Syria Direct: News Update 9-25-2013

* On Wednesday, the Syrian Air Force struck the north-central city of A-
Raqqa, the southern city of Dar’aa, the village of Ashiekh Saad near Aleppo as well as the villages around Mr. Alarbaaen and Mt. Azzawiyah in Idlib, the opposition Sham News Network reported.

*Hezbollah’s Al Manar television reports that the FSA and ISIS continue to clash in northern Syria.

*Thirteen groups of rebel fighters inside Syria disavowed any allegiance to the Syrian National Coalition on Tuesday. The Tawhid Brigade’s Abdelaziz Salame called on armed and civilian opposition inside Syria to unite in support of sharia law, stating, “the National Coalition and the proposed government under Ahmad Tomeh does not represent us, nor do we recognize it.” The statement was signed by a roster of armed groups primarily from the north, including the FSA’s Ahrar Al Sham and Liwa al-Tawhid, the largest rebel force in Aleppo. Al-Qaeda linked Jabhat Al-Nusra and 10 other groups also signed the statement.

* Mohammed Aloush, the leader of Lewa al-Islam and other commanders of Damascus and Outer Damascus rebel battalions released a video on Tuesday evening of their meeting in a joint “situation room” where fighters are coordinating efforts to “topple Bashar Assad.” The video appears to show cooperation between powerful rebel groups, including Lewa al-Islam, Lewa Al Habeeb Al Mustada, the Islamic Movement of Liberators of the Sham, Brigades, Al Sahabeh Brigades and Batallions, the Muslim Army Brigade and Al Furqan Brigades.

*Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hammad al-Thani and King Abdullah II of Jordan called for a political transition in Syria in remarks to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. The new Qatari leader accused the Security Council of moral failure, stating, “the Syrian people did not rebel in order to eradicate chemical weapons.” King Abdullah II also called for regime change in Syria, saying, “Now is due time for accelerating a political transition in Syria to end the violence and bloodshed.”