BATTLING ISIL IN SYRIA

U.S. uses airdrops to arm groups fighting ISIL

U.S. cargo planes dropped small arms ammunition to Arab groups fighting ISIL in northern Syria, a military spokesman said Monday.

The airdrop was conducted Sunday by air force C-17 cargo planes, Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman in Baghdad, said by email. He did not identify the Arab groups that received the supplies but said their leaders had been vetted and have been fighting to remove ISIL from northern Syria.

The airdrop is in line with a revamped U.S. approach. Instead of trying to build a new Syrian rebel force, it intends to provide equipment, including ammunition, to Syrian rebel groups who share the U.S. goal of defeating ISIL.

In central Syria, Russian jets intensified airstrikes as government forces battled insurgents in a strategic area near a rebel-held province and a government stronghold.

The government push is the latest in a bid to regain the Sahl al-Ghab plain, which is adjacent to Latakia province, a stronghold of President Bashar Assad and the Alawite religious minority to which he belongs.

After a barrage of Russian airstrikes, the fighting was focused on the village of Kfar Nabudeh, which officials said had been seized by government troops. Activists said Syrian rebels repelled the attack.

Capturing Kfar Nabudeh would cut off a major highway, giving the pro-government forces access to the northwestern province of Idlib. A rebel coalition that includes the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front drove Assad’s forces out of Idlib in September, in a major setback for the government.

The Russian defence ministry said it has struck 53 alleged ISIL targets during the past 24 hours, destroying command centres, ammunition and fuel depots as well as training camps allegedly used by foreign militants.

Russia insists it’s mainly targeting ISIL and other “terrorists,” but the multi-pronged ground-and-air offensive is being waged in areas controlled by mainstream rebels as well as the Nusra Front.

During the past six days of ground operations, government troops have seized at least two villages in eastern Hama province, and a third in the plain area. Activists say rebels seized a village south of Idlib.

The Russian ministry said jets hit mortar positions around Tal Sukayk during the past 24 hours, as well as a training camp for foreign militants in Mastouma, in Idlib.

“The terrorists in the past days were desperately trying to transport ammunition, armaments, fuel and supplies from Raqqa to the front line,” the ministry said, in reference to the northern province controlled by ISIL, adding that a “significant part” of their supplies have been destroyed by Russian airstrikes.

Near the northern Syrian city of Kobani, a Kurdish official and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and other factions have formed a “Forces of Democratic Syria” coalition whose main aim is to fight ISIL.

The official, Mustafa Bali, confirmed the U.S. had provided more than 100 tonnes of weapons and ammunition to YPG, the Kurdish militia battling ISIL in that area.

The coalition includes Arab, Kurdish and Assyrian rebel factions that have been fighting ISIL over the past year. The aim of the coalition is to march toward the northern city of Raqqa, which is ISIL’s declared capital.

In Moscow, security officials said Monday they have thwarted a planned attack on Moscow public transport system by militants aligned to ISIL.

Officials say several terror suspects arrested Sunday were trained by ISIL in Syria.