MESOP NEWS : U.S. embassy in Damascus accuses Assad of supporting ISIS against Syrian rebels

June 3, 2015 – ARA News – Istanbul, Turkey – The U.S. embassy in Damascus accused the Syrian regime for providing air assistance to the Islamic State group (IS/ISIS/ISIL) through intensifying strikes on the areas held by Syrian rebel factions east and north of the city of Aleppo, northern the country.The embassy announced on its official account on Twitter that this bombardment, led by pro-Assad warplanes, is paving the way for ISIL to advance in the northern countryside of Aleppo, accusing the regime of providing air cover for jihadists to combat rebels in those areas.“With these latest reports, Assad is not only avoiding ISIL lines, but actively seeking to bolster their position in Syria,” U.S. embassy tweeted.

Speaking ARA News, field activist Moaz Hassan emphasized that IS group is trying to utilize pro-Assad airstrikes, which already pushed the group advance in the eastern and northern fronts of Aleppo. “ISIL is trying to advance towards the northern areas in order to cut rear supply lines of the opposition forces, along the Turkish borderline,” he said. For weeks, IS extremists have been planning to control Bab as-Salama border crossing with Turkey, which is deemed one of the vital backbones to supply rebels. As such, rebel factions will be mostly stranded between the regime’s hammer and ISIL’s anvil.Over the last few days, the Syrian regime has intensified aerial bombardment on the towns held by the Syrian opposition forces near Aleppo, coinciding with fierce battles between IS radicals and Syrian rebels in the eastern and northern countryside of the province, after the latter’s attempt to advance towards Azaz –where Bab as-Salama border crossing with Turkey is located.