Syria Direct: News Update 4-8-15

PYD implement marital, family laws in Al-Hasakah

The Kurdish Democratic Union Party [PYD] issued a series of marital and family laws in Al-Hasakah province on Tuesday as part of its effort to legitimize its fledgling autonomous government, an activist told Syria Direct on Wednesday.

The laws will “prevent polygamy and the marriage of girls over the age of 18 without their consent,” said Kawa al-Hasakawi, the alias of a Kurdish law student in Al-Hasakah.

The PYD also will give out “family records,” used across the Arab world to record familial relations, to all civilians under the group’s governance, even Kurds who currently do not have Syrian citizenship, said al-Hasakawi.

Family records, or “notebooks” in Arabic, played a similar role to identity cards in pre-war Syria.

In addition, the PYD began approving marriage contracts on Tuesday, reported the pro-opposition National Al-Hasakah News Network.

The laws will first be implemented in the Kurdish city of Daarek in east Al-Hasakah province before expanding to other areas governed by the PYD, reported the Turkey-based Kurdish news agency Buyer Press.

The PYD, the political wing of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units [YPG], declared self-governance in Al-Hasakah and other Kurdish areas in 2013. The YPG is currently fighting alongside regime forces against the Islamic State for control of Al-Hasakah province.

Two deadly IS suicide bombings target Aleppo rebels

The Islamic State reportedly carried out two massive suicide bombings against rebel positions in the northern Aleppo countryside Tuesday night, killing dozens including leaders in al-Jabha a-Shamiya and Jabhat a-Nusra.

One car-borne suicide bomber targeted a headquarters of the Joint Force for Repelling Injustice, a coalition including al-Jabha a-Shamiya and Jabhat a-Nusra, in the town of Maria, killing eight and wounding 15, reported pro-opposition Syrian Solution news.

Among the dead were leaders in al-Jabha a-Shamiya, and Abu Maria al-Babi, a Jabhat a-Nusra emir.

A second suicide bomber drove a vehicle carrying a large, rigged water or oil tank into an FSA-affiliated rebel base in Hur Kilis, killing at least 30 people, among them civilians, reported pro-opposition Halab News Network.

Social media accounts affiliated with the Islamic State claimed credit for the bombings.

“Three or four buildings were all leveled to the ground, the ceilings as they are on top [of the rubble], if we get in contact with the Civil Defense in Aleppo, if they can bring heavy cranes or something so we can remove the ceilings,” an activist in Hur Kilis said in a call for help recorded and uploaded to Facebook Wednesday.

 Two alleged IS suicide bombers before their attacks. Photo courtesy of al-Dimashqi Khilafa.

Hama rebels aim to cut regime supplies to Idlib

Ahar a-Sham and rebel forces attacked two regime positions in Hama province on Tuesday in an attempt to cut off the regime’s supply line to its positions in southern Idlib, reported pro-opposition news agency el-Dorar.

Both attacks occurred near a supply route running through the al-Ghab plain in northwest Hama which the regime uses to send supplies from Hama city to its forces located south of rebel-controlled Idlib city.

In the attacks, rebels fired mortar shells on regime positions in the town of Jorin and Ahrar al-Sham blew up a booby-trapped car at a checkpoint on the road leading north into Idlib.

Ahrar al-Sham said it had completely destroyed the checkpoint and killed 20 regime soldiers in a statement.

The Islamist group is part of a coalition of rebel groups that won control of Idlib city from the regime two weeks ago.

SOHR: Nearly 8,000 regime air raids this year

The Syrian regime has carried out 7,972 documented airstrikes on regions across Syria, from Idlib to Daraa and from Al-Bokamel to Latakia, from the beginning of 2015 until this week, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Tuesday.

SOHR documented 1,126 civilians killed by the bombing, including 231 children and 177 women.

The air raids consisted of more than 4,400 barrel bomb attacks and 3,500 warplane raids.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denied his forces use barrel bombs in an interview with the BBC on February 11.

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