Orientul Mijlociu

As a Turkish operation in Northern Syria against the SDF looms, the Syrian Army is getting closer to the Kurdish-led group, according to al-Watan.

Informed sources within the city of Ayn Issa revealed to al-Watan that the Syrian army has strengthened its presence near Ayn Issa and the outskirts of the city of Tell Abyad, in the northern countryside of the Raqqa governorate. The sources revealed that meetings had been held between representatives of the Syrian Arab Army and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) leaders, which have not yet yielded any significant results.

ISIS is slowly regrouping in both Iraq and Syria, forming sleeper cells to launch attacks, while maintaining an effective command-and-control to wage a low-level guerrilla insurgency and mobilize new support.

The Islamic State is able to conduct asymmetric attacks on civilians and security forces, but can also marshal the resources to launch spectacular attacks intended to destabilize the Iraqi government.

The fifth election since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003 generated a record-low turnout of just 41 percent. However, the results contained some surprises.

While the elections took place about three weeks ago, the Pro-Iranian groups continue to denounce the results from Iraq’s elections as “manipulation” and a “scam.” That’s because the biggest losers were the pro-Iranian parties with links to the armed groups that make up the Iranian proxy militias known as Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

“These joint operations demonstrate our mutual commitment as partners to deny Daesh any presence & influence in NE Syria.”

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) carried out 12 operations against the Islamic State group in northeast Syria, the organization’s Coordination and Military Operations center said late on Tuesday.

“With @Coalition, October saw 12 operations to root out terrorist cells – 51 were detained,” the center tweeted.

An Islamic State attack has triggered a crescendo of acts of violence against and displacement of Sunnis in Iraq’s Diyala province, which borders Iran and has long suffered the presence of cells operating in its dense orchards and parts of the Hamrin Mountains.

An Islamic State (IS) attack against members of a prominent Shiite-majority tribe in Iraq’s eastern region of Diyala in late October was followed by retaliatory violence against local Sunnis, sparking fears of a return to the years of massive sectarian bloodshed.

Factions pulling out of the recently formed Syrian Liberation Front raise questions about the future of Turkish-backed rebel groups.

Sources close to Sultan Soleman Shah Brigade, one of the largest factions of the Syrian Liberation Front, said that the brigade has effectively withdrawn from the front to join the Thaeeroun Movement of Azm Operations Room.

The terrorist group PKK’s leadership in Qandil restricted the authority of the notorious ringleader of its Syrian wing YPG, Ferhat Abdi Şahin, over a leadership dispute, Habertürk daily reported. Şahin, also known as Mazloum Kobani and Şahin Cilo, is currently on Turkey’s most-wanted list for orchestrating terrorist attacks in Turkey.

The report said that PKK leaders took the decision a year ago, as they were concerned about Şahin’s “fame” and purported international relations network. It added that the decision came as a shock for the YPG and Şahin and held a meeting with United States officers to discuss the issue.

Clashes erupted between forces of the Syrian government and mercenaries of “Tahrer al-Sham” in the western countryside of Aleppo as western countryside of Hama witnessed mutual targeting by heavy weapons amid hovering by reconnaissance aircraft.

Clashes took place in Basraton, west of Aleppo, after the midnight, causing human losses, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Right, the SOHR.