Video - Relics for rifles: Syrian rebels trade antique treasures for weapons

Geneva II postponed until the end of the year.

Geneva II postponed until the end of the year.(RBTH).

The Geneva II Syria peace conference has been postponed until possibly the end of the year largely because the United States still has not managed to persuade the Syrian opposition to participate, the Russian diplomat involved in the tri-party talks said Tuesday.

Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Gennady Gatilov said America needed to put more pressure on the Syrian opposition groups to talk them into participating in Geneva II.

The United Nations, Russia, the U.S. are leading the talks, which the tri-party group had hoped to hold this month in order to negotiate a peace deal between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the rebel groups.
 "We felt that the Americans did not have sufficient leverage over the oppositionists to consolidate them," Gatilov said. "We indicated that the recent declarations of some of the opposition leaders sounded disappointing, as they refuse to take part in the conference. And we spoke about the need, nevertheless, to seek their participation."

In addition, according to Interfax, the deputy minister said that the U.S. remained opposed to Iran’s participation in the Geneva II talks, despite Russia’s insistence that the country had a critical role in the process.

"We have tried again to persuade them that Iran is an important participant of the process, who plays a serious role in resolving the Syrian crisis and who can contribute positively, and that it is therefore necessary to invite the country to the conference,” Gatilov said.

The Russian diplomat added that Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria, as well as the majority of other Arab states, all agreed that Iran should participate.

"So far, our U.S. partners have no understanding that Iran should take part in the forum," Gatilov said, adding that these two issues meant the conference will be postponed for an indefinite period.
According to previous ITAR-TASS report, a source close to the meeting said that "Geneva II will not take place earlier than December."
Brahimi this week also stated that the Syrian oppositionists lacked consolidation and were not prepared to participate in the peace conference.
"One of the problems certainly involves the position of the opposition,"he said, emphasizing that a new tri-party meeting between Russia, the U.S. and the UN would be held on November 25, and expressed his hope that the opposition would change their approach by that time.

A meeting of the leaders of the Syrian National Coalition is scheduled for November 9 in Istanbul, where they are expected to make a final decision as to their participation in Geneva II.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday in Moscow that the Syrian problem could not be resolved through a foreign, armed intervention.
“It is necessary once and for all to get rid of the illusions that the Syrian knot can be cut through foreign intervention," Lavrov said.  He emphasized that the Geneva communiqué "is generally believed to be, in essence, the sole coordinated basis for a peaceful resolution of the problem."

Al Qaeda-linked Group Strengthens Hold in Northern Syria.

Al Qaeda-linked Group Strengthens Hold in Northern Syria.(Aina). By Gul Tuysuz, Raja Razek, and Nick Paton Walsh.

Gaziantep, Turkey (CNN) -- Al Qaeda has swept to power with the aim of imposing a strict Islamist ideology on Syrians across large swathes of Syria's rebel-held north, according to a CNN survey of towns, activists and analysts that reveals an alarming increase in al Qaeda-linked control in just the past month.

Al Qaeda-backed militants known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are the predominant military force in northern Syria, according to activists and seasoned observers, and have a powerful influence over the majority of population centers in the rebel-held north.

Rami Abdul Rahman, from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said: "ISIS is the strongest group in Northern Syria -- 100% -- and anyone who tells you anything else is lying."

CNN conducted dozens of interviews with activists, local and international observers and residents of the towns affected by ISIS in preparing this study. Many of the Syrians CNN spoke to talked anonymously for fear of angering ISIS, saying ISIS has in some areas made it a crime punishable by flogging to even say their name.

The swift al Qaeda expansion poses a severe policy dilemma for the United States and its European allies who have long delayed their promised armed assistance to rebel groups as they struggled with fears that the weapons could end up in the hands of al Qaeda-backed extremists.

Observers say the delay has provided a vacuum in the often chaotic rebel ranks that the organized and fearless Islamists have moved to fill.

Many observers explain that the extent of ISIS's discipline and resources -- they are said to have considerable cash at their disposal -- means that the other rebel groups operating in the north do not seek to confront them.

Charles Lister, analyst at IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre, said: "Although not a numerically dominant force, ISIS is playing an increasingly pre-eminent role in the northern Syrian insurgency.
"Much of this is a result of its capability to exploit superior levels of financing and resources -- essentially, to spread itself thinly enough to exert influence and/or control, but not too thin as to be overpowered by rivals."

Most activists point to a clear strategy by ISIS -- which aims to dominate a large swathe of the north from the north-western town of Idlib to the north-eastern city of Raqqa and beyond -- of focusing on population centers on the edges of rebel-held territory and slowly choking off central areas. Some ISIS figures have described a broader aim of trying to link the Sunni province of Anbar in Iraq to the Mediterranean coast, near the Syrian town of Latakia.

Their grip over the rebel town of Raqqa is considerably tighter than elsewhere, despite the continued presence of rival and even aligned rebel groups who do not seek to challenge them. The Washington Institute think-tank says ISIS' grip on Raqqa makes it "the largest city al Qaeda has ever controlled in the Islamic world."

In these ISIS-held areas, signs of the kind of Islamist society that the al Qaeda-backed militants seek to create have been swift to emerge; one woman activist drew comparisons with the Taliban's rule over Afghanistan.

Rulings have been posted in some towns forbidding women to travel without a male relative and at certain times of the day, ordering them to cover up their hair with the traditional Islamic headscarf and not to wear trousers in public, and banning them from wearing make-up and seeking treatment from male doctors. Smoking and cameras have also been banned.

On Sunday one northern town, Jarablus, saw a poster erected by ISIS threatening thieves with having their hand cut off -- an extreme form of punishment mandated by radical readings of Islamist, or Sharia, law.
While many Syrians have described the initial approach of ISIS towards towns they seek to control as friendly and peaceful, often offering generous cash incentives to cooperate, they are increasingly brutal in dealing with their critics.
One activist described how he was taken by ISIS militants from the town of Azaz and held in a blanket factory in Aleppo's northern suburb of Hyratan.
"I was tortured, beaten. They hung me from the ceiling and used electricity on me. They kept trying to make me confess being a British spy," he said, adding that the factory held 20 other prisoners, mostly from rival rebel brigades, and that the site was also used by ISIS to make bombs.

ISIS have released a series of slickly-produced videos about their growing control, and some skeptics say they are promoting stories of their dominance to increase their power over local populations.
Yet in recent weeks, many activists accept that ISIS' genuine hold on the rebel north has escalated to the point where rival groups are unable to challenge them.Hmmmm......Another 'Obamination'.

Syrian rebels ask Qatari Foreign Minister for independent army in İstanbul.

Syrian rebels ask Qatari Foreign Minister for independent army in İstanbul.(Alalam).

Qatar Foreign Minister Khalid al-Attiya recently held a round of meetings with Turkish officials in Istanbul In order to gather support over interacting with Syrian opposition and militant groups and their stances regarding the Geneva 2 talks.

Saudi daily al-Sharq al-Awsat wrote in a report on Monday that along with Qatar’s attempts to make a deal with Turkey over its Syria policies, al-Attiye also held meetings with several main Takfiri militant groups fighting to topple the Syrian government.

Militant leaders of active groups from nearly all over Syria, including Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Homs and Hama were present in the meetings with Qatari officials. However, the meeting with Takfiri groups did not include al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and al-Nusra Front.

According to the paper Syria’s Takfiri groups met to decide about parting from the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) and form a new armed force.

The article cites sources among the militant groups saying that their leaders could not get Qatar’s definite support for their decision, instead they saw al-Attiya seeking some changes in the Syrian opposition leadership.

Qatari Foreign minister also met with leader of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood Mohammad Riad al-Shaqfeh in Istanbul and called for closer ties and more cooperation for toppling Syrian government.

The article says the two-day round of meetings did not end with any consensus because, first, the Takfiri groups wanted more shares in making decisions in the so-called Syrian National Council with represents hundreds of armed groups fighting in Syria. Second, they wanted Qatar to guarantee that they can form a caliphate after the government is removed in Syria.

Al-Attiye told the Takfiri groups that his country is committed to helping them but not to this extent, according to the paper.

These militant groups refuse to take orders from the so-called Free Syrian Army commander Salim Idris, forming only one of the deep divisions the foreign-backed Syrian opposition has been dealing with during the past months.

After months of relative science and less activities regarding Syria which followed replacement of Qatari king by his son, it seems that Cairo is resuming its role as one of the biggest supporters and spenders of the Syria war.

Qatar’s fresh mediations comes as the Syrian opposition on Sunday said it would not take part in Geneva talks aimed at finding a solution to the deadly war which is taking more lives every day with no end in the sight, unless a date is set for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s departure.

The opposition which has shown signs of deep divisions in the past months is facing with great rivalry power struggles that have left the group unable to adopt a unique stance over major issues.

Tens of militants groups, many of them linked to al-Qaeda, had already rejected the Geneva talks and announced that participating in negotiations was an act of treason.

Opposition’s alliance to al-Qaeda-linked groups and their reluctance to cooperate for ending the war has caused many of their supporters to side with the government.