ISIL PUSHES FOWARD ON BESIEGED SYRIAN TOWN
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant is continuing to push its attempts to control a key Syrian border town despite resistance from local fighters and US-led air attacks.
Fighting raged on Saturday between ISIL and Kurdish fighters in Kobane, with artillery fire pounding the southwestern areas, a day after ISIL fired at least 80 mortar rounds into the town and advanced to its outskirts.
Al Jazeera's correspondent Bernard Smith said he could hear artillery bursts and gunfire from his position in Suruc in Turkey, about 6km from Kobane.
Another Al Jazeera correspondent reported that ISIL on Friday night attempted four times to storm the town from the east side, but US-led air attacks stopped the advances and killed dozens of its fighters.
Source: Al Jazeera...More...
SYRIAN GIRL STONED TO DEATH FOR USING FACEBOOK ACCOUNT?
RAKKA, Syria: - A young girl was
stoned to death by sunni-militant groups in Syria for operating Facebook account.
Fatoum Al-Jassem was taken to a
Sharia court after she was caught using the social networking website, in
Rakka, Syria. The Sharia court declared that using a Facebook account amounts
to adultery and the girl should be punished by stoning, according to a news
report published in Iran’s FARS news agency which quoted a report published in
Arabic-language Al-Rai Al-Youm.
The members of the Al- Qaeda group in Iraq, also known as Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were behind the incident. The ISIS, or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is an hardline Islamic group present in Iraq. They have been fighting an active war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria
The group's ideology is based on
extremely strict interpretation of Islam. Ironically, the Al-Nusra Front
operates a Facebook account of its own.
Source: Agency
IRAN PRESIDENT POINTS TO CHEMICAL WEAPONS USE IN SYRIA?
TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian President Hassan Rowhani on
Saturday pointed to the use of chemical weapons in Syria, three days they
allegedly killed hundreds of people in attacks near Damascus.
Syria's main opposition group, the National Coalition, accused the
government of "massacring" more than 1,300 people in chemical weapons
attacks on Wednesday.
"The situation prevailing in Syria today and the death of a certain
number of innocent people caused by chemical weapons is very distressing,"
Rowhani said, according to a government website.
Rowhani added that Iran, itself a victim of chemical attacks in its
1980-1988 war with Iraq, "totally and vigorously condemned the use of
chemical weapons".
During the conflict, chemical strikes by the Iraqi armed forces killed
thousands of Iranians, particularly in civilian areas.
"The Islamic republic of Iran, which was the victim of chemical
weapons, asks the international community to do everything to stop the use of
these weapons anywhere in the world," Rowhani said.
The president did not say who might be responsible for the use of chemical
weapons, but Iran's foreign ministry rejected claims the Syrian regime, its
chief regional ally, had deployed chemical weapons, saying if such an attack
were proven rebels would be responsible.
Source: AFP
US SUSPECTS SYRIA USED CHEMICAL WEAPONS
The US has said that Syria has likely used chemical weapons against rebel forces on a "small scale," but emphasised intelligence services were still not 100 percent sure.
US spy agencies have investigated reports from Syrian opposition groups that President Bashar al-Assad's forces have used sarin gas on at least two occasions during the two-year-old conflict.
"Our intelligence community does assess with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria," Caitlin Hayden, a US National Security Council spokesperson, said on Thursday.
The assessment, which she said was based in part on "physiological samples", points to the possible use of sarin, a man-made nerve agent used in two attacks in Japan in the 1990s.
It can cause convulsions, respiratory failure and death.
Hayden however warned the chain of custody of the weapons was "not clear, so we cannot confirm how the exposure occurred and under what conditions".
Source: Al Jazeera
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