International community needs to intervene to stop Russian bombings:HNC
The main Syrian opposition delegation to the Syria peace talks in Geneva has said that the international community needs to intervene to stop Russian air strikes in Syria.
Russia's air strikes have helped the Syrian government make gains against rebels in various parts of Syria, although Russia has said that it is targeting the IS group and Al-Qaeda. Opposition groups say that the Russian strikes have caused high civilian casualties.
In case you missed it yesterday, here is the full briefing by Operation Inherent Resolve (the U.S.-led campaign against IS) Commanding General Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland on the anti-IS operations in Syria and Iraq.
The Free Syrian Army in Aleppo are calling on the Saudi-backed opposition High Negotiations Committee to insist on a halt to bombardments or withdraw from talks, according to Charles Lister.
The deadly cost of speaking out against IS
Sobering analysis from The Soufan Group in the wake of the January 31 murder of Yemeni cleric Samahan Abdel-Aziz in Aden, two days after he delivered a speech denouncing the IS group and Al-Qaeda.
One of the reasons behind the absence of popular uprisings against the Islamic State is that the group extinguishes potential flames of opposition by quickly killing anyone who could provide the necessary spark. From activists to aid workers to clerics, the Islamic State and like-minded groups ensure that credible voices of opposition are not heard for long.
The Soufan Group notes that IS has carried out execution-style killings -- often public and always brutal -- of its opponents in various areas under its control, including in Mosul and Ramadi in Iraq and in Libya.
More criticism of Russia's actions in Syria tweeted by Gareth Bayley, the UK's Special Representative for Syria.
'If Assad wants peace in Syria, he should lift sieges'
Dr Ahmad Tarakji, President of the Syrian American Medical Society, writes in The Independent this morning that if the Syrian government wants peace, it must lift blockades on rebel-held towns and villages.
Whoever wants peace within the regime should start by lifting the siege on every town from suburban Damascus to suburban Idleb. Going forward and to enforce peace, the UN Security Council should create and enforce an accountability mechanism based on the violations reported by the UN agencies. Besides that, the international community might be able to force ceasefires, but not peace.
Otherwise, if the government sieges are left in place, ceasefire agreements with rebels in besieged towns will be a result of "starving communities to death followed by forceful displacement of civilians," Tarakji writes.
The main Syrian opposition group, the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee, has called on the UN to enforce a Security Resolution that called for an end to the sieges as well as bombardments.
Carpet bombing IS against 'our values,' U.S. general says
A commander of the U.S.-led coalition against the IS group in Syria and Iraq has dismissed calls from Texas Senator and U.S. presidential hopeful Ted Cruz that it should carpet-bomb the militants, AFP reports.
Baghdad-based Lieut, Gen. Sean MacFarland told reporters that the coalition is "bound by the laws of armed conflict."
"Indiscriminate bombing where we don't care if we are killing innocents or combatants is just inconsistent with our values," MacFarland added.
Unanswered questions a year after IS burned Jordanian pilot alive
Middle East Eye has spoken with the family of Muath al-Kasasbeh, the Jordanian pilot whom IS militants burned alive in a cage after his plane was downed over Syria on December 24, 2014.
Kasasbeh's family still get phone calls from people who claim that the pilot is still alive.
While his family don't believe these claims, "the precise circumstances surrounding his death are not clear."
In his murder video, Kasasbeh said he was ejected from his aircraft after it was hit by anti-aircraft fire. There were also claims the plane was hit by a heat-seeking missile, but Jordanian and US authorities insisted the IS group didn’t – and still doesn’t – have the capability to shoot a plane out of the sky.
“Everything is foggy. Nothing is clear. The coalition gave us a different explanation than Jordan did, then the US gave us a different explanation, and IS claims they shot down the airplane,” said Jawad [al-Kasasbeh, al-Kasasbeh's older brother].
“There must be a reason the plane came down. Muath was a professional pilot. I don’t know who shot it down, but I am sure it wasn’t IS.”
IS pushed back in Syria, Iraq but a threat in Libya: Kerry
IS is being pushed back in Syria and Iraq but is threatening Libya, where it could steal the country's oil wealth, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at a meeting in Rome of 23 countries involved in the fight against the IS group this morning.
Reuters reports:
"In Libya, we are on the brink of getting a government of national unity," Kerry told the Rome conference. "That country has resources. The last thing in the world you want is a false caliphate with access to billions of dollars of oil revenue."