Syria Direct features a story of how a State TV promotion of “reconciliation”, filmed in the Damascus suburb of Moadimiya, went wrong….
The Assad regime struck a deal for the PR film, allowing gas to enter the town and restoring electricity in exchange for access for the TV crew.
However, as the cameras rolled, demonstrators chanted demands for the release of detainees and held up a banner, “Your freedom is more valuable than our truce.”
According to activists, the film unit never got suitable footage for broadcast.
The activists said that, as soon as the TV crew, the Syrian military permanently closed the only entrance into the town and launched two artillery shells into its eastern section, causing several injuries.
The Local Coordinating Committees wrote, “The only crossing to the city is still closed and it is forbidden for anyone to come or go except for employees and students who have been permitted, but neither they nor others are allowed to bring anything with them, not even a piece of bread.”
Moadimiyeh suffered from a “starve or surrender” siege of more than a year and regular bombardment before local leaders finally relented and accepted a “reconcilation” agreement with the regime in January 2014.
See Syria Feature: Moadamiya – “If You Back the Revolution You Will Starve To Death”
Syria Spotlight: Regime “Offer” to Besieged Moadamiya — Raise Our Flag and You Might Get Some Food
