2-Mar-2017: Syrian Army recaptures Palmyra

The Syrian army had recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from Islamic State for the second time in a year, with help from allied forces and Russian warplanes.

Islamic State seized Palmyra in a surprise advance in December, after having been driven out eight months before. With backing from the Syrian and Russian air forces, units of armed forces recaptured the city of Palmyra, in cooperation with the allies.

The army and Iranian-backed militia advanced inside Palmyra on Thursday as Islamic State withdrew completely. Islamic State militants retreated to areas in the east. Government forces took control of swathes of Palmyra and conducted combing operations to clear mines on Thursday.

During Islamic State’s first occupation which ended in March last year, the ultra-hardline jihadist group destroyed some of Palmyra’s priceless archaeological heritage. It is believed to have razed other parts of the historical ruins after regaining control in December.

The Syrian army is also fighting Islamic State east of Aleppo city, where it is pushing to reach the Euphrates river, and in the city of Deir al-Zor, where it controls an enclave besieged by the militants.

Islamic State is on the back foot in Syria after losing territory in the north to an alliance of U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led militias, and to Turkey-backed Syrian rebel groups.

Government and opposition delegations are attending U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Geneva, where the government’s chief negotiator hailed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for keeping his promise to retake Palmyra.

The Syrian opposition however declined to congratulate Assad on capturing Palmyra and suggested the sight of the city changing hands again was risible.

1-Mar-2017: All parties committed war crimes in Aleppo - UN

A UN-established commission has issued a damning report on human rights violations in Syria’s war-ravaged Aleppo, accusing both sides to the conflict of committing war crimes.

The commission gathered evidence to confirm witness accounts that the Syrian and Russian governments used prohibited cluster munitions on civilians in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, suggesting the deliberate destruction of hospitals with repeated airstrikes, among other rights violations.

The report looked at violations committed last year between July 21, when the rebel-held part of Aleppo was besieged, and Dec. 22, when Syrian troops and allied forces assumed full control of the city. In perhaps the most damning discovery the commission said that evacuations were a military tactic — not a humanitarian effort.

The report concludes that the six-month siege of the city, “was a stage of unrelenting violence.” It notes that civilians from both sides were left trapped in the eastern part of Aleppo without adequate food or medical supplies as Syrian and Russian forces conducted daily air strikes that killed hundreds and decimated hospitals, schools and markets. The situation was so severe that as civilians tried to flee they were violently forced to stay by armed groups and used as human shields. In the western part of the city, rebel groups would often fire indiscriminately killing and injuring dozens — including women and children.

By early September, pro-Government forces had renewed and secured the siege. Faced with a protracted humanitarian catastrophe, confined armed groups began a concerted campaign of shelling western Aleppo neighborhoods over the next three months.

Attacks were predominantly characterized by indiscriminate, indirect artillery fire into dense urban terrain, often with no apparent legitimate military objective, the effect of which terrorized the inhabitants of western Aleppo city.

Among the commission’s findings is that Russian and Syrian warplanes dropped unguided munitions, known as “dumb bombs,” and that the Syrian government intentionally carried out airstrikes on a humanitarian convoy in the rural outskirts of western Aleppo last September.

The report observed that by using air-delivered munitions with the knowledge that humanitarian workers were operating in the location, Syrian forces committed the war crimes of deliberately attacking humanitarian relief personnel, denial of humanitarian aid, and attacking civilians.

The northern Syrian city of Aleppo was caught in a brutal four-year deadlock. It was a key battleground in the war between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels who want to overthrow him. In November, Syrian government forces launched a renewed assault, and rapidly retook almost all of the opposition-held east. By mid-December they had pushed the rebels into just a few neighbourhoods. Tens of thousands of civilians fled those districts. The UN said it had received allegations that hundreds of men had gone missing since crossing into government-controlled areas – and that rebels prevented some civilians from leaving.

6-Jan-2017: Former Pakistan Army chief Raheel Sharif has been made the head of IMAFT

The Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT),  a 39-nation military coalition created by Saudi Arabia in December 2015 to combat the Islamic State and other groups, currently has 39 members, including Turkey and Malaysia. It is based at a command centre in Riyadh.

The Pakistan government and the army top brass had given their consent for the appointment as retired officers can take up such assignments within two years of stepping down only with the government’s assent.

Pakistan was at the centre of a controversy when Saudi Arabia named it as part of the military alliance without seeking Islamabad’s consent. The government later confirmed its participation in the alliance but has not committed itself to providing troops for any possible operations.

The coalition was envisaged to serve as a platform for security cooperation, including provision of training, equipment and troops, and involvement of religious scholars for dealing with extremism.

The Saudi government had surprised many countries by announcing that it had forged a coalition for coordinating and supporting military operations against terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan.

Iran, Saudi Arabia’s arch-rival for influence in the Arab world, was absent from the states named as participants, as proxy conflicts between the two regional powers rage from Syria to Yemen.

The coalition includes countries like Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Sudan, Malaysia, Egypt, Yemen among others.