1. The local council in the Turkish-held Ras al-Ayn region has suspended its work in protest over the refusal to appoint of one of its members as director of the border crossing, Anadolu reported. The council had nominated several names for the position, including a member of the council, a Turkish national and a former police officer, Mahmoud Khaled Sheikhmousa, and lawyer and former leader of the Free Syrian Army, Saleh al-Rafan. However, all the proposed names were rejected by the al-Hamza division, which controls the western part of the city, where the border crossing is located, sources say.
2. A rebel bastion in the Idleb region of northwest Syria has recorded its first death from the novel coronavirus, a health official said Friday. Emad Zahran, spokesperson for the health directorate in rebel-held areas of Idleb province, told AFP that the death of an 80-year-old displaced woman living in a camp in the town of Sarmada was recorded Tuesday. “She suffered from severe renal insufficiency and high blood pressure,” he said. Authorities have carried out contact tracing, taken swab samples for testing and asked those concerned to self-isolate, Zahran added.
3. The Turkish military launched a new attack in the northern countryside of Aleppo Governorate on Saturday, a source told Al-Masdar News from the administrative capital. Al-Masdar reported that the Turkish military utilized their artillery launchers to target the Syrian army and People’s Protection Units (YPG) near the key town of Tel Rifa’at in northern Aleppo. The source said there were no casualties reported by the Syrian Arab Army, nor have they responded to this latest attack by the Turkish Armed Forces in the Aleppo countryside.
4. A demonstration was held in Hassakeh Governorate village of al-Bajariyah on Saturday, demanding the US-led International Coalition withdraw from Syria. According to Al-Masdar, the demonstration was attended by dozens of villagers, who not only called for the US-led Coalition’s withdrawal, but also, condemned their attack on a Syrian army checkpoint earlier this week. The attack that was carried out by the US-led Coalition targeted the Syrian Arab Army’s checkpoint inside the town of Tel al-Dahab.
5. One of Britain’s most notorious jihadis is believed to have been killed in Syria. Siddartha Dhar, who was born in London, died with his wife Aisha during the siege of Islamic State’s de facto capital Raqqa in June 2017, a new book claims. The Daily Mail reported that the fate of the couple’s five young children, including one born after they fled to Syria, is not known. The claims about Dhar, who was nicknamed ‘Jihadi Sid’, are made in a book about al-Muhajiroun, the extremist group led by hate preacher Anjem Choudary, written by American counter-terrorism expert Douglas Weeks.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
