Syria Direct: News Update 01-06-2014
* An Algerian-Belgian ISIS emir warned Monday that several hundred […]
6 January 2014
* An Algerian-Belgian ISIS emir warned Monday that several hundred ISIS fighters were prepared to detonate car bombs across Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
* Ahmad al-Jarba won the presidency of the Syrian National Coalition for a second time, defeating prominent defector and former Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab by 13 votes in an election among the Coalition’s members, Zaman al-Wasl reported on Sunday. Abd al-Hakeem Bashar and Nora al-Amir won as vice presidents, with 82 votes for Bashar and 68 for al-Amir. Run-offs will be held Monday for the position of Third Deputy, with George Sabra and Faouq Tayfour vying, and for Secretary General, between former Secretary General Mustafa Sibagh and current Secretary General Badr Jamous.
* Five members of the Kurdish PYD militias were killed in clashes with Islamist rebel battalions in the Husainyeh village in Hasakeh province Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
* Shiite militia Abu al-Fadel al-Abbas detained 1,200 civilians in al-Wahish checkpoint in the Damascus suburb of Yelda on Sunday, the opposition General Council for the Syrian Revolution reported Sunday. The civilians were fleeing hunger in south Damascus, the Council added.
* The Islamic Front freed the Turkish photojournalist Bunyamin Aygun of the Milliyet Daily after more than one month in ISIS captivity in A-Raqqa province, World Bulletin reported. “After the Turkish Foreign Ministry stepped in, the group put major pressure on the people in the house where they [ISIS] were holding me,” Aygun said after his release. “They also captured the ones who held me captive,” he added. Aygun, who was abducted in late November, returned to Turkey Sunday, thanking the Islamic Front for his rescue.
Turkish Journalist Bunyamin Aygun was freed from ISIS captivity and returned to Turkey Sunday. Photo courtesy of @worldbulletin.
