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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 7 February 2017

Syrian rebels and insurgents battle in split over peace push

Assad’s forces. played no significant role in offices in Idlib province
At the root of the infighting Astana. belonging to one of the
is a call that came at the The Fatah al-Sham Front, rebel groups that had sent
end of the peace talks last previously called the Nusra representatives to Astana,
month in the Kazakh capi- Front, has been excluded the U.S.-backed Jaish al-
tal of Astana. Russia, Turkey from all negotiations and Mujadeen, and hours later,
and Iran — sponsors of the cease-fires, along with the forced its fighters to surren-
gathering — urged Syria’s Islamic State group — both der.
rebels to dissociate them- considered by the interna- “Al-Qaida has been wag-
selves from al-Qaida’s affili- tional community to be ter- ing a campaign to side-
ate in Syria, now known as rorist organizations. line and ultimately elimi-
the Fatah al-Sham Front. For the rebels, however, the nate moderate opposition
The Astana meeting was exclusion of al-Qaida’s affil- groups since it entered Syr-
In this photo posted on March 28, 2015, a fighter from Syria’s
al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front holds his group flag as he stands in designed to pave the way iate is a sore point as many ia,” said Jennifer Cafarella
front of the governor building in Idlib province, north Syria. Syr- for political talks to be held groups have close links with of the Washington-based
ia’s rebel groups and insurgents trying to oust President Bashar in Geneva in late February it on the ground, perceiv- Institute for the Study of
Assad have turned their guns on each other in some of the worst but it also marked a new ing it to be the most pow- War.
infighting yet, with al-Qaida-linked fighters battling other fac- push in efforts to resolve erful force against Assad’s Al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syr-
tions in a split between supporters and opponents of the Rus- Syria’s conflict, with Rus- army and allied militiamen. ia, which lost many senior
sian-led push for a new peace process for the country. sia and Iran, Assad’s main Fatah al-Sham signaled its leaders in targeted assas-
(Al-Nusra Front Twitter page via AP)
supporters, and Turkey, determination to fight back sinations in recent months,
BASSEM MROUE new peace process for the the rebels’ chief backer, — even as the rebels were had accused Jaish al-Mu-
Associated Press war-torn country. pledging to put their influ- still sitting at the table in As- jahdeen of giving the U.S.-
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s ragtag The clashes — mainly in ence behind the truce. The tana. led coalition intelligence on
rebel groups and insurgents opposition-held areas in United States, busy with On Jan. 23, Fatah al-Sham the location of their com-
trying to oust President northern Syria — have led the presidential transition, fighters surrounded the manders and top figures.q
Bashar Assad have turned to the formation of two new
their guns on each other in coalitions but have also
some of the worst infighting raised the specter of more
yet, with al-Qaida-linked fractures among rebel fac-
fighters battling other fac- tions, already struggling to
tions in a split between sup- recover from their Decem-
porters and opponents of ber loss of the eastern half
the Russian-led push for a of the city of Aleppo to

Yemeni rebels say they targeted
Saudi capital Riyadh with missile

AHMED AL-HAJ seeking to restore Yemen’s
Associated Press internationally-recognized
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Ye- government, which the
men’s Shiite rebels said on Houthis had forced to flee
Monday they have “suc- from the capital, Sanaa.
cessfully” fired a ballistic Saudis see the Houthis as
missile at Riyadh for the first a proxy of the Shiite power
time, vowing more attacks Iran, the Sunni kingdom’s
on the Saudi capital. key regional rival.
There was no immediate The Houthis said in a state-
comment from the king- ment carried by the rebel-
dom but the claim came run SABA news agency that
exactly a week after Saudi the missile “targeted” the
Arabia said a “suicide gun- al-Mazahmiya army base
boat” belonging to Ye- in western Riyadh, around
men’s Iran-backed Houthi 1,000 kilometers (650 miles)
rebels rammed into one of from Sanaa.
its frigates in the Red Sea, In October, the kingdom
killing two crew members. said it intercepted and de-
Saudi Arabia has been stroyed a Houthi-fired mis-
leading a mostly Gulf sile some 65 kilometers (40
Arab coalition against the miles) from the Muslim holy
Houthis since March 2015, city of Mecca.q