Islamic Front condemns airstrikes, says will undermine rebels, benefit Assad

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Key Syrian rebel groups, in a statement posted on their Twitter account on Thursday, condemned air strikes by a US-led coalition against Islamic State group, saying strikes would undermine the armed opposition and benefit Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The Islamic Front and the Islamic Union of Ajnad al-Sham (Levant Soldiers) said the air strikes will increase the plight of our people as it’s another chance for criminal regime to commit more crimes against civilians, the statement said.

“Our refusal comes from our suffering since we have compelled to defend ourselves against terrorism, which now is countering by the West.”

The Islamic Front urged the US-led coalition to counter Assad’s regime first before ISIS. Assad was behind its mounting power, the rebel group said.

Days ago, the Hazm Movement, Syrian rebel group that has reportedly received weapons from the United States criticized US air strikes  

Hazm described the strikes as "an attack on national sovereignty that undermines the Syrian revolution", according to AFP.

"The sole beneficiary of this foreign interference in Syria is the Assad regime, especially in the absence of any real strategy to topple him," Hazm said.

Meanwhile, air and missile strikes, thought to be carried out by U.S.-led forces, hit oilfields and Islamic State bases in the eastern Syria overnight and early Friday,  Reuters said.

U.S. and Arab forces started bombing Islamic State militants in northern and eastern Syria on Tuesday. The United States has been bombing bases of the al Qaeda splinter group in Iraq since last month.

The air strikes early on Friday hit Islamic State bases and positions on the outskirts of the city of al-Mayadin in Deir Ezzor province, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict through a network of sources.

An earlier air strike hit the al-Tanak oilfield area in the province, while apparent missile strikes -- also thought to be carried out by U.S.-led forces -- hit the al-Quriyah area, also in Deir Ezzor, the monitoring group said, according to Reuters.

Strikes also hit areas southeast of the city of Hasaka, close to Syria's border with Iraq. They targeted Islamic State, al Qaeda's Nusra Front and other Islamist militants, the Observatory said.

Syria's opposition National Coalition, a key political grouping, welcomed the US-led strikes on Tuesday, but also urged the international community to keep up pressure on Assad.

 More than 190,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the conflict in March 2001.