – the Lebanese political group fighting alongside the Syrian government – withdrawing their fighters from the country, according to Arabic-language reports cited by Middle East Eye.

The Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper quoted unnamed Saudi officials who said they would “do anything to stop the bloodshed in Syria,” adding that the Syrian intelligence chief visited Riyadh in July to meet Saudi representatives.

That visit happened just three weeks after Saudi defense minister Mohammed bin Salman visited Russia – a staunch ally of Syria and Iran.

The news of Saudi Arabia’s promise to change its role in Syria broke shortly after Agence France-Presse reported that Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir will be visiting Moscow on Tuesday for talks on how to end the Syria crisis.

Increasing Discontent with Assad Government Among Alawites

Protests and dissent rippled throughout the Alawite community in Latakia – President Bashar al-Assad’s historical stronghold – after one of Assad’s cousins used a Kalashnikov assault rifle to fatally shoot a high-ranking officer in the Syrian military during a road rage incident, reports the Telegraph.

Demonstrators marched throughout the city and called for the execution of Suleiman al-Assad, who killed Colonel Hassan al-Sheikh when he failed to allow him passage on the highway.

After eventually overtaking al-Sheikh’s vehicle, Suleiman al-Assad blocked the road and forced him to stop. “He then pointed a Kalashnikov out of the window and shot at us, and that’s when I saw my brother was dead,” al-Sheikh’s brother told the Syria-based Sham FM radio station, according to the Telegraph.

Although they are members of the minority Shia splinter sect the Alawites, the Assad family are enduring an ostensible rise in criticism from their historical support base. In October 2014, Alawite protesters decried government forces’ deadly bombing of a school in Homs, as reported by Al Arabiya at the time.

Rebels Take on ISIS for Key Villages Near Aleppo

The Islamic State battled with several anti-Assad rebel groups, among them Islamists, in strategically located villages situated between Aleppo and its outskirts, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Agence France-Presse on Sunday.

“[ISIS] is trying to seize control of these villages from rebels to cut their supply route between Aleppo city and its outskirts, and the town of Azaz,” the Observatory’s Rami Abdulrahman said.

The villages provide a key supply route from Turkey to Aleppo, a city that is presently divided between government control and opposition forces.

The fighting began on Saturday night when ISIS launched a pair of suicide bombings. By the time it had let up, at least 10 ISIS fighters and another 18 from other rebel groups had died.

ISIS operates in areas across the Middle East, namely in Syria and Iraq, and controls more than half of Syrian territory, the Observatory reported in late May. The areas under ISIS control have endured brutal conditions, including public executions and mass detention of political opponents.

Recommended Reads

• International Business Times: ISIS Targets Christians, Abducts at Least 230 in Homs, Syria: Observatory
• The Telegraph: Russia Backs U.N. Resolution Investigating Syrian Chemical Weapons in Rare Show of Unity
• The Guardian: Syria Burning: ISIS and the Death of the Arab Spring Review – How a Small-Scale Revolt Descended into Hell
• Reuters: U.S., Allies Target Militants in 23 Airstrikes in Syria, Iraq – U.S.
• Al Jazeera: U.S.-Trained Syria Rebels Refusing To Fight
• ABC: Rebels in Syria Move Toward Coastal Stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad
• CNN: Seeking Shelter From Syria’s Civil War