LATEST: Video — Insurgent Claim Rebuff of Regime Offensive in Damascus Province

FRIDAY FEATURES

  • Video Analysis: Turkey Is In the Fight
  • 1st-Hand: The Ceasefire in Damascus Suburb of Barzeh — “The Opposition Had No Choice”

    The Assad regime pushed back against the insurgency’s two-week offensive in coastal Latakia Province in western Syria, claiming they took the key Tower 45 hilltop on Thursday.

    A range of opposition and insurgents denied the claim, saying that Syrian forces only held the position temporarily.

    Insurgents had taken the observatory, overlooking villages near the Turkish border, at the start of the offensive. However, the Syrian military continued to send in reinforcement and mount attacks, and finally reclaimed the position.

    State news agency SANA said the Army’s Chief of Staff, General Ali Abdullah Ayoub toured the Tower on Thursday.

    Ayoub proclaimed, “The successive victories gained by Army and national defense forces are a natural outcome of their ideology and unity with the Syrian people who stand by them in one rank against terrorism and enemies of the Nation….This makes our armed forces more determined to carry out missions till cleaning the Syrian land from the evil tools of the Zionist entity.”

    Insurgents continue to hold villages, including Kessab, and the nearby border post with Turkey — the regime’s last link on the Turkish frontier.


    Video: Insurgent Claim Rebuff of Regime Offensive in Damascus Province

    Insurgents claim they have pushed back a regime ground offensive in Damascus Province, posting videos such as this one of fighters inspecting buildings on a farm:

    Footage has been posted of casualties of regime bombardment of the East Ghouta area, including a video of a wounded, blood-covered baby.

    Video: The 94-Year-Old Who Stayed in Kessab

    A 94-year-old Armenian man explains why he did not leave Kessab, near the Turkish border, during the insurgent takeover two weeks ago — “You are a human being and I am a human being and we have to eat together”:

    Video: Friday’s Protests from Aleppo to Kafranbel in Idlib Province

    Qadi Askar in Aleppo:

    FRIDAY PROTEST ALEPPO 04-04-14

    Kafranbel has a message for Russian President Vladimir Putin:

    Video: Barrel Bombing of Tariq a-Sud in Daraa Province

    The Syrian military has continued widespread bombardment across Daraa Province in southern Syria, trying to check insurgent advances:

    Video: Regime Bombing of Al-Shaar in Aleppo

    Bodies are pulled out of the rubble of this morning’s regime attack on an Aleppo neighbourhood where at least 30 people are suspected to have been killed:

    According to Shaam News Network “A large number of civilians have been killed and others injured as a result of regime helicopter bombardment with explosive barrels on the district.”

    (h/t Joanna Paraszczuk)