A senior commander in the Free Syrian Army, Yasser Al Abboud, has been killed in fighting in Tafas in Daraa Province in southern Syria.
Abboud was one of the first high-ranking Syrian Arab Army officials to defect to the FSA. Recently, he had been critical of the failure to supply “moderate” insurgents with arms and had publicly chastised the opposition Syrian National Coalition:
Tafas has been a battlefront for weeks, with regime forces concentrating firepower and airstrikes on the town, seen as the gateway to Daraa city and the Jordanian border to the south.
Abboud’s funeral in Daraa:
Ahrar Ash Sham Report On Storming Of Aleppo Central Prison
Heavy Bombardment — Including With Multiple Barrel Bombs And Artillery — Of As-Safira, Aleppo Province
Regime forces continued their intense bombardment of As-Safira in Aleppo Province on Tuesday, with citizen journalists reporting that Assad’s air force has dropped eight barrel bombs on the town. The bombardment continued throughout the afternoon, coupled with artillery shelling. This video from Tuesday shows extensive destruction in one part of the town, as the shelling can be heard elsewhere.
Rough Map Showing Main Locations of Fighting Around Daraa City
A very rough sketch showing the main locations of fighting around Daraa City on Tuesday, October 22. There are more reported clashes elsewhere in Daraa Province, and this map shows only the towns close to Daraa City.
In Daraa City itself the main clashes are concentrated in the Daraa Al Balad and neighboring Al Manishaya neighborhoods, closest to the border crossing with Jordan. Insurgents from the FSA and Islamist brigades including Jabhat al Nusra took the Daraa-Ramtha border crossing some weeks ago — a major blow for the regime.
There are heavy clashes ongoing in Tafas, to the north of Daraa City, control of which would allow the insurgency to control the road south from Tafas to Daraa City. Tafas has been the site of some of the fiercest ground battles between regime and FSA fighters with deaths on both sides. On Tuesday, insurgents overran a regime checkpoint between Tafas and Da’il, which will allow them to control the road between the two towns.
Statement regarding the capture of the checkpoint:
Meanwhile, regime forces from the nearby 52nd Division based are shelling the town of Al Harak.
Footage Shows Destruction In Ar Rastan, Homs Province
Footage from Tuesday shows the extent of the destruction caused by regime shelling in the town of Ar Rastan in Homs Province. Ar Rastan is directly north of Homs city and south of Hama. The town is under a regime siege.
Footage taken on Tuesday shows a boy climbing on rubble caused by an air strike in Ar Rastan:
Air Strikes Amid Fierce Clashes Near Border Post In Daraa Al Balad
The regime continues to battle to retake control of Daraa Al Balad, a key neighborhood in Daraa City, after insurgents captured the Old Customs Area and the Daraa-Ramtha border crossing some weeks ago.
Footage from Tuesday shows airstrikes on the neighborhood of Al Manshiyah, while insurgents use a tank to shell regime positions in the same quarter (click for map).
Firing on regime positions in the Funduq Barrier area of Al Manshia:
Formation Of New Free Syrian Army Brigade In Nawa, Daraa
Footage from Tuesday shows the formation of a new Free Syrian Army Brigade — Liwa Ahrar Nawa — in the the town of Nawa, Daraa Province, the site of fierce fighting since insurgents overran a checkpoint in the town in the summer. The video shows that one of the insurgents has a shoulder held rocket launcher.
Activists Highlight Growing Humanitarian Crisis In Homs, As Infants Die Of Malnutrition
A group of media activists have highlighted what they say is a growing humanitarian crisis in the Old City of Homs, with four infant deaths from malnutrition this month.
The Syria International Media Alliance (SIMA) said that regime forces have imposed a siege for the past 500 days, preventing supplies of food, medicine and fuel from reaching the 430 extended families trapped in the Old City. Over half the affected civilians are children, including 30 infants. According to SIMA, when food supplies ran out in March, the neighborhood religious authorities issued a fatwa allowing civilians to eat cats and dogs to prevent starvation. Baby milk has run out, and some mothers are feeding infants with bulgur wheat boiled in sugar.
SIMA say that the neighborhood’s makeshift field hospital — with just two beds — is overworked because of daily bombardment, and some injured civilians die waiting for treatment.
Insurgents Target Regime Forces In Tafas
Insurgents on Monday target regime positions in Tafas with home made mortars.
Casualties
The Local Coordination Committees claims that 54 people were killed on Monday, including 16 in Damascus and its suburbs and 14 in Homs Province.
The Violations Documentation Center records that 76,356 people have been killed since the start of the conflict in March 2011, an increase of 71 since Monday. Of the dead, 56,853 are civilians, a rise of 34 from yesterday.
