Today Qamishli was hit by multiple suicide bombings that killed at least 5 Kurds. Though on social media there is some dispute as to who carried out the attacks, with pro-Jabhat al-Nusra (JN) Twitter users attributing the attacks to JN, it is almost certain that the attacks were the work of the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS). Indeed, on the wider rebel front in Hasakah province and Qamishli, ISIS is the dominant group and has been responsible for multiple suicide attacks on the PYD in the Qamishli area over the past few months: other groups have either been subjugated and required to give bay'ah (allegiance) to ISIS (most notably Ahrar ash-Sham and JN remnants) or are groups supporting ISIS anyway (e.g. Liwa Ansar al-Khilafa). Similar to its securing of tribal support in Raqqa and eastern Aleppo provinces, ISIS has also co-opted Arab tribes in pushing back against YPG counter-offensives, most notably with the Juburis of Tel Barak. Amusingly, FSA-banner supporters downplay ISIS' role in this fighting, since they are bound to assertions that both the YPG and ISIS are regime agents.
ISIS' Twitter account for Hasakah province has already named the bombers behind today's attack: Abu Muhammad al-Ansari (a native Syrian) and Jarij al-Jazrawi (likely a muhajir from the Arabian Peninsula- specifically Saudi Arabia).
Below is my translation of the statement released by the Qamishli Sootoro- a pro-regime Christian militia which I have documented previously here- on the bombings:
"At 1:30 p.m. on 11 March, the sound of a bombing was heard, accompanied with shots of fire, so our patrols promptly moved away from the path of the information division and turned to the site of the bombing and it is the Hadaya hotel located on al-Wahda street. So the patrols undertook to protect the schools, churches and public interests, organizing security evacuations for civilians and schoolchildren. The patrols remained called out on duty until calm began spreading in the surrounding streets.
No exact or confirmed details until now on the extent of human or material casualties caused by the explosion but when an official statement appears we will publish it immediately."
Update 12th March: Sootoro issues a new statement today giving further information:
"As we promised you that we would publish the true news, and that after the issuance of an official statement from the Asayish about the bombing operations in Hadaya hotel: those who carried out the operation were of Arab nationalities (Saudi, Egyptian and Tunisian)- seven people- and four of them were killed during the operation while the other three were arrested. Also seven civilians lost their lives in the explosion and others were wounded."