Syrian rebels, al Qaeda-linked militants seize Golan Heights border crossing

[LloydS of New London]

Source: CNN

By Ben Wedeman and Michael Pearson, CNN
updated 8:28 PM EDT, Wed August 27, 2014

Majdal Shams, Golan Heights (CNN) -- Rebels aided by al Qaeda-linked militants seized control of the only border crossing between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday.

The capture of the Quneitra crossing by Syrian rebels, including members of the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, represents a new dynamic in a war long feared not only for its deadly effects inside Syria but for threatening to widen into a destabilizing regional conflict.

The border crossing made headlines earlier this week, when American journalist Peter Theo Curtis was handed over on the Syrian side of the checkpoint by the al-Nusra Front to U.N. peacekeepers.
Photos: Syrian civil war in 2014 Photos: Syrian civil war in 2014

During the fighting on Wednesday between Syrian forces and rebels, three errant mortar rounds and some small-arms fire crossed into Israeli-controlled territory, IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/27/world/meast/syria-crisis/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

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Hmm. mortar rounds and small-arms fire have penetrated Israel's territory. I wonder how the Israelis will react?

[Purveyor]

1. Well of course israel would find it necessary and profitable get on the ISIS/Syrian Rebel threat

gravy-train.

No wonder, after decimating Gaza...they would need a new 'trick'.

Boogeyman under every israel bed, indeed. The real 'boogeyman' is the current israeli gov't that administer apartheid upon the Palestinian people.

[LloydS of New London]

2. Really?

I just figured the Likudniks would nuke everyone, including us.

[George II]

6. You'd rather see ISIS continue to spread and take over territory?

[leftynyc]

11. I wouldn't mind an answer to that myself

Seems the scorn for Israel has made some make excuses for these fucking barbarians. Now they're kidnapping UN peacekeepers - I'm sure it's to serve them dinner or something innocuous like that.

[hack89]

10. The value of ISIS to Israel

is that it makes the Palestinians irrelevant to the rest of the Arab world until the crisis is resolved. I suspect that right now there are Arab leaders that think Israel with its military might is more important to the region right now than the Palestinians.

[nilesobek]

3. How will the Israelis react?

If history is any indicator it will be like using a sledgehammer to pound in a thumbtack. Wasn't attacking Israel an original goal of ISIS?

[freshwest]

4. It may be trivial, but could this to be make sure Americans are not released at that location?

And it's not like there's ever been an effective peace between that area and Israel. They must be mobilizing over there for this. Or maybe they are always mobilized...

American fundies will follow this, hoping for the Second Coming. Maybe that's why the GOP left town, in order to fire up that voting block while abandoning their posts in D.C.

They may be hoping that some catastrophe occurs and promise their base they'll save America by sending our soldiers in as their holy warriors.

Other than speculation, this may not be big thing in the long run. Would be interested to see what the Israelis say or do. They may just keep on as they've been, with the skirmishes as that border. They've been at it for many years.

[DFW]

5. The Israeli military is probably highly sensitized to the border situation

They are probably on the lookout for incursions, and can surely tell if anything landing on their side was meant to attack them or not. Besides, if Qaeda or ISIS were intending to attack Israel directly, it probably won't be with a stray bullet or mortar shell or two. If they intend to cause harm in Israel, the Israelis will know it in no uncertain terms.

[Bosonic]

7. 47 UN peacekeepers 'abducted by al-Qaeda linked Syrian rebels'

47 UN peacekeepers 'abducted by al-Qaeda linked Syrian rebels'

Syrian militants have reportedly captured more than 40 United Nations peacekeepers during skirmishes on the Israeli border.

Forty-seven soldiers from the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) are understood to have been abducted during clashes in the Golan Heights area between Syrian government forces and militants fighting with the Al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda linked group.

Details of the abduction, which took place during fighting on Thursday, remain unclear but it is understood that some of the troops who have been kidnapped include soldiers from the Philippines.

The UN peacekeeping mission was set up in 1974 to attempt to enforce a truce between Syria and Israel, which took the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/11061515/47-UN-peacekeepers-abducted-by-al-Qaeda-linked-Syrian-rebels.html

[bemildred]

8. Now that's just peachy. 47 UN Peacekeepers. nt

[bemildred]

9. ISIS militants shoot and stab dozens of Syrian soldiers in brutal mass killing at captured military

BEIRUT — The Islamic State group has killed dozens of Syrian soldiers it captured after overrunning a military base in northeastern Syria, shooting some and using knives on others in the latest brutal mass killing attributed to the extremists, activists said Thursday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the militants rounded up the soldiers in the arid countryside on Wednesday near the Tabqa airfield, three days after seizing the base in heavy fighting. The government troops were among a large group of soldiers from the base who were stuck behind the front lines after the airfield fell to the jihadi fighters.

Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman said the extremists killed up to 65 soldiers. He said some were shot to death, while others were killed with knives.

A statement posted online and circulated on Twitter by supporters of the Islamic State group claimed the extremists killed “about 200” government prisoners captured near Tabqa.

http://www.canada.com/business/fp/ISIS+militants+shoot+stab+dozens+Syrian+soldiers+brutal+mass/10156737/story.html

[Bosonic]

12. Lebanon army battles gunmen near Syria border

Lebanon army battles gunmen near Syria border

Outside Aarsal (Lebanon) (AFP) - Lebanese troops clashed with gunmen Thursday in a mainly Sunni Muslim area near the Syrian border where there was deadly fighting with rebels from over the frontier in early August.

Hundreds of terrified civilians fled the town of Aarsal, a mainly Sunni enclave within Lebanon's largely Shiite Bekaa Valley which is hosting tens of thousands of Sunni refugees from Syria.

The fighting was still raging in late afternoon, with troops shelling the gunmen who had taken up positions on the outskirts of Aarsal, an AFP correspondent reported.

The military said in a statement that the fighting erupted when an army vehicle with five soldiers on board was ambushed at around 11:00 am (0800 GMT).

https://news.yahoo.com/lebanon-army-battles-gunmen-near-syria-border-112329078.html