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State of the Battle: ISIS Detonates Suicide Car Bombs in Qamishli
Early this week, a car bomb detonated near a paramilitary building in a Kurdish-majority village in northeast Hassekeh province.
In-depth
ISIS
Exploring the emergence and continuity of the so-called Islamic State in Syria and the implications of the militant group’s activities on the international stage.
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State of the Regime: Two Major Offensives, Oil Fields in Rebel Hands
This week, the Syrian army secured the much-contested area of Qalamoun near the main highway between Homs and Damascus.
- ISIS
- Opposition Groups & Rebel Forces
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Rebels Consolidating Strength in Syria: The Islamic Front
Aaron Y. Zelin
Aaron Y. Zelin
- ISIS
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Why Syria’s Islamic Front is Bad News for Radical Groups
Hassan Hassan
Hassan Hassan
One of the mistakes analysts of the Syrian conflict often make is to assess rebel groups exclusively based on the slogans these organisations use. Many observers already recognise that hard-line Islamist rhetoric is more often than not used to attract funding.
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Q+A: On Foreign Fighters Flowing Into Syria
The flow of foreign fighters to Syria has become a regional concern: the number of fighters from Saudi Arabia, Libya, Tunisia and Iraq has spiked, as groups like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra have consolidated their power and expanded their fighting forces.
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After Four Brits Die in Syria, Questions About Impact of the ‘Western Jihad’
Last week, four British nationals were reported killed while fighting in Syria. The deaths raised questions of exactly how many Western jihad are currently working on the ground with ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other extremist groups.
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Q+A: How Syria’s New Islamic Front Could Change the Game
On Friday, Syria’s six largest Islamist rebel groups declared a new Islamic Front, forming the largest opposition alliance thus far in the conflict. Syria’s rebel fighters have tried to unite before, with dismal results.
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The Death of Abdelqader Saleh
Aron Lund
Freelance Journalist and Analyst Specializing in Syria
Aron Lund Freelance Journalist and Analyst Specializing in Syria
A spokesperson for the Syrian rebels’ Supreme Military Command just confirmed to me that Abdelqader Saleh, the military leader of the Tawhid Brigade in Aleppo, is dead.
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Atheists in Syria’s So-Called Islamic Uprising
Syria Untold
Syria Untold
While the Syrian revolution may have been gradually co-opted by Islamic rhetoric on media outlets, Syrian activist Ayman Ghojal still manages to find a place for his niche atheism.
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Meeting a Returned Tunisian Foreign Fighter from the Syrian Front
Aaron Y. Zelin
Aaron Y. Zelin
In a small town in Nabeul governorate, east of Tunis, on the last day of August 2013, I sat down with a Tunisian that fought in Syria for six months and has since returned home. It was clear that Khalid (not his real name) was uncomfortable talking about his experience.
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Militia’s for Syria’s Brotherhood
Raphaël Lefèvre and Ali El Yassir
Raphaël Lefèvre and Ali El Yassir
The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood has recently become a growing force in Syria, particularly in the armed struggle against the regime. Rumors that the organization has established its own militia started spreading over a year ago, even as its leaders were officially and systematically denying such developments.
- Government & Pro-Government Forces
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Syria’s Multipolar War
Charles Lister and Phillip Smyth
Charles Lister and Phillip Smyth
Notwithstanding some speculation, Syria has become an intensely complex conflict. Militarily, the opposition currently consists of more than 1,000 armed opposition groups as well as dozens of alliances, fronts and joint operations rooms, and pro-government forces are similarly multidimensional.
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Why Suicide Bombs Became ISIS’s New Military Tactic
On Monday, a suicide bomber from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) drove a car laden with 1.5 tons of explosives into a Syrian military checkpoint at the busy eastern entrance to the government-controlled city of Hama.
- ISIS
- Opposition Groups & Rebel Forces
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Rebel Advance in Daraa Raises Jihadist Profile in Southern Syria
Kirk H. Sowell
Kirk H. Sowell
On October 10, the al-Qaida-affiliated jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra announced that it and allied rebels had taken over Daraa al-Balad, the “old town” section of the capital city of Daraa province in southern Syria. .
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Al Qaeda’s Syrian Strategy
Barak Barfi and Aaron Y. Zelin
Barak Barfi and Aaron Y. Zelin
Al Qaeda is storming across northern Syria. Last month, the al Qaeda affiliate the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) captured the city of al-Bab in the northern province of Aleppo from a rival rebel militia.
- ISIS
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Al-Qaida in Syria: Surface Divisions, But a Common Thread
Tarek Aziza
Tarek Aziza
On Thursday, six of the strongest Syrian rebel groups issued a joint statement demanding that al-Qaida branch the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) withdraw from the northern town of Azaz, which borders Turkey.
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Arts + Culture: An Emergency List of Syrian Cultural Objects at Risk
At an event last week at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) officially released the Emergency Red List of Syrian Cultural Objects at Risk.
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The Army of Islam Is Winning in Syria
Hassan Hassan
Hassan Hassan
The situation inside Syria has just gotten a lot more complex.
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Are Young Women Really Racing to Syria’s Front Lines to Wage Sex Jihad?
David Kenner
David Kenner
- ISIS
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Charles Lister: Syrian Militant Islamists Denounce SNC and Form “Islamic Alliance”
Charles Lister
Senior Fellow, Middle East Institute
Charles Lister Senior Fellow, Middle East Institute
In a video issued late on September 24, the chief political leader of Liwa al-Tawhid, Abdulaziz Salameh, speaking on behalf of 12 other Islamist militant groups in Syria, condemned the “unrepresentative” Western-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC) and called explicitly for “an Islamic framework based on sharia [Islamic law].”.
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Rebel vs. Rebel
Hassan Hassan
Hassan Hassan
If the United States wants to move against jihadists in Syria, there has never been a better time. Tensions between moderate rebel groups and extremist forces are coming to a head across the country.
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Syria’s Insurgency Beyond Good Guys and Bad Guys
Charles Lister
Senior Fellow, Middle East Institute
Charles Lister Senior Fellow, Middle East Institute
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told the Senate on September 4 that “bad guys” and “extremists” make up between 15 and 25 percent of the Syrian insurgency. The reality is far more complicated – with enormous significance for the prospect of U.S. military action.
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The Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham’s Messages and Self-Presentation in Syria and Iraq
Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
- ISIS
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Jabhat al-Nusra and Other Islamists Briefly Capture Historic Christian Town of Ma’loula
Matthew Barber
Matthew Barber
Ma’loula (or Maaloula) is one of those unique places you may be lucky to visit—or perhaps were lucky to have visited, were you fortunate enough to have been in Syria before the conflict began.
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Kerry, Seeking Congressional Approval, Goes on PR Blitz
Secretary of State John Kerry is leading a publicity blitz, making the rounds on Capitol Hill and this past weekend’s Sunday shows, to get lawmakers behind President Barack Obama’s call for military intervention in Syria.
- Government & Pro-Government Forces
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9 Questions About Syria You Were Too Embarrassed to Ask
Max Fisher
Max Fisher
The United States and allies are preparing for a possibly imminent series of limited military strikes against Syria, the first direct U.S. intervention in the two-year civil war, in retaliation for President Bashar al-Assad’s suspected use of chemical weapons against civilians.
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Syrian Jihadists’ Hopes and Fears from U.S. Strike
Barak Barfi
Research Fellow, New America Foundation
Barak Barfi Research Fellow, New America Foundation
With the United States poised to strike Syria, the exiled opposition is elated. After more than two years of pleading for international intervention, their supplications have finally been answered. But inside Syria, the mood is less optimistic.
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In Raqqa, Islamist Rebels Form a New Regime
There’s a new sheriff in town in Raqqa, the first of Syria’s provincial capitals to be wrested from Assad’s grip: the al-Qaida affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
- Government & Pro-Government Forces
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Sectarian Divides in Syria Extend Their Reach
Elizabeth Dickinson
Elizabeth Dickinson
KUWAIT CITY / It was about the time summer temperatures started to soar that the startling video began circulating among Shiites in Kuwait.
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Multiple Narratives of Aggression Against Kurds in Syria
Thomas McGee
Thomas McGee
The last week has seen a large output of articles in the international press on clashes between Islamists and Kurdish groups in the Northern regions of Syria.
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War Comes to a Damascus Private School
Nawar Nemeh is a 17-year-old rising senior at San Diego High School in California. Until age 16, he lived in Damascus, fleeing to the U.S. with his family after the war began. At his private school in the Syrian capital, Nemeh watched as the facets of regular teenage life – curfews, social studies lessons and playground dynamics – were transformed by conflict. .
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Syria: The View from the Gulf States
Hassan Hassan
Hassan Hassan
This post originally appeared at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
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Rebels Carry Out Sectarian Cleansing in Eastern Syria
Hassan Hassan
Hassan Hassan
The following post first appeared on Hassan Hassan’s site.
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The Precipitous Rise of Jihad, Inc.
Barak Barfi, New American Foundation
Barak Barfi, New American Foundation
As the international community dithers over intervening in the Syrian civil war, one group has already planted firm roots in the country. The burgeoning al-Qaida affiliate The Support Front for the People of the Levant, known locally as Jabhat al-Nusra, has won the hearts and minds of Syrians with its battlefield heroics and moral probity. .
- Government & Pro-Government Forces
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Three Men in Raqqa Executed in Retaliation for Banias Massacre
Brown Moses
Brown Moses
The following post first appeared at the Brown Moses Blog. .