Via LWJ:
Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, teamed up with another Salafist-jihadist group to take control of the city of Raqqah along the Euphrates River in eastern Syria. Meanwhile, the Al Nusrah Front executed two more suicide attacks yesterday near the city of Homs.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that closely monitors Syria’s civil war, reported yesterday that the Al Nusrah Front and the Ahrar al Sham Brigade took full control of Raqqah after the groups “overran the military security branch,” which was “the last regime stronghold” in the city.
“The takeover of the city was symbolically celebrated by the Al Nusrah fighters through one of its fighters calling to prayer from inside the military security branch,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on its Facebook page. A video of the call to prayer was posted on YouTube (video above).
Raqqah is the first provincial capital in Syria to completely fall under the control of the myriad of forces opposed to President Bashir al Assad’s regime. It is unsurprising that Raqqah fell to Al Nusrah and its jihadist allies, as Al Nusrah is considered to be the most organized and effective fighting force in Syria. The terror group has an estimated 10,000 fighters and is present on nearly all of the fronts in the country.