By Peter Clifford © (www.petercliffordonline.com/syria-iraq-news-5/)
SYRIA and IRAQ NEWS
A determined Islamic State this morning, Friday, crossed the Euphrates River and attacked the villages of Tel Ahmer, Zer Kotek and Tel Eber in the south-west of Kobane Canton.
YPJ/YPG Fighters Resting in Kobane
Tel Ahmer lies on a promontory that sticks out into the Euphrates and Zer Kotek is just to the north of Tel Ahmer.
All the villages are around 35 kilometres from Kobane city.
Some reports say that a number of the Asayish (Kurdish security police) have been killed by the attackers in Tel Eber and Zer Kotek and other reports suggested that 10 members of the YPG/FSA combined force had been killed or captured, though this has not been confirmed.
Latest information received Friday lunchtime says that fighting is still ongoing in Tel Eber and Tel Ahmer and 8 YPG/FSA have been killed, though further clarification awaited.
However, what is clear is that this must be a suicidal mission to try and distract the YPG/FSA force from its attack to the south on Sarrin.
Latest information say that Kurdish units have moved swiftly to isolate the IS Jihadists, who have no back-up, and repel their advance.
This is not the first attempt by IS to cross the Euphrates this week. Earlier, the YPG and FSA repelled an IS boat attack near the broken Qara Qwazak bridge which was preceded by Islamic State shelling of the Kurdish positions on the eastern bank of the river, HERE:
Another attempt by the Islamic State to cross the Euphrates by boat also failed after 7 x IS Jihadists were killed and 2 captured.
Fighting around Sarrin continues to be very heavy with the Coalition making repeated attacks on IS positions and also striking IS on the west bank of the Euphrates at Jarablous.
At the Grain Silos just north of Sarrin, up to 50 foreign Jihadist snipers with plentiful ammunition are reported to holding out against combined YPG/FSA attacks. This video, published Wednesday, shows the YPG/FSA moving towards the silos, plus airstrikes and Kurdish attacks on IS positions, here:
Coalition airstrikes yesterday, Thursday, are said to have targeted 10 sites in the centre of Sarrin but IS still seem to be receiving reinforcements and supplies from Manbij both by boat and across the Tishreen Dam.
Earlier in the week there were clashes on Tuesday night around the village of Dikan on the southern Kobane Canton front and 10 x IS Jihadists were killed at the cost of one member of the YPG.
Also on Tuesday night a YPG unit attacked an IS convoy near Sarrin, destroying an IS vehicles and a motorcycle and killing 2 members of the Islamic State.
In the early hours of Wednesday, IS attempted an attack on the liberated village of Mitras but after a series of heavy clashes IS retreated, leaving 3 of their number dead.
More and More Children Return to School in Kobane Canton
On the eastern Kobane Canton Front it has also just been reported that the YPG have captured Agbash, just 25 kilometres west of the IS stronghold of Tel Abayd.
US Central Command (Centcom) reports 6 airstrikes in Kobane Canton on Tuesday through to Wednesday morning destroying no less than 14 x IS fighting positions and an IS vehicle, and hitting another 5 x IS tactical units.
During the same time span, the Coalition also destroyed a further 5 x IS fighting positions and an IS vehicle in Hasakah province and hit another tactical unit.
On Wednesday this week through to Thursday, there were 4 Coalition airstrikes in Kobane Canton, destroying 2 x IS fighting positions and hitting 4 more tactical units.
Another 3 x IS fighting positions were destroyed in Hasakah province and one more tactical unit hit.
Back in Kobane city, the Kurdish Peshmerga have announced that they have come to the end of their mission in the Canton to support the YPG and will return to Iraqi Kurdistan next week.
And signs that Kobane city is returning to some sort of normality can be seen in the video below. More and more children are beginning to enjoy school once again, which the teachers see as a very good way of keeping them away during the day from areas of the city still full of unexploded IS bombs and booby-traps, here:
It has also been announced that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has asked its members to support the reconstruction of Kobane. (EDITOR: We will see what happens!)
Recent maps from @ChuckPfarrer show the Islamic State’s attempts to get across the Euphrates, here:
SW Kobane Canton Situation Map 23.04.15
In Cizire, the eastern Kurdish Canton in Syria, there has been continued heavy fighting in the southern sector near Tel Tamer in the villages of Tel Nasri and Tel Hafean. One IS fighter was killed at Tel Hafean.
There were also clashes around the town of Tel Barrek, with reports that some YPG fighters had been killed. A mine also exploded near Tel Tamer, killing 2 more people and an IED exploded in Al- Jawadiyyi injuring a member of the Kurdish security force, Asayish.
OPPOSITION FORCES AIM TO CUT LAST REMAINING ASSAD CORRIDOR INTO IDLIB PROVINCE
The huge Opposition attacks across Idlib and Hama provinces seem to be making progress.
With a force of between 10,000 and 13,000 men, the Opposition grouping, made up of the Al Nusra Front (ANF), various Islamic factions and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) is successfully attacking the Assad regime along a front that stretches around 100 kilometres.
Opposition Fighters Firing Mortars at Qarmeed Army Base
The regime territory now under extreme pressure stretches south of Ilib city from Ariha in the east westwards to Jisr Al-Shughur and then down to Hama province’s Al-Ghab plain that goes all the way to Assad’s supposed “stronghold” in Lattakia.
The Opposition fighters have been focussing their attention on the regime’s bases at Mastouma and Qarmeed and the Sunni town of Jisr Al-Shughur where they know they have a lot of sympathisers.
Latest reports today, Friday, suggest that the Opposition have taken control of Tel Hamakah, which if true, means they have almost cut the M4 highway west of Mastouma and the Qarmeed army base and brick factory, effectively isolating them both from Idlib and Ariha and both routes north and routes west and south to Latakia and Damascus.
A report of 30 + air attacks on the Hamakah area this morning alone indicates that the reports may well be true.
Friday evening, Assad regime sources were claiming that that they had retaken Hamakah hill after hitting it with 44 airstrikes and multiple rocket attacks – though this also is yet to be confirmed.
Ariha, was supposed to be the Assad regime’s jumping off point to “retake” Idlib city just 10 kilometres to the north.
According to reports on Thursday, Opposition fighters had captured 5 Government checkpoints near the Qarmeed base and killed pro-Assad fighters and destroyed a tank south of the Mastouma, where the Army houses at present it’s largest concentration of troops in Idlib province.
Opposition Objective is to Severe Regime Corridor Here
Opposition fighters also entered the strategic town of Jisr al-Shughur yesterday, destroying a number of Assad checkpoints on the way and are said to be fighting at the central roundabout. In this footage ANF are hitting the town with a 57mm truck mounted gun, HERE:
The Opposition approached Jisr Al-Shughur from the north and quickly seized the Zelito, Saqiya, and Ain Al-Sabeel checkpoints outside the town, capturing three soldiers. Ain Al-Sabeel checkpoint was destroyed with a rigged BMP armoured vehicle, the “operative returning safely after the vehicle was parked”, according to an ANF statement.
An Opposition T-55 tank fires at a regime BMP armoured vehicle, HERE:
This incredible shot at an Assad barrier near Jisr Al-Shughur seems to eliminate 2 vehicles at once, HERE: while an Opposition tank pounds the “Sugar Company” army base south-east of Jisr, HERE:
This is footage from near Jisr Al-Shughur this morning, Friday, HERE:
Assad’s Air Force is hitting the whole front with dozens of missiles and bombs to try and stem the Opposition advance, but so far with no effect. 30 + blasts are said to have hit Opposition positions near Jisr Al-Shughur this morning alone.
The fighting on the Ghab Plain is mainly led by a coalition of Islamist and FSA groups. A vehicle bomb was detonated at Sarmaniyah and Assad’s checkpoints are under attack along the whole of a 63 kilometre stretch of plain against the coastal mountain range separating it from Lattakia province.
Heavy fighting can be seen and heard on the Ghab Plain yesterday, HERE:
Altogether 45 Opposition groups are said to be involved in the current 3-pronged assault on Assad’s military. The Syrian state media, SANA, is making no mention of any of this today, Friday, though did claim that its military had killed “scores of terrorists” in Idlib province yesterday.
Assad Corridor Through Idlib Province Now Under Extreme Attack
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