Syria Direct: News Update 1-12-15

Unknown gunmen target IS in Deir e-Zor, again

Unknown gunmen targeted four Islamic State (IS) fighters in the IS-controlled city of Mayadeen Sunday, the latest in a series of assaults against IS in Deir e-Zor province, reported pro-opposition media campaign Deir e-Zor is Being Slaughtered Silently.

“The wounded were moved to the al-Hamad hospital; meanwhile, [the city has witnessed] heavy deployment of IS fighters,” wrote the campaign Sunday.

Similarly, unknown gunmen burned the car of Islamic State “religious police” (al-Hesbah) in Mayadeen last Wednesday, reported the monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

That attack came on the heels of the reported killing of a religious police leader–an Egyptian national–in Mayadeen as well as two attempted murders of al-Hesbah members earlier last week, the pro-opposition media campaign Deir e-Zor Under Fire told Syria Direct. 

In related news, the US-led international coalition carried out 35 airstrikes and missile strikes in the countryside of Deir e-Zor Sunday, including on the outskirts of Mayadeen. The strikes reportedly focused on IS checkpoints, oil fields and refineries, according to Deir e-Zor Under Fire.

 The aftermath of a coalition bombing Deir e-Zor. Photo Courtesy of Deir e-Zor.

Tensions in Latakia between pro-Assad sect and shabiha

Two members of the pro-regime Murshadiya sect died Sunday in clashes with National Defense Forces in the city of Latakia in what appears to be an escalation of hostilities between the two parties, reported al-Quds al-Arabi.

The dispute arose after a Murshadi man tried to intervene to stop a shabiha member from insulting and beating a young man from Aleppo, al-Quds al-Arabi quoted an eyewitness as saying.

In related news, six National Defense Forces soldiers were killed and 11 wounded, with one Murshadi man killed and two wounded following clashes between the two parties at a night club in the Blue Coast region of Latakia, reported pro-opposition news site Aksalser. The site did not report what caused the fighting.  

PYD hit in Al-Hasakah

A car bomb exploded at the Kurdish PYD-controlled military checkpoint near the town of Safiya in Al-Hasakah province Sunday, killing at least four and wounding a number of others, reported the pro-opposition news agency El-Dorar.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The explosion comes in the wake of three other car bombs in Aleppo province on Saturday, one of which also hit a Kurdish-controlled area. No one claimed responsibility for those attacks either.

The Kurdish PYD control Safiya, located just north of the eponymous capital of the province, along with large swathes of northern Al-Hasakah.

The PYD are engaged in a three-way struggle with the regime, who controls the capital, and the Islamic State for supremacy in the province.

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