No Such Army: Free Syrian Army has turned out to be a scam...

No Such Army: Free Syrian Army has turned out to be a scam... Whither the Syrian "revolutionaries"? by Thierry Meyssan Dec. 22, 2013

November 29, 2011, a delegation from the Free Syrian Army allied itself with a delegation from the Syrian National Council. In theory, the opposition now had a military wing and a political wing.

In reality, the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian National Council are two fictions created by NATO. Both are exclusively composed of mercenaries and have little reality of their own in the field.

The organizers of the Geneva peace conference urgently seek a representative for the armed Syrian opposition. According to Westerners, the conflict opposes an abominable dictatorship to its own people. However, armed groups that destroy Syria - from the Islamic Front to Al-Qaeda - officially call for foreign fighters, even if the former claims to be composed primarily of Syrians. Inviting them would amount to admitting that there has never been a revolution in Syria, only foreign aggression.

Indeed, the Free Syrian Army, which a few weeks ago we were told included 40,000 men, has disappeared. After its headquarters was attacked by mercenaries and arsenals were looted, its historic leader, General Salim Idriss, fled through Turkey and found refuge in Qatar.

At the time of its formation, July 29, 2011, the FSA had set a single objective: the overthrow of President Bashar al -Assad. The FSA has never specified whether it fought for a secular regime or an Islamic regime. It never adopted any political position with regards to Justice, Education, Culture, Economics, Labour, Environment, etc. . It never drafted the slightest policy program.

It was, we were told, formed of soldiers from the Syrian Arab Army who had defected. There were indeed defections during the second half of 2011, but their total number never exceeded 4 %, which is negligible on a country-wide scale.

No : The FSA did not need a political program because it had a flag, that of French colonisation. In force during the French mandate over Syria and maintained during the first years of supposed independence, it symbolized the Sykes-Picot Agreement: Syria was largely amputated and divided into ethnic and confessional states. Three stars symbolized a Druze state, an Alawite State and a Christian state. All Syrians know this fatal flag, be it only by its presence in the office of the Syrian collaborator of the French occupation in a famous soap opera.

Its first leader, Colonel Riad al-Assad, has disappeared to the dustbin of history. He was selected for his name, which is written differently in Arabic but is pronounced identically in European languages with that of President Bashar al-Assad. The only difference between the two men, from a point of view of the Gulf monarchies, was that the first was Sunni and the second, Alawite.

In reality, the Free Syrian Army is a Franco-British creation as were the "Benghazi revolutionaries" in Libya (who had "chosen" the flag of King Idris I, collaborator of the English occupants).

An armed tool of NATO, intended to take the presidential palace when the Atlantic Alliance had bombed the country, the FSA has been tossed by successive plans and the successive failures of the West and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Presented a second time as the armed wing of a political council in exile, the former did not recognize the latter’s authority and obeyed only its Franco-British employers. It was in effect the armed wing of their secret services of which the Syrian National Coalition was the political front. Ultimately, the FSA could accumulate success only with the direct assistance of NATO, namely the Turkish Army that housed it in its own bases.

Created in the framework of a 4th generation war, the FSA has failed to adapt to the Second Syrian War, the Nicaraguan type. The first war (from the NATO meeting in Cairo in February, 2011 to the Geneva Conference in June, 2012) was a media staging to delegitimize power so that it would fall like a ripe fruit into the hands of NATO. Military actions were perpetrated by different factions, receiving their orders directly from the Alliance. It served above all to give credence to media lies giving the illusion of a widespread revolt. According to the theories of William Lind and Martin Van Creveld, the FSA was a label to refer to all these groups, but which did not have its own hierarchical structure. Instead, the Second War (from the meeting of the "Friends of Syria" in Paris in July, 2012 to the Geneva 2 Conference in January, 2014) is a war of attrition to "bleed" the country until its surrender. To fulfill its role, the FSA would have had to turn into a real army, with a hierarchy and discipline, which it has never been able to do.

Feeling its end was near, since the Turkish- Iranian rapprochement, the FSA had announced its possible participation in Geneva 2 by demanding unrealistic conditions. But it was already too late. Mercenaries paid by Saudi Arabia set this NATO fiction straight. Everyone can now see the naked truth: there has never been a revolution in Syria.

http://www.voltairenet.org/article181534.html

Syria Update: Tartus – Latakia (Part 5) December 19, 2013

Syria Update - Tartus – Latakia (Part 5) - December 19, 2013

As we were passing the beautiful Latakia Mountains, we did not know what we were about to see that day.

Hambushiyah village. After the barbarous Wahhabi, who had come here from across the Turkish border, had raided it, the village has become virtually void of inhabitants. One of its former residents told us about the fate of the village as he sat on the grass close by the ruins of his former house.

It must have been hard to be listening to his story even to heavens above, as the heavy clouds kept shedding the teardrops of rain upon us, in the duration of his narrative. Unfortunately, you will not be able to see his painful eyes. For obvious reasons, we will not show his face. Perhaps, some time later. When this horror of war is over and Syria will have peace return to its lands.

“On August 4, 2013, at 4am, all the residents of this village were sound asleep. Suddenly, a large number of mercenaries of various nationalities broke into the village. I saw them with my own eyes. Among them, there were Chechens, Libyans, Afghans, Egyptians, Saudis. I could tell them by their speech. There were women among them, too. They were accompanied by “sheiks”, who were shouting “Allah Akbar!” and were calling them to do killings. Many of them had swords which they used to strike the villagers. The first group of militants, they were chopping everybody indiscriminately. The second group, they were slitting people's throats. The third one, they were taking people captive and shooting them.

“The kept shouting “Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!” all the time. There were also cheers like “Islamic Front of Iraq and Sham”. However, those mercenary killers have nothing to do with religion and God. Islam has already rejected them. A Muslim will never cut people, dismember their bodies, and fornicate. They had taken captive 115 people from out village. Among them, 68 children aged 8 months to 10 years old. They even took 75-year-old women, those who were old and sick of asthma, diabetes, and other illnesses. Children, young women, the elderly, nobody escaped them. They took pity on nobody. Nothing and no one could be safe with them, neither the people, nor the trees, nor the rocks. Even our cow that was providing us with food they took away along with them.

“I saw how they were cutting women. They were great in number, 4000 – 5000. They would come into their houses and cut them. They ripped the pregnant women’s abdomens and took their unborn babies out. A terrible crime against the poor people has taken place in this place. These people are innocent. Our only fault is that we support our government. But we will continue to support our president, no matter what happens.

“I want to thank Russian government and Russian people, and all the countries that support our just cause. They call themselves Islamists, and religious people. But no religion has anything to do with them. Religion is love. It is forgiveness. Religion is for God. Motherland is for everybody. What am I to blame for if I was born into this place and belong to a certain religion? Whether I am a Christian, or an Alawite, or a Druse, or a Sunni. It is God who has decided so. How can religion cut children and dismember their bodies.

“I have lost 42 members of my family. Some of them have been killed; some of them have been kidnapped. My mother is 75. What has she done to them? My son is three years old. My nephew is nine months old. Another my nephew has been killed. What was their fault? Did they fight for the government? However, as long as we live in this land, we will continue fighting for this government and for this president. There is no better president than this, and perhaps there will never be, in this world.

“I would like to say thank you to Putin! I wish that he defeated his Islamist enemies! What kind of religion is that of theirs? And what kind of person can accept such a religion? How can a Chechen intend to teach me how to be free? A Libyan, who had destroyed his own country; is he going to teach me democracy and freedom? This here was freedom! This is a country of peace and love. Thank God for everything!

“We will fight to the end! Until we have done away with all those Chechen, Somali, Libyan, Egyptian, and Saudi mercenaries. Who is that Bandar? He does not remember his own father! He ships weapons and mercenary fighters here to kill our women and children. They had burned down everything. They have destroyed our harvest fields and ruined our houses. Despite that, we will stand here, holding on to our land. You’re welcome.”

Another one of the remaining villagers noticed us and came up to greet us. He, too, began to tell us about what had happened here.

“They began to shoot from every direction, from that mountain and from that mountain. They were shouting “Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar!” When we heard the shootings, we ran down to the gorge. I have lost 12 cousins. They were killed inside their houses. All members of my family, some are killed and others have been kidnapped. The ages of the kidnapped are from 5 to 15.”

“Why have you stayed here?”

“Where would I go? I have no place to go. I had taken my family to the city and here there is my house. You would not believe how they were destroying the trees, the harvest, and the houses here. They were firing rockets and shouting “Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar”. Thank God, the ravine is close. We made it to it fast. They were firing in all directions and shouting “Allah Akbar”.

“This is a place where a rocket landed. Everything died in flames, he walnut trees. Everything burned.”

“There was a mass grave down here. There were 86 dead bodies from Hambushiyah, Mbati und Bouta. In this mass grave, a number of women were buried whose bodies were mutilated. There were two decapitated brothers of mine. Initially, there was a small water pool here. They put the bodies in it and covered them with dirt. The youngest victim was 15 years of age. The oldest one was 90. One old man with a limp leg was suffering from gangrene. But he did not escape, either. He was also killed. His name was Dschamil Yassim. They killed 86 people here. There is another grave alongside the road where 13 bodies were buried. They butchered a cow on top of the graves so that nobody would figure it out that that is a mass grave there.

“That is the kind of Islam that Bandar, who himself knows no God, has been dispatching to us. Hamad and Erdogan are calling us to freedom. What kind of freedom is this? Freedom to kill? Freedom to sever [dead bodies]? We do know what freedom is! There has always been peace and security in Syria. It is a country of peace where everybody lived peacefully. This is the kind of peace they have sent out to us [- a mortar shell].”

Unfortunately, this is just one of many similar tragedies that had taken place here. Shakuhi village has no residents left in it, too.

The savage hordes of Satanists were moving down those roads from Turkey. They used to stockpile their weapons in that cave over there while preparing for their barbaric – abhorrent in the eyes of God – crimes against innocent children, women, and the elderly.

Those lonely half-ruined houses, the witnesses to all those mindless crimes, seemed to be silently staring in the air in front of them with those black empty eye sockets of their windows, as if praying for justice.

We do hope that all those responsible for that savage manslaughter, including its perpetrators, who can hardly be called humans or religious people at all, eventually will be punished by both people and God.

Contributors: Vasily Pavlov, Andrey Filatov, Igor Nadyrshin, Victor Kuznetsov, Marat Musin.

ANNA-News, Latakia, Syria

Syria Update: Latest Events - December 17, 2013

Syria Update: Latest Events

December 17, 2013

Damascus province. Counterterrorism operation has continued to free Yabrud city in Damascus province of Al-Nusra Front-affiliated as well as many other terrorist groups there. It has been reported that the Islamists there have held hostage 13 Maaloula nuns, kidnapped earlier from St.Thecla Convent in Maaloula.

Presently, the outskirts of Yabrud, as well as the seasonal housing area within the city, have already been cleared of all bandits. Thorough security inspections of the freed areas are underway. In the process, a number of improvised grenade launchers, used to fire locally produced rockets, have been found in the area. Terrorist underground tunnels and bunkers have also been discovered and large quantities of improvised explosive devices have been found and defused in the area.

According to the local residents, there had been many terrorists, including foreign mercenaries, in the outskirts of Yabrud. The bandits from Saudi Arabia, Libya, and a number of other countries, were said to have lived in the nearby houses. All the stores and dwelling houses in that neighborhood have been thoroughly looted by the bandits, who stole anything they could carry including kitchenware. The counterterrorism operation in the area is ongoing.

Al-Nabk city is slowly coming back to peaceful life. Local civilians, confident of the army’s imminent victory, are returning to their city. Earlier, they had to leave their homes to escape the terrorists’ viciousness. In the city streets, more than often, children’s voices can be heard already. During this cold season months, the authorities are doing everything necessary to restore as soon as possible the dwelling houses, to repair looted administrative buildings, schools, and electricity and water supply systems of the ravaged city.

Syrian army special brigades continue carrying out thorough investigation of the territory in and around the city. A large number of improvised explosive devices have already been disarmed. Many cars, which are listed as stolen from civilians have been located in the area.

In Deir Atieh town, liberated from Al-Nusra Front terrorist bands in Damascus province, reconstruction works are also underway. The town’s electricity and water supplies have been restored. At present, local dwelling houses, schools, and the town’s only hospital are being repaired. The hospital building itself had sustained great damages when sieged by terrorists. Peaceful life is coming back.      

ANNA-News Agency

Contributors: Marat Musin, Igor Nadyrshin, Vasily Pavlov, Victor Kuznetsov.

Syria

Syria Update: Latest Events - December 16, 2013

Syria Update: Latest Events

December 16, 2013



Deir ez-Zor. A large band of A-Nusra Front terrorists had tried to break into Aiyash village in Deir ez-Zor province and to assault a Syrian army unit stationed there. Most of the attacking bandits were killed during the combat. The remainder of the bandits were forced to retreat and they had to seek shelter in one of the nearby dwelling houses in the village. During a short-lived siege fight, all of the remaining terrorists were also killed. Unfortunately, three civilians, including one child, were discovered dead in the house. The bandits killed its inhabitants, when they broke into the house.

In the southeast of Deir ez-Zor province, one of the Syrian army units has located another large Al-Nusra Front-affiliated terrorist band. All the members of that terrorist band were killed during the ensued fighting. Syrian army troops took no losses. Later, large quantities of terrorist weapons, ammunition, and military equipment were retrieved from the battle area.

Hama. During counterterrorism operations in Hama city, a secret stockpile of weapons and ammunition has been discovered in a dwelling house, occupied by one of the militants. Among the retrieved items were: FN FAL assault rifle (Belgium), rigged with a rifle grenade launcher, and rifle grenades. The owner of the house has been apprehended. Investigation is underway.

Damascus province. During security checkups, in Al-Nabk city of Damascus province, Syrian army has discovered a large workshop, which had been used to produce improvised explosive devices, and a stockpile of ready-to-be-used improvised mortars and rockets. Large quantities of stockpiled compound chemicals have been seized as well which must have been used by the terrorists to produce chemical weapons components. All the seized items have been taken for further analysis.

Syrian army troops, participating in the cleanup operation, have examined the terrorist fortifications in the area including the wide network of trenches and underground tunnels that had been used by the terrorists. The expertly built two-meter deep trenches as well as concrete-reinforced underground bunkers bespoke deep involvement of foreign military specialists in the construction of those facilities. During the area checkups, Syrian army sappers have discovered and disarmed several improvised explosive devices that had been disguised as boulders and were intended to be used as part of a remotely controlled minefield. The area inspections have continued.

Deir ez-Zor. In Deir ez-Zor province, a 17-year-old woman, named Dunham, has appealed to the local law enforcement agencies. She told a story of how she had been tricked into joining one of Al-Nusra Front bands allegedly to cook food for the bandits. Once in the band, she was coerced into “sexual jihad”. Besides her, there were a number of young women from Morocco and Tunis in the terrorist group. She did know what particular group that was but the group leader, “emir”, was a foreigner, who was not proficient in Arabic. Eventually, she managed to escape.



ANNA-News Agency

Contributors: Marat Musin, Igor Nadyrshin, Vasily Pavlov, Victor Kuznetsov.

Syria

The Terrorist Advocate: Short Summary of the Lectured Advice

The Principal and Vice Chancellor of Scotland’s University of St Andrews, Professor Louise Richardson

The Terrorist Advocate: Short Summary of the Lectured Advice



The Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews, a public research university in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, Professor Louise Richardson, has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by leading Russian university MGIMO at a ceremony in Moscow on November 11, 2013. After the award, Professor Richardson addressed MGIMO students and academics on contemporary terrorism in a Doctorate lecture entitled “Terrorism – what have we learned?”


What particular advice could Dr. Louise Richardson give to university students in a country, which is as familiar with the issues of terrorism as Russia is?


Aside from the most evident features of terrorism that could not be denied any way, Dr. Louise Richardson has tried to infuse additional meaning into its definition in a poorly concealed attempt at mitigating if not undermining accepted firm policies in Russia towards terrorism. Bypassing the criminal aspects of terrorist acts themselves, Dr. Louise Richardson substituted a notion of a clumsy almost juvenile-like “communicator” for the classical notion of a terrorist. A terrorist is a person who uses or advocates the use of violence and/or threats of violence to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes as well as the use of terroristic methods of governing or of resisting a government. However, in the lecture, terrorism has been defined as a means of communication and terrorists were depicted as “action-oriented people operating in an action-oriented in-group”. While listening to how terrorists were nearly compared to innocent children, vying for attention, one could almost feel tender pity, emanating from the stage, to the poor buggers.


“It is through action that they communicate” it has been said. Besides, terrorism has been characterized as pursuing legitimate goals through targeting “non-combatants”. It seems that Dr. Louise Richardson was also trying to imply that resisting a government through the use of violence was in itself a legitimate, if not praiseworthy, goal even though it was done through the use of violence against innocent civilians, rigidly referred to as “non-combatants”, by way of a deliberate strategy on the part of sub-state groups. In their turn, such terrorist groups, it has been implied, in their mindsets, are similar to juvenile delinquents, who are trying to gain reaction to their despicable acts of terror because it is through action that they solicit response as a proof of their importance.


In short, at attempt has been made to diminish the grave nature of terrorist activity and the degree of accountability for such acts on the part of the perpetrators of terrorist attacks. Moreover, that was a misrepresentation of terrorism, which has become an increasingly popular contemporary means of political struggle in some parts of the world and one of the major threats to social and political stability the world over. The significance of the issue has been toned down by suggesting that the terrorists do not wish to defeat their opponents through their acts of terror but simply to communicate their message to others. Terrorism being a political act by definition, such a misleading softened approach to outright savagery and crimes against humanity on the part of terrorists is very surprising and suspicious.


It seems that an attempt has been made to have Russia’s coercive approach against perpetrators of terrorist acts undermined through excessive introduction of conciliatory measures aimed at the societies where the roots of terrorism have not yet been fully eradicated. While stressing the importance of hard and soft approaches, mysterious “successful governments” have been mentioned throughout the second half of the lecture suggesting Russia’s closer cooperation with their intelligence agencies as the only important weapon in counter-terrorist arsenal.


These days, it is more than clear that the so-called conciliatory policies addressed to the broader public where there is a support for terrorism, especially when applied in coordination or with support of the US/UK intelligence agencies, can only bring about an increased covert terrorist activity in those areas. Such cooperation there can only lead to subsequent open violent terrorist outbursts, also assisted by the same above-mentioned foreign intelligence agencies. Thus, such conciliatory measures could only undermine the already existing counter-terrorist policies in Russia, which have consistently proved to be effective because they are straightforward and dependable.


There has also been a contradiction in the way the modern-day terrorist groups have been described in terms of their size and materiel. It was reiterated throughout the lecture that the non-state terrorist groups tend to be smaller yet more lethal these days. For example: “Non-state terrorist groups are fielding lethal capabilities ones thought to be the preserve of the governments. Weapons of greater and greater lethality are falling into the hands of smaller and smaller groups. The smaller the groups the harder they are to detect.” The most recent facts on the ground have shown us that weapons of greater lethality, including WMD, can end up in the wrong hands only if the “successful governments”, who think that they have everything in control, allow such weapons to be delivered into the wrong hands. That is exactly what had happened when chemical weapons were delivered through the Turkish border to Islamist fighters in Syria last summer. We all know what happened there after that weapon of mass destruction ended up in the hands of the Islamist terrorists.


In other words, these days when larger state governments exercise increasingly more pervasive intelligence gathering capabilities, genuine independent non-state actors tend to be less powerful and less lethal, whereas state-sponsored wide-networked terrorist groups (like Al-Qaeda) are indeed becoming more difficult to detect and they pose increasingly more lethal threat to other governments.


In this context, for Russia, or any nation for that matter, applying for help from US/UK intelligence agencies to engage the communities from which the present-day non-state terrorist groups draw their support would produce bad intelligence and facilitate the formation of radical groups within those communities and the emergence of a separate global community complicit in the future violence. That novel global terrorist community, controlled by foreign intelligence agencies, targets the states that engaged their local communities with the intention to produce intelligence there. One such recent tragic example is Turkey.


The lecturer did not hesitate though to conclude that there were going to be more terrorist attacks, perpetrated by non-state terrorist groups. “When the inevitable terrorist attacks occur, it would be critical to maintain our perspective, not to exaggerate the threat they pose, and not to play into the terrorist hands by providing actions to be avenged or by giving them the reaction or the renown they seek.” It sounds as if the author of those words had tried to play down the significance of future terrorist attack against Russia.


Given the achievements of the governments’ intelligence communities in recent decades, the reality of genuinely independent non-state or sub-state terrorist groups becomes almost nonexistent. Whatever violent activities take place throughout the world they are becoming increasingly state-sponsored and are perpetrated by certain states by proxy these days. In this case, whatever terrorist acts take place their masterminds do seek no renown or simply reaction. The state-sponsored terrorist actions are directed against specific states and governments to destroy their political and economic infrastructure, to topple their governments, and to attain easy access to their national assets.


The state-sponsored terrorism is becoming increasingly widespread. The terrorist-states make use of violence for short-term political purposes and they make use of non-state or sub-state terroristic methods of governing or of resisting other states’ governments for long-term strategic purposes. By shifting one’s attention exclusively to the soft aspects of the so-called non-state terrorism, one inevitably advocates for or is trying to smokescreen the state-sponsored terrorism of nowadays.

Syria Update: Tartus – Latakia (Part 4) December 15, 2013

Syria Update: Tartus – Latakia (Part 4)

December 15, 2013

ANNA News team has been to Latakia province and visited a number of areas previously attacked by bands of radical Islamists. Those townships were liberated by the arrived Syrian army troops. However, the tragedy that had befallen this land can be felt immediately here, even to this day. Its signs are everywhere – in the gaping emptiness of the roadside houses, in the forsaken fertile farmlands, in the silent rocks, oak trees, and olive groves.

All along, we were fully aware that we were traveling to places where terrible tragedies had taken place. But the scale of the disaster became understandable only after we had met in person with those people, who had been directly involved in that calamity. Those were the people, who had been witnesses to the crimes of modern-day fascists who had decided that their beliefs give them the right to determine as to who will live upon this earth and who will die a tortured death.        

We have met many people who will be able to testify – in any court – to the facts of such ferocity that can bring shudder even to the most cynical advocates for the cause of the so-called Syrian freedom fighters. Those are the facts of crimes against humanity, of mass killings on religious grounds, and of genocide of a part of the Syrian society. We are going to make known stories told to us by the people, who had managed to survive the manslaughter. The stories of people, who, unarmed and caught unawares in their own beds in the early hours of the morning, still had managed to escape hell. 

We were returning to Damascus with a feeling of a self-assumed responsibility to the residents of the villages of Latakia to tell the world of those tragic days of 2013. Those were the tragic days that had become a watershed in the destinies of those Syrian people, dividing their lives into “before” and “after” – that had radically changed their lives, irreparably crippling them mentally, after they had encountered vicious cruelty, savagery, and inhumanity, which will forever remain in the memory of the Syrian people.

The torments that those people had gone through must never happen again. For that reason only, the facts of the crimes perpetrated by the militants, spreading along with them the plague of the 21st century, need to be brought to the wider public attention, they ought to be known everywhere by all the people of good will, who so far have been unaware of those things that are taking place in Syria. Those facts ought to be known by the people of good will, who are being misled by their mainstream media and their political leaders.

Having arrived in Khirbet Soulas village, we were pleasantly surprised. Even before we had got out of our vehicles, we saw local residents headed in our direction. As soon as they had noticed the vehicles, the people there went out to welcome us. 

“Long live the army”, they were chanting. They told us, “We had been attacked from all sides by the terrorists. They surrounded the village and stormed in, breaking into the houses. But for the help of God and the army, we all would have been killed. There were 400 people living in the village. Those who survived, they left here. The bandits destroyed our houses. They were attacking from everywhere. They burned down and looted the houses. With God’s help, the army came in, drove them out, and protected us. Long live the army! Long live the President! We are grateful to all the soldiers and officers. If it were not for them, we would not be here.

Thanks to God, and thanks to the army, our houses remained intact. We have already seeded and harvested since then. They attacked us at eight in the morning, they attacked the village four times and the army defended us. There were many foreigners among them with big beards. Despite the fact that they had burned down our houses and looted them, we stayed here. We have rebuilt everything and keep living on our land. We do not need anything. It is all thanks to the army. The soldiers are helping us very much. They give us bread.”

Marat Musin: “Those peaceful people came out to greet us. Their village had been attacked four times by the militants. If it had not been for the soldiers, who are right here with us now, most probably no one of those people would have survived. Those are the people who have stayed in their own village. As the militants are constantly trying to break through into this area, the Syrian army troops do not allow them to do that. I just would like to express my wishes that all of your friends and fellow villagers return to your village and to their homes as soon as possible and that peace come back to your lands.”

We continued on our trip to the forefront of the Syrian army defenses.

Marat Musin: “The militants had attacked this spot several times. We are standing at the former line of enemy engagement. When the militants had managed to capture the local telecommunications tower, they ransacked it and set it ablaze.”

“Mister Officer, would you please tell us about the current situation in your defense area front line?”

SAA Officer: “We are at Mount Khirbet Soulas, right now. It is a strategic position here that the militants are constantly trying to capture. This mount top allows us to control the territory from Salma to Rabia as well as a number of other towns and villages in the area. Some of those villages were attacked and captured earlier. The militants have made the villagers leave these places. The militants constantly try to capture new villages; they burn wild forests in order to advance closer to Latakia city to control it. Syrian army stands in the way of those attacks and keeps surveillance of the militants’ numbers and their movements in the area. This particular spot here is very important as it controls all the militant movement routes between the villages al-Rabia, al-Sukaria, and Juret al-Ma.”

Marat Musin: “Where did the militants attack this village from?”

SAA Officer: “The militants have several routes of movement. Number one – from Juret al-Ma village. Number Two – from al-Malek village, on the other side of the mountain. And number three is from Gmam village, in the direction of Khirbet Soulas. Sometimes, they try to surround us by moving from the water reservoir. But our troops’ positioning in the area does not allow them to complete their mission.”

Marat Musin: “How many civilians have been killed?”

SAA Officer: “Before the army came here, there were many killed. They [militants] had carried out massacres several times. One took place in Kambasia village, another one in Sgavor. After the advancement of Syrian army, they retreated, taking great losses. After the army had come, there were no more killings. Now, the army defends this territory, controls the militants’ movements and their supply routes, which run across the border with Turkey. This place is very close to Syria-Turkey border. It is mere ten kilometers from al-Rabia area to the Turkish border.”

Marat Musin: “Are the commanding officers of the militants foreigners or Syrians?”

SAA Officer: “Yes, there is a great number of foreigners among them. Chechens, citizens of the Persian Gulf countries, Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans. Foreigners make up the majority of the militants.”

Marat Musin: “How high are the morals and the combat spirit of the militants?”

SAA Officer: “After several failures on their part, and after the strikes, delivered against their meeting points, the militants’ combat spirit has greatly diminished. Whereas, the Syrian army’s spirits are high. So, you can see the results.”

“You see, they have burned villages, houses, and forests also to distract us from their troops’ movement. They also try to create smoke screens so that we would not be able to spot them. They hide themselves behind the smoke which makes it easier for them to be on the move.”

Marat Musin: “What are the militants’ casualties?”

SAA Officer: “It depends. At times, when we locate their positions, their losses could reach up to 100. More often, it is 50 – 70.”

We are on our way again, moving to another defense area of the Syrian army. Here, there is one of the Syrian army defense areas where Syrian troops defend nearby villages by blocking the militant routes from Turkey. The day when Khirbet Soulas was attacked, they stood a very difficult fighting here but did not let the bandits through.

Marat Musin: “Mister Colonel! How many soldiers did you have here and how did you stop the militant group back then?”

SAA Colonel: “The combat took place April 29, 2013. A large number of militants began to attack Khirbet Soulas village from various directions. Direction number one was from Der Hanka. Direction number two from Garv. A group of soldiers kept their defense here. The combat lasted for six hours. Many militants were killed. They managed to reach this spot. But, thanks to our soldiers’ bravery, the militants were driven back, having a great number of them killed. The militants had initially thought that they controlled this area. That was the beginning of their operation to capture Latakia city. According to their plan, the militants expected to have captured the ridge of Khirbet Soulas in the morning; and by the evening of that day, they intended to take over Latakia. This spot here is very important! Anyone who has control of this place is able to control Latakia. That is why they had tried to capture this place several times. Every time, they sustained great losses.”

Marat Musin: “I would like to express my gratitude… By withstanding such an attack you have in fact saved the lives of the people of that village.”

SAA Colonel: “Mostly, there are foreigners in the militant ranks. One of their aims is to capture as many women as possible. Once, we have intercepted a message radioed by one of the militants, who was reporting a capture of several women. He was told to await “sheik”, who will have to see the women before distributing them… They [militants] have no morality. We the soldiers and officers of the Syrian Army will be defending this territory. We consider ourselves responsible for the lives of those civilians. If the militants broke through here, it would be a catastrophe to the residents of the villages. The way it happened in some other villages where the militants had carried out mass killings. They had raped women and taken captive a great number of people, of whom we have not heard anything to this day. That is why our duty is to stand up against terrorism, hold on to the end, and try to kill as many of them as possible. We are fighting here against the international terrorism, for the rest of the world. They come over here from all around the world. Even in Turkey, now that they have given these bandits a shelter there, the same militants now give them problems. They even began to threaten the Turkish people, already.”

Subsequently, we found out that it was this very SAA officer, who had stood in the defense of this place for six hours, along with his five soldiers.

Our trip to the Syrian army frontline defense positions was drawing to a close. However, our journey across Latakia was not over.

It is to be continued.               

   

 

Contributors: Vasily Pavlov, Andrey Filatov, Igor Nadyrshin, Victor Kuznetsov, Marat Musin.

ANNA-News, Latakia, Syria

Syria Update: Latest Events - December 11, 2013

Syria Update: Latest Events

December 11, 2013


Damascus province. Counterterrorism operations have continued in Damascus province. Syrian army troops have continued their advance in Al Kalamoon direction. Heavy fighting is going on in that area and nearby neighborhoods that are being held on to by a large group of Islamists, who are putting up a desperate resistance. The advance of the Syrian army has been hampered due to the exhaustingly rough mountainous terrain, exceeding quantities of diverse weapons and military equipment, including heavy weapons, ammunition and landmines, used by the militants, numerous urban area pockets, and thoroughly fortified firing points.

The terrorist bands have been noted for having accumulated in them large numbers of foreign mercenaries from various countries from all over the world. Besides, this particular terrorist group has been also noted for enjoying the direct support from certain circles in Saudi Arabia.

After the liberation of Al-Nabek city, Syrian army troops have reached the outer boundaries of the ancient city of Yabroud – that had been mostly populated by Christians – and have begun their cleanup operation there, cordoning off the city and freeing it from the grasp of the local terrorist groups. In the meantime, SAA Special Forces have continued security checkups and investigations in the previously freed areas of Al-Nabek city itself.

In the area, filled with seasonal houses, between Al-Nabek and Yabroud, a separate terrorist group that had used a pick-up truck to try to break out of the city has been neutralized. Syrian army search brigades have discovered a number of terrorist stockpiles of weapons and ammunition in the area as well as a lengthy underground tunnel, rigged with explosives. In the recent battle areas, a great number of terrorist vehicles, various kinds of abandoned weapons and ammunition have been discovered as well.

Runaway terrorists have tried to inflict as much damage to this city as they possibly could. They have left behind them many looted and burned-up dwelling houses, public office buildings and administrative structures. Besides, someone must have ordered them to slay all the livestock, including cattle, owned by the local residents. Perhaps, the terrorist ideologues had decided that cows and bulls were also serving the regime and treated them as infidels.



ANNA-News Agency

Contributors: Marat Musin, Igor Nadyrshin, Vasily Pavlov, Victor Kuznetsov.

Syria