The al-Qaeda-linked Islamist State of Iraq and the Levant executed dozens of rival Islamists over the last two days as the group recaptured most territory it had lost in the northeastern Syrian province of Raqqa, activists said on Sunday.
One of the activists, who spoke from the province on condition of anonymity, said up to 100 fighters from the Nusra Front, another al Qaeda affiliate, and the Ahrar al-Sham brigade, captured by ISIL in the town of Tel Abyadon the border with Turkey, the nearby area of Qantari and the provincial capital city of Raqqa, were shot dead.
"About 70 bodies, most shot in the head, were collected and sent to the Raqqa National hospital," the activist said.
"Many of those executed had been wounded in the fighting. The fact that Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham are ideologically similar to the ISIL did not matter," he added.
Among those reportedly executed on the weekend was Abu Saad al-Hadram, Nusra Front's commander forRaqqa province who was captured several months ago as tension mounted between the foreign-led ISIL and the more home-grown Nusra.
In Raqqa, the only provincial capital under rebel control, activists said ISIL fighters battled remnants of rival Islamist units including the Nusra Front in several neighbourhoods.
To the north, ISIL recaptured the town of Tel Abyad on the border with Turkey over the weekend.
Abdallah Farraj, a member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition from Raqqa, said rebels had been able to expel ISIL from parts of the neighbouring Aleppo province, but it would be hard to shake ISIL's hold on Raqqaand rural areas along key supply lines across the north.
"The rebels lack the organisation and the firepower to win. It will be difficult to defeat ISIL without military strikes from someone like Turkey," he said.
Abu Khaled al-Walid, an activist speaking from the border area, said many fighters from Ahrar al-Sham, one of the most powerful Islamist groups, chose not to confront ISIL because the combatants were local people with little enmity for each other.
"Many did not see a point in fighting their own relatives. ISIL is now in control of 95 percent of Raqqa and its rural environs. Tel Abyad is also back with it," he said.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_01_13/Al-Qaeda-Syria-unit-executes-dozens-of-rival-islamists-5992/
Monday, January 13, 2014
Al Qaeda Syria unit executes dozens of rival Islamists
The al-Qaeda-linked Islamist State of Iraq and the Levant executed dozens of rival Islamists over the last two days as the group recaptured most territory it had lost in the northeastern Syrian province of Raqqa, activists said on Sunday.
One of the activists, who spoke from the province on condition of anonymity, said up to 100 fighters from the Nusra Front, another al Qaeda affiliate, and the Ahrar al-Sham brigade, captured by ISIL in the town of Tel Abyadon the border with Turkey, the nearby area of Qantari and the provincial capital city of Raqqa, were shot dead.
"About 70 bodies, most shot in the head, were collected and sent to the Raqqa National hospital," the activist said.
"Many of those executed had been wounded in the fighting. The fact that Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham are ideologically similar to the ISIL did not matter," he added.
Among those reportedly executed on the weekend was Abu Saad al-Hadram, Nusra Front's commander forRaqqa province who was captured several months ago as tension mounted between the foreign-led ISIL and the more home-grown Nusra.
In Raqqa, the only provincial capital under rebel control, activists said ISIL fighters battled remnants of rival Islamist units including the Nusra Front in several neighbourhoods.
To the north, ISIL recaptured the town of Tel Abyad on the border with Turkey over the weekend.
Abdallah Farraj, a member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition from Raqqa, said rebels had been able to expel ISIL from parts of the neighbouring Aleppo province, but it would be hard to shake ISIL's hold on Raqqaand rural areas along key supply lines across the north.
"The rebels lack the organisation and the firepower to win. It will be difficult to defeat ISIL without military strikes from someone like Turkey," he said.
Abu Khaled al-Walid, an activist speaking from the border area, said many fighters from Ahrar al-Sham, one of the most powerful Islamist groups, chose not to confront ISIL because the combatants were local people with little enmity for each other.
"Many did not see a point in fighting their own relatives. ISIL is now in control of 95 percent of Raqqa and its rural environs. Tel Abyad is also back with it," he said.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_01_13/Al-Qaeda-Syria-unit-executes-dozens-of-rival-islamists-5992/
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