Syrian army forms suicide bomber platoon

Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have announced the establishment of a suicide bomber platoon, according to a video released on the internet on December 30 and made available Tuesday by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

In the video, masked men in camouflage uniforms said to belong to the Syrian army’s Mountain Battalion can be seen wearing explosives belts as they deliver their message.

“We, the commandos of the Mountain Battalion, declare, from the peak of Mount Nabi Yunis, the establishment of a martyrdom-seeking platoon,” a representative says. “This is our response to all the foreigners who have distorted the religion of Islam, and have defiled the soil of our country.

“The language of killing has never been taught on the land of Syria,” he continues. “Our language is the language of defending the country and its master against all those who have sold their souls to Satan and his followers. We are ready to sacrifice our lives so that the banner of Truth will fly high.”

Earlier this week Syria’s key opposition National Coalition elected a new chief, Khaled Khoja, who received backing from both secular and moderate Islamist blocs.

The National Coalition is the internationally-recognized representative of Syria’s uprising, but is often accused of being out-of-touch with reality on the ground in the country’s nearly-four-year war. It has twice held talks with the Syrian regime that achieved little, and is currently debating a new plan by Damascus ally Russia to restart dialogue on a solution to the conflict.

On Sunday US and coalition aircraft targeted a crude oil pipeline and collection depots in Syria held by Islamic State jihadists, the American military said, in the latest bid to undercut the group’s oil smuggling.

Allied fighter jets and bombers carried out at least 14 air raids near the eastern city of Dayr-az-Zawr, including six strikes on five crude oil collection points, a pipeline, armored vehicles and a shipping container.

The international coalition fighting IS has sought to disrupt the group’s crude oil supplies, repeatedly targeting refineries, oil tanker trucks and various makeshift depots in Syria.

The IS has made substantial profits from illegal oil sales, offering cheap prices far below the market rate. The group also relies on money from ransoms, smuggling of antiquities and extortion in areas under its control.

As of mid-December, the American-led coalition against IS had carried out more than 1,300 air raids. Washington launched the air war in Iraq on August 8 and extended it to Syria on September 23.

AFP contributed to this report.