LATEST: Assad Advisor — “Since Day 1 of Conflict, We Have Tried to Prevent Bloodshed”
WEDNESDAY’S FEATURE
Spotlight: Clashes Between Insurgents, Kurds In Āţimah, Idlib
SUMMARY: While most media outside Syria were watching the arrival of United Nations chemical weapons inspectors in Damascus on Tuesday, another story was unfolding in the south of the country.
A series of military developments indicated that insurgents are increasing pressure on the regime in Daraa city, where the Syrian uprising began more than 2 1/2 years ago.
Free Syrian Army and Islamist factions captured regime checkpoints in Daraa countryside in villages such as Tal Assamen, Al Masaken and Alafneh. The Syrian military is hitting back with artillery and rocket bombardment of Inkhil, to the north of Daraa city, and ongoing fierce clashes with insurgents in and near Tafas.
Most significantly, there was heavy fighting within Daraa city. Regime forces tried to hold the Tariq Al Sud neighborhood with anti-aircraft and sniper fire, and the Free Syrian Army and regime forces battled near the city courthouse and Daraa National Hospital.
Last week, insurgents from the Free Syrian Army, Jabhat Al Nusra and Ahrar Ash Sham captured the old international border crossing with Jordan, the Daraa-Ramtha border crossing, and the Old Customs Area or Jomrok Daraa. Strategically, this is an extremely important acquisition, because it opens up the way for insurgents to capture the Nasib-Jaber border crossing, three kilometers away. Nasib-Jaber is the operational border crossing into Jordan, which Jordanian authorities have closed. Control of the Jomrok Daraa will assist insurgents in gaining full control of the Daraa Al Balad district of Daraa.
The capture of Daraa would not be a symbolic victory but an important military advance, opening up the south of Syria near the Jordanian border to the opposition forces.
Insurgent fighters in Tafas on Tuesday, in an ongoing battle known as the Battle Of Uniting Ranks:
Latest Updates, Most Recent First
Video: Insurgent Battalions In South Damascus Unite As “Joint Command”
Insurgent battalions in the south of Damascus issued a statement announcing that they have united under the name of “Joint Command”.
Video: Media Activist Abo Gamal Killed In Tafas
A second media activist, the well-known Abo Gamal, was seriously injured today in his hometown of Tafas, Daraa and died after being taken to a hospital in Jordan. The following video contains graphic images and may upset some readers.
Abo Gamal has become a familiar face for anyone covering the fighting on the front lines in Daraa Province and it is thanks to his videos and news reports that we have been able to follow the conflict and learn about important issues such as the supplying of Croatian arms to insurgents.
Activists say that Abo Gamal was taken to a hospital across the border in Jordan but died of his injuries. Rest in peace.
We have these images from Facebook of Abu Gamal in hospital.
Video: Liwa Al Tawheed Target Regime Tanks On Khanaser Road, Aleppo, With Konkurs Missiles
Liwa Al Tawheed are targeting regime tanks traveling on the road to Khanaser in Aleppo Province with Russian Konkurs antitank missiles:
Video: Regime MiG Warplanes Strike Daraa Al Balad
As fighting for control of Daraa city continues, regime MiG warplanes struck targets in Daraa Al Balad in the south of the city on Wednesday afternoon.
Fighting Between Insurgents & Clashes with Kurdish PKK Near Azaz
An EA correspondent with sources inside Syria rounds up news from Azaz, the town occupied by the Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham after fighting with the Free Syrian Army’s Northern Storm Brigade last month.
Northern Storm and ISIS are clashing on the outskirts of Azaz, while the regime carries out air strikes on surrounding villages.
Probably an all-women demo against ISIS in Azaz.
A few miles away, near Atimah on the Turkish border, rebels of all factions have been clashing with [Kurdish insurgency] PKK for days.
Video: ISIS Northern Front Amir Abu Umar Al Shishani Responds To Northern Storm Incident
The leader of the mostly Chechen and Caucasian Jaish Al Muhajireen Wal Ansar and the Amir of the Islamic State of Iraq and Ash Sham’s northern force, the native Chechen Abu Umar Al Shishani responds to the clashes between the FSA’s Northern Storm Brigade and ISIS in Azaz.
Russian-language pro-jihad site FiSyria, which monitors jihadist groups in Syria, posted an announcement from the ISIS:
After the Mujahideen kept their word, and saved human blood, reasonable people of the Free Syrian Army, the group Northern Storm Taub did repentance and handed over their weapons to ISIS, thus they protected themselves by returning to their families without any problems. The Mujahideen kept their word, as is the quality of the faithful.
As Allah says in the Quran:
And they who are to their trusts and their promises attentive
Relatives of the FSA fighters asked the Mujahideen of ISIS to give time to the rebels who wanted to commit repentance. At the meeting it was decided to:
“To extend the term of up to 48 hours to save human blood for the pleasure of Allah”
Insurgents Target Regime Base With M79 Osa Portable Anti-Tank Weapons
Earlier on Wednesday, we reported that insurgents in Tafas, Daraa Province, are using C90 rocket launchers to target regime bases. This footage shows insurgents using the M79 Osa portable anti-tank weapon, manufactured in the former Yugoslavia.
The question is, who is supplying the insurgents in Daraa Province with these weapons? Are these weapons that were supplied previously in the conflict or are they freshly supplied across the Jordanian border?
Insurgents Target Regime Base With C90 Disposable Rocket Launcher
Footage from Tafas on Wednesday, showing insurgents using a C90 disposable anti-tank system to fire on a dormitory where regime soldiers are stationed.
In this video, insurgents use a BMP to target the same area, the barracks of regime Brigade 61.
Mass Killing Of Insurgents By Regime Shelling In Tafas
As the fighting in Tafas, Daraa intensifies, this footage from Wednesday shows the aftermath of a mass killing of insurgents by regime shelling near the military barracks in Tafas.
Extremely graphic images, since removed from YouTube, showed maimed and salin fighters.
Video: Media Activist Killed Covering Fighting In Daraa Province
Footage from Wednesday, showing the killing of a media activist, Uday Bardan, who died today covering the Battle Of Uniting Ranks, the insurgents’ name for the fighting in and around Tafas in Daraa Province.
Bardan was killed by a regime artillery shell.
Bardan being taken to an “ambulance” — a car owned by the insurgents:
There are no Western foreign correspondents in Daraa Province, and precious few in Syria. Often, I am asked — how do you know what is happening in Syria, when there are no Western reporters on the ground? While Western readers may be used to getting their “foreign” news from nicely-crafted, color stories in the broadsheets, Syria has a network of media activists and citizen journalists, who cover the conflict on a daily basis to bring news of what is happening out of the country. Much of this is in Arabic. Many of these citizen journalists — like Bardan — risk their lives and some — like Bardan — pay the ultimate price for their efforts.
The report of Bardan’s death was made by another media activist, Abo Gamal, who works in Daraa Province to cover frontline battles.
Assad Advisor: “Since Day 1 of Conflict, We Have Tried to Prevent Bloodshed”
President Assad’s senior advisor Buthaina Shaaban has declared that the regime has called for dialogue since the start of the uprising because it wants to prevent bloodshed.
Speaking to reporters at a workshop on national media, Shaaban said, “The Syrian state…has called for political solution since the first day.”
She said those responsible for deaths — conservatively recorded at almost 75,000 by the Violations Documentation Center — are “the artificial tools which know in their heart that they don’t represent the Syrian people and have no future in the ballot boxes”.
Shaaban explained the recent interviews given by President Assad to international media
were “to correct the image about the reality of the situation in Syria and convey it to the people in the world countries”.
Casualties
The Local Cordination Committees claim 76 people were killed on Tuesday, including 28 in Daraa Province and 17 in Damascus and its suburbs.
The Violations Documentation Center puts the number of dead at 74,554 since the conflict began in March 2011, an increase of 72 from Tuesday. Of the dead, 55,731 are civilians, a rise of 45 from yesterday.