(MENAFN- Arab Times) Rocket fire from rebel-held areas around the Syrian capital killed five people and wounded 37 on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported. "Five dead and 37 wounded in a terrorist rocket attack on Baghdad Street and Ath-Thawra Street in Damascus and on the city's Bab Touma area," the agency said. Britain-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which gathers information from a large network of sources on the ground, confirmed the death toll.
It also said a large number of people were critically wounded. SANA said the five were killed and 36 wounded in "Ath-Thawra Street in central Damascus by a rocket fired by terrorists in the Jubar sector", a city suburb. It also reported one wounded when a rocket hit Baghdad Street, while five rockets that hit the Bab Touma area caused only damage. Rebel groups took the strategic Jubar district in summer 2013, and loyalist forces began an offensive aimed at retaking it last September. Residential districts of Damascus come under regular rebel rocket attack, while rebel-held sectors are often the target of regime air raids and artillery bombardment. On June 17, rockets fired by rebels at central Damascus killed nine people, and on June 28 four people died in a similar attack on the city centre. According to a toll compiled by the Observatory, the Syria conflict has killed more than 240,000 people. It was triggered in March 2011 by the bloody repression of peaceful anti-government protests and degenerated into armed revolt and a bloody and devastating civil war. Regime forces, rebel groups, Kurdish fighters and jihadists are now competing over more and more fragmented territory. More than half the country's population has been displaced or become refugees. Last month, United Nations aid chief Stephen O'Brien said more than one million people have been displaced so far this year, many for a second or third time, on top of 7.6 million displaced inside Syria by the end of 2014.
The murky aftermath of the attack on Syrian rebels last week by al-Qaida linked militants has raised questions about how the small, ragtag group of US trained forces was sent into battle and whether the military needs to make adjustments to the program. Amid reports that some of the newly trained Syrian rebels were captured, one was killed and others are still unaccounted for, US officials acknowledged they may need to rethink how they put what they are calling the New Syrian Forces back into battle. "Certainly this past week has highlighted some of the challenges associated with fielding New Syrian forces, but it's important to keep in mind that success does not hinge on one fight or one event and we're still in the early phases of implementing this program," said Col. Pat Ryder, Central Command spokesman. "And that we're continually applying lessons learned and working as a coalition" to improve the training and equipping program. So far, only 54 Syrian rebels have completed the US training. Of those, at least one was killed last week and as many as five were captured by the Nusra Front militants who attacked the New Syrian Forces' compound. US officials have also acknowledged that after the fight, which they said the Nusra Front lost, some of the New Syrian Forces left the area and not all have been accounted for. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Asked if any of the 54 had returned to battle, Ryder said he would not divulge details on where individuals may be. He said the New Syrian Forces are not under US command and control. Instead, once they are trained they return to the Syrian rebel groups that the US has been working with. The training is focused on teaching the Syrian rebels to battle Islamic State militants, and the attack by the Nusra Front, an al-Qaida affiliate, appeared to come as a surprise. In a hearing last month, Defense Secretary Ash Carter, responding to a question from Sen.
Jack Reed, a Democrat , dismissed as unlikely the idea that the US might have to go to the aid of New Syrian Forces if they were attacked. "I think we have an obligation to do so. You're right. I don't expect that occasion to arise anytime soon," said Carter. But a succession of incidents last week, including a Nusra attack and two separate, successful kidnappings that targeted the rebels, have made it clear that assumption was wrong.
While military officials say there is no formal review as a result of the attack and its aftermath, one senior US official said it's prudent to take another look at how and where the Syrian forces are put back onto the battlefield in order to make sure they are as successful as possible.
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MOSCOW: Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir will visit Moscow on Tuesday to discuss Syria conflict and the Islamic State group with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign ministry said Saturday. The two ministers last met in Qatar on August 3 when Lavrov, Jubeir and US Secretary of State John Kerry held a three-way meeting, with the situation in Syria topping the agenda.
The ministers will continue "a discussion on ways to resolve the crisis in Syria," the Russian foreign ministry said. Moscow said topics would include the "sharp growth in strength of various extremist groups, primarily the so-called Islamic State". "The ministers will discuss the possibility of Russia-Saudi cooperation in fighting terrorism, which is in the interests of both countries," the ministry said.
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