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07-01-2016, 04:12 AM
70 fighters killed in **rth of Aleppo attack
AMMAN: Syrian President Bashar al Assad said in an interview to be broadcast on Friday that Western countries had sent security officials to help his government covertly in fighting Islamist militants involved in Syria’s war.
Assad, in remarks to Australia’s SBS News channel that were carried by Syrian state media, said Western states - who are strongly opposed to his rule but also face the threat of Islamist attacks at home - were secretly cooperating with his government in counter-terrorism operations.
"They attack us politically and then they send officials to deal with us under the table, especially the security, including your (the Australian) government," Assad was quoted as saying.
"They don’t want to upset the United States. Actually most of the Western officials, they only repeat what the United States want them to say. This is the reality," he said.
There was ** immediate comment from Western governments. Western powers have supported rebels fighting to overthrow Assad in a civil war **w in its sixth year, and have called for him to step down to ease a future democratic transition.
He has refused, vowing to fight on until Damascus regains control of all of Syria. His main allies have been Russia and Iran.
Among Assad’s foes in the conflict are Islamist militant groups with which radicalised European Muslims have trained and taken part in fighting before, in some cases, returning to Europe to carry out attacks.
The New Syrian Army has ** more than 150 fighters, according to Charles Lister, a Syria analyst at the Middle East Institute.
The Pentagon says about 100 of them have been through its train-and-equip programme, which aims to turn them into special forces.
"On a fighter-by-fighter basis, the US has invested in the New Syrian Army more than any other counter-ISIS force," Lister told AFP, using a**ther acronym for IS.
The group’s offensives are supported by international air strikes commanded by Washington, which considers it a "partner opposition force".
Syrian rebel commanders told The Times this month that British special forces were working with the group at its base in Al-Tanaf -- a claim its commanders denied.
The group does coordinate its operations with Iraqi counter-terrorism forces, which are trying to oust IS from Al-Qaim, a nearby town on the Iraqi side of the border.
Its efforts may be hindered by the Assad regime’s allies. In mid-June, Washington condemned an alleged Russian air strike against the group’s headquarters in Al-Tanaf -- a claim Moscow denies.
Meanwhile, at least 70 regime and rebel fighters have been killed in 24 hours in a government assault and a jihadist-led counterattack in **rthern Syria, a monitor said on Thursday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 30 regime soldiers and 39 rebel fighters had been killed in battles around Al-Maleh, **rth of Aleppo, since Wednesday after**on.
Jihadists fighting for the Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, were also killed, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman, who did **t provide a precise number.
The government of President Bashar al-Assad has been attempting to seize Al-Maleh for more than two years.
His forces have been trying for months to surround Aleppo by cutting supply lines between rebel-held districts of the city and nearby Turkey, which supports opposition forces.
For nearly a week, regime troops backed by Syrian and Russian warplanes have been battling for control of Al-Maleh.
Assad’s regime is also attempting to cut the Castello Road, a key supply route from the Turkish border to rebel-held eastern suburbs of Aleppo. The pro-regime website Al-Masdar News reported that the Syrian army withdrew from the farms of Al-Maleh as they faced a rebel counter-offensive led by the Al-Nusra Front.
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AMMAN: Syrian President Bashar al Assad said in an interview to be broadcast on Friday that Western countries had sent security officials to help his government covertly in fighting Islamist militants involved in Syria’s war.
Assad, in remarks to Australia’s SBS News channel that were carried by Syrian state media, said Western states - who are strongly opposed to his rule but also face the threat of Islamist attacks at home - were secretly cooperating with his government in counter-terrorism operations.
"They attack us politically and then they send officials to deal with us under the table, especially the security, including your (the Australian) government," Assad was quoted as saying.
"They don’t want to upset the United States. Actually most of the Western officials, they only repeat what the United States want them to say. This is the reality," he said.
There was ** immediate comment from Western governments. Western powers have supported rebels fighting to overthrow Assad in a civil war **w in its sixth year, and have called for him to step down to ease a future democratic transition.
He has refused, vowing to fight on until Damascus regains control of all of Syria. His main allies have been Russia and Iran.
Among Assad’s foes in the conflict are Islamist militant groups with which radicalised European Muslims have trained and taken part in fighting before, in some cases, returning to Europe to carry out attacks.
The New Syrian Army has ** more than 150 fighters, according to Charles Lister, a Syria analyst at the Middle East Institute.
The Pentagon says about 100 of them have been through its train-and-equip programme, which aims to turn them into special forces.
"On a fighter-by-fighter basis, the US has invested in the New Syrian Army more than any other counter-ISIS force," Lister told AFP, using a**ther acronym for IS.
The group’s offensives are supported by international air strikes commanded by Washington, which considers it a "partner opposition force".
Syrian rebel commanders told The Times this month that British special forces were working with the group at its base in Al-Tanaf -- a claim its commanders denied.
The group does coordinate its operations with Iraqi counter-terrorism forces, which are trying to oust IS from Al-Qaim, a nearby town on the Iraqi side of the border.
Its efforts may be hindered by the Assad regime’s allies. In mid-June, Washington condemned an alleged Russian air strike against the group’s headquarters in Al-Tanaf -- a claim Moscow denies.
Meanwhile, at least 70 regime and rebel fighters have been killed in 24 hours in a government assault and a jihadist-led counterattack in **rthern Syria, a monitor said on Thursday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 30 regime soldiers and 39 rebel fighters had been killed in battles around Al-Maleh, **rth of Aleppo, since Wednesday after**on.
Jihadists fighting for the Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, were also killed, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman, who did **t provide a precise number.
The government of President Bashar al-Assad has been attempting to seize Al-Maleh for more than two years.
His forces have been trying for months to surround Aleppo by cutting supply lines between rebel-held districts of the city and nearby Turkey, which supports opposition forces.
For nearly a week, regime troops backed by Syrian and Russian warplanes have been battling for control of Al-Maleh.
Assad’s regime is also attempting to cut the Castello Road, a key supply route from the Turkish border to rebel-held eastern suburbs of Aleppo. The pro-regime website Al-Masdar News reported that the Syrian army withdrew from the farms of Al-Maleh as they faced a rebel counter-offensive led by the Al-Nusra Front.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/World-TheNewsInternational/~4/b2Lu9SdBal8
أكثر... (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/World-TheNewsInternational/~3/b2Lu9SdBal8/132020-West-cooperating-secretly-with-Damascus-against-militants-says-Assad)