(MENAFN- Arab Times) The extremist Islamic State group fought fierce battles Friday with Syria's armed forces in a bid to seize control of Hasakeh, a key provincial capital in the country's northeast. "Fierce clashes continued Friday between regime forces and IS south of Hasakeh city. The regime is violently and intensely bombarding jihadist positions from the air," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based monitor said the regime was using barrel bombs - large containers packed with explosives - against jihadists edging towards the city, which is divided between Kurdish and government control.
Since their offensive began on May 30, IS fighters have advanced to the southern outskirts of Hasakeh using deadly suicide attacks and heavy mortar fire. Citing a military source, Syria's state news agency SANA said the army had used "aerial weapons" to destroy equipment belonging to the IS terrorists". The seven-day assault has killed at least 71 government loyalists and 59 extremists, including 11 who drove car bombs - IS's signature weapon - towards regime positions, the Observatory said. The jihadists, which have expanded their control in central and eastern Syria and in neighbouring Iraq, seized a number of key posts, including a prison and power plant. Hasakeh has since been without power, local activist Arin Shekhmos told AFP. Kurdish militia, locked in battles with IS in other parts of Hasakeh province, have yet to take part in the clashes south of the city.
Battles
"For the moment, the Kurds are not taking part in the fight as the battles have not reached their area," Abdel Rahman said. Al-Watan, a Syrian daily close to the government, has criticised Kurdish militia for not coming to the army's aid. The loss of the city would follow a string of defeats in major cities for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including the ancient site of Palmyra last month and the northwest provincial capital of Idlib in March. It would also be the second provincial capital to fall to IS after Raqa, which jihadists declared the capital of their selfstyled "caliphate" last year.
Meanwhile, a Turkish daily on Friday published images it said showed the Turkish spy agency helping to smuggle jihadists into Syria, the latest allegations by the newspaper accusing the authorities of aiding extremist groups across the border. The government had last week lambasted the Cumhuriyet daily for publishing video footage the paper said showed the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) helping send weapons to Syria early last year.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said its editor Can Dundar would pay a "heavy price" and promptly filed a criminal complaint demanding he serves multiple life sentences. But Friday's story showed the staunchly secular Cumhuriyet is not giving any ground in an increasingly tense standoff with the Islamic-rooted government ahead of Sunday's legislative elections. Cumhuriyet said that a group of jihadists were first brought to the Turkish border town of Reyhanli on January 9, 2014 from Atme refugee camp in Syria in a clandestine operation. From there, they were smuggled into Tal Abyad, a border town used by the Islamic State (IS) as a gateway from Turkey, on two buses rented by the MIT, Cumhuriyet claimed. The daily showed images of the buses, which it said were stopped by police a day after the operation following a tip-off that they were smuggling drugs into Syria. It was revealed that the buses had been used to smuggle jihadists after investigators found bullets, weapons and ammunition abandoned in the buses, the paper said. The drivers of the buses, who were briefly arrested, said in their testimony they were told that they were carrying Syrian refugees and the vehicles were rented by the MIT. Last week Cumhuriyet published footage from January 19, 2014 showing Turkish security forces discovering boxes of what it described as weapons and ammunition being sent to Syria on MIT trucks intercepted near the Syrian border. The story touched a nerve as it accused Erdogan of covering up arms shipments to Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad, a claim the president vehemently denies.
In his complaint to prosecutors, Erdogan demanded Dundar serves two life sentences and 42 years in prison for espionage and publishing false information, sparking outrage at home and abroad. Tensions are running high in Turkey in the run-up to Sunday's parliamentary elections where Erdogan wants his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to secure a commanding majority in parliament. This would allow the party to rewrite the constitution and create the powerful executive-style presidency Erdogan yearns for. In another news, Turkish authorities have detained a female Russian student as she attempted to cross into war-torn Syria, Russian authorities said Friday.
Moscow State University student Varvara Karaulova, 19, was found in the Turkish border town of Kilis after she vanished from the Russian capital, the interior ministry said in a statement. "The operation to track her down was sucessful thanks to the swift use of all of Interpol's capabilities and the coordinated actions by the Turkish and Russian law enforcement agencies," the statement said. Karaulova was currently being held by Turkish immigration officials, the statement added. The cultural studies major - who had apparently developed an interest in Islam and Arabic - went missing on 27 May after skipping lectures at the prestigious university and flying to Istanbul, local media has reported, sparking speculation she wanted to link up with jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group. Karaulova's father in Istanbul told Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti she was detained Thursday as she attempted to cross the border. Pavel Karaulov said he was still "in shock" over her flight from Moscow.
Russia's interior ministry told RIA Novosti they were weighing whether to open a criminal investigation into Karaulova for trying to join an illegal armed group. She is not the first young woman from Europe to try to travel to Syria. A group of three London schoolgirls crossed into the war-torn nation in February and Turkey on Thursday said it had detained a French woman who crossed back after joining IS. There have been few reports of Russian women leaving for Syria but a large number of Chechen men from the country's volatile North Caucasus region are known to be fighting for IS. Turkey has come under fire from the West over the flow of foreign jihadists through its volatile border.
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