MEDIA SCOPE: Druze In Pre-Emptive War with al-Nusra, Daesh

Local Editor

The Druze minority have entered battle with the extremist terrorist groups in an attempt of defending their homelands, rather than stay neutral and suffer like other minorities in Syria and Iraq. By that, Druze of the Jabal al-Sheikh region saw pre-emptive war with Daesh and al-Nusra a must-do before they get attacked in their own homes. Also, General Security Head Abbas Ibrahim assured that there will be no compromise on the lives and wellbeing of the abducted soldiers, nor on the dignity and sovereignty of the Lebanese state.

On another note, General Security Head Abbas Ibrahim assured that the file of the Lebanese soldiers abducted by Daesh and al-Nusra requires ‘major patience and long time'. According to al-Akhbar, Ibrahim highlighted that there is no compromise or concession on two issues, the first is the safety and wellbeing of the soldiers and their return, and the second is the dignity and sovereignty of the Lebanese state.

"The Lebanese government could sense the want of the abductors to negotiate from the list of demands they have sent, yet the basis to this step is patience and secrecy," the paper quoted Ibrahim as saying.
According to al-Akhbar, the next step Ibrahim says is ‘paying a visit to Syria', "Damascus is ready to dialogue with us, but is it ready to present help like it did in the Maaloula issue? I do not know."

The daily quotes Ibrahim addressing the extremist groups "I have sent them a letter through the Qatari mediator, saying: the case you have in your hands is like a glass of water, the more you drink the more you are left with nothing. If you kill the soldiers, you will not have a drop to drink, then there will be no reason for us to negotiate with you or answer your demands. We will not bargain on bodies, the bodies of the three soldiers you have, you can keep. Every soldier you kill I do not want his body back, so now you can act on this basis. My only concern is the alive soldiers.."

The Daily Star quoted security sources that "The Lebanese Army Friday barred 11 wounded Syrian rebels from entering Lebanese territory through the southern Mount Hermon border region, demanding first the release of some servicemen held hostage by "Islamist" militants.

The rebels were wounded during heavy clashes that erupted Thursday and continued until early Friday between Syrian government troops and opposition groups in the Mount Hermon area where the borders of Syria, Lebanon and occupied Palestine meet.

The wounded attempted to enter Lebanese territory after at least 40 people were killed in clashes between government forces and rebels, including the Nusra Front, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Observatory said the fighting in Beit Tima, a majority-Druze region, left 26 pro-government forces and 14 rebels and extremist fighters dead.
"The Lebanese Army has demanded the release of some of the soldiers and policemen held by militants in return for letting the wounded Syrians receive treatment in Lebanese territory," a security source told The Daily Star.

A senior military official refused to comment on the border incident. He also declined to confirm if the Army had demanded the release of a number of hostages in exchange for letting the wounded rebels into Lebanese territory.

ISIS and Nusra Front militants are holding 27 soldiers and policemen captured during the five-day fierce clashes with the Lebanese Army in the northeastern town of Arsal in early August. The militants are demanding the release of a number of extremist Islamist detainees held in Roumieh Prison as well as several Syrian female prisoners held in Syria for freeing the hostages.

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A former member of ISIS has revealed the extent to which the cooperation of the Turkish military and border forces allows the terrorist group, who now control large parts of Iraq and Syria, to travel through Turkish territory to reinforce fighters battling Kurdish forces, Newsweek reported.

A reluctant former communications technician working for Islamic State, going by the pseudonym ‘Sherko Omer', who managed to escape the group, told Newsweek that he travelled in a convoy of trucks as part of an ISIS unit from their stronghold in Raqqa, across Turkish border, through Turkey and then back across the border to attack Syrian Kurds in the city of Serekaniye in northern Syria in February, in order to bypass their defences.

"ISIS commanders told us to fear nothing at all because there was full cooperation with the Turks," said Omer of crossing the border into Turkey, "and they reassured us that nothing will happen, especially when that is how they regularly travel from Raqqa and Aleppo to the Kurdish areas further northeast of Syria because it was impossible to travel through Syria as YPG controlled most parts of the Kurdish region."

that people attempting to carry supplies across the border were often shot at.
National Army of Syrian Kurdistan (YPG) spokesman Polat Can went even further, saying that Turkish forces were actively aiding ISIS. "There is more than enough evidence with us now proving that the Turkish army gives ISIS terrorists weapons, ammunitions and allows them to cross the Turkish official border crossings in order for ISIS terrorists to initiate inhumane attacks against the Kurdish people in Rojava [north-eastern Syria]."

Omer explained that during his time with ISIS, Turkey had been seen as an ally against the Kurds. "ISIS saw the Turkish army as its ally especially when it came to attacking the Kurds in Syria. The Kurds were the common enemy for both ISIS and Turkey. Also, ISIS had to be a Turkish ally because only through Turkey they were able to deploy ISIS fighters to northern parts of the Kurdish cities and towns in Syria."
"ISIS and Turkey cooperate together on the ground on the basis that they have a common enemy to destroy, the Kurds," he added.
"I have connected ISIS field captains and commanders from Syria with people in Turkey on innumerable occasions," said Omer.

"I rarely heard them speak in Arabic, and that was only when they talked to their own recruiters, otherwise, they mostly spoke in Turkish because the people they talked to were Turkish officials of some sorts because ISIS guys used to be very serious when they talked to them."

Source: Lebanese dailies, Translated and Edited by website team