Den islamske staten Irak har påtatt seg ansvaret for drapet på 48 syriske soldater som hadde vært på rekreasjon i Irak. Soldatene ble drept sammen med åtte irakiske vakter da de var på vei tilbake til Syria.

At en al-Qaida-tilknyttet gruppe med base i Irak påtar seg ansvar for drap på Assads soldater, gjør at risikoen for regional spredning øker.

The Islamic State of Iraq, a militant jihadist group affiliated with Al-Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for a massacre of nine Iraqi guards and 48 Syrian soldiers who sought respite in Iraq from Syria’s civil war. The massacre is considered one the conflict’s most deadly episodes of cross-border fighting. The U.S. has condemned this attack as an act of «terrorism» because it claims some of the Syrian troops sought medical treatment in Iraq. Meanwhile, Syria’s grand mufti, Sheik Ahmad Badr al-Deen Hassoun, has issued a religious degree urging Syrian parents to enlist their children in the Syrian Army. The grand mufti is a Sunni and also closely linked to the Assad regime. His degree is significant for two reasons: it appeared to call for jihad; and it suggests the Assad regime lacks a sufficient supply of soldiers, prompting concerns that Assad may enforce compulsory service into the armed forces. This speculation is corroborated by reports that the Syrian government is recruiting and training Syrian women to become soldiers in a force named the «Lionesses for National Defense.» A video posted to Russia Today’s Arabic channel shows women marching in army fatigues, carrying Kalashnikov rifles, chanting slogans in support of the Syrian regime. Their duties consist largely of checkpoint control.

kilde: Foreing Policy and New America Foundation and the Project on Middle East Political Science