“They have all the people who fled East Ghouta in concentration camps”
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UPDATE 1855 GMT: Despite the relative lull in attacks, shelling of Douma continued yesterday. An attack injured a White Helmets volunteer:
Heavy shelling targeted @SyriaCivilDefe volunteers during thir humanitarian duty to rescue the injured civilians on #Douma city yesterday, woudend one volunteer "Ayman" We await news on his recovery and pray that it is quick. pic.twitter.com/sLOwxjqaFS
— The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) March 27, 2018
Pro-Assad bombing of East Ghouta, near Syria’s capital Damascus, paused on Monday; however, claims circulated that militia have executed or abducted almost 200 civilians.
In a seven-week offensive killing more than 1,600 people and wounding thousands, the Assad regime and foreign allies, enabled by Russian bombing, have taken almost all of the area held by the opposition since 2012. The enclave has been reduced to a few square kilometers in and near its center, Douma.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported the killing of three people, including two children, yesterday.
But pro-opposition outlets and activists claimed the execution of 23 men in the town of Kafr Batna by a pro-Assad miitia from the Damascus suburb of Jaramana.
The reports said five women were abducted, as were 150 residents of Saqba, including the director of the al-Bashar relief organization.
Unconfirmed claims said some of those seized were being taken to Tartous in western Syria and face retribution by Assad supporters.
An activist warned, in a statement to EA, “They have all the people who fled East Ghouta in concentration camps, as well as the few who chose to stay in their homes. Most of the crimes will be commited later on, once the attention of the mainstream media has vanished.”
Reports are circulating of looting by militia “pouring into the area to steal household furnishings and electrical appliances and sell them in the al-Assad suburb area at low prices”.
From Harasta:
بالفيديو… "حرستا" من الإبادة إلى "التعفيش"
شنت قوات الأسد والميليشيات المساندة لها عمليات سلب ونهب للممتلكات العامة والخاصة عقب سيطرتهم على مدينة حرستا في الغوطة الشرقية. pic.twitter.com/Y1Ic68DAse
— وكالة داماسكي الإعلامية (@Damaskiagency) March 26, 2018
The pro-opposition Zaman al-Wasl, citing local activists and relatives, said thousands of people forcibly displaced from East Ghouta have been put in “detention camps”.
Mohamad al-Basha said his relatives, who fled Hamouriya, are with 6,000 other people in a camp near Adra, north of Damascus. He claimed men between the ages of 16 and 50 have been put in detention.
Hossam al-Masri, a relative of another detainee in the camp, said there are restrictions on those wishing to visit family, including several security permits.
The UN’s Office of the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs:
#EastGhouta since 8 March 2018:
Over 80,000 people displaced
Over 50,700 people in 6 collective shelters
US$115 million required for @UN and partners' responsehttps://t.co/QHuQOOMnYx pic.twitter.com/87sjFUZzO0— OCHA Syria (@OCHA_Syria) March 27, 2018
Men under guard in Harasta, in a photo posted by Orient News:
Journalist Danny Makki offers a view of the destruction:
Went back to my house in #Harasta, #Ghouta today, well, i think the picture speaks for itself. pic.twitter.com/ubAwCAl7OD
— Danny Makki (@Dannymakkisyria) March 27, 2018
“World’s 6th Largest Tank Fleet Destroyed”
A detailed review of evidence, for Bellingcat, assesses that the Assad regime has lost at least 2,037 armored vehicles in the seven-year conflict.
Before the uprising began in March 2011, the Syrian Arab Army was estimated to have 4,500 tanks, 3,000 armored personnel carriers; 630 support vehicles; and 400 self-propelled artillery.
Analyst Jakub Janovský says the loss rate of about 25% is conservative, as some armor was lost or out of operation before the conflict and the estimate of 2,037 damaged or destroyed only takes into account verified losses.
Turkey-Rebel Offensive Moves on Key Town of Tal Rifaat
The Turkish-rebel offensive in northwest Syria has announced the launch of operations to take the key town of Tal Rifaat near the Turkish-Syrian border.
Tal Rifaat is one of the last towns held by Kurdish forces in the northwest since Operation Olive Branch, launched on January 20, swept through the Kurdish canton of Afrin.
Last week the offensive moved into Afrin city, the heart of the canton, after the Turkish-rebel force took all area along the border and other Kurdish towns.
Tal Rifaat, taken by the Kurdish militia YPG from rebels in February 2016, is on the road between the rebel-held border town of Azaz and regime-held Aleppo city. It is also close to the fortified regime towns of Nubl and al-Zahraa.
Some observers had speculated that Turkey would hold back from the operation because of the Assad regime’s desire to take Tal Rifaat.
But Ankara indicated that it had won Russia’s acceptance to make its move. A pro-Assad outlet supports this with the assertion of the withdrawal of Russian personnel from the town.
Whats scary are the side deals erdydog is making with lil putin. Guaranteed to be some fucked up agreement. Probably involved backstabbing.
Erdodog will either hand Afrin / Al Bab to HTS and ISIS remnants, or he will hand it over to Assad. Either way the FSA is screwed.
“American imperialism”? But Syria has no oil and no resources. No markets and no products and no skilled labour. Who would want to invade Syria? Your sense of self-importance is funny.
Bolton wanted to invade Syria and change the regime back in 2003: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1Mp-pT1k9Q
In reality, neoconservative extremists like John Bolton, and liberal interventionists are just two sides of the same American imperalist coin. They both favour the use of force but for different reasons.
If Syria was invaded back then. 500,000 people who have lost their lives today, would have been saved. Too bad Syria was not occupied.
Remind me again which country had an actual empire for more than a thousand years? Iran or the US? Its pretty rich for pretend Iranians to whine about “imperialism” when they practically invented it.
Turkey has now invaded Iraq (Kurdistan). Obviously a ploy by Erdogan to win the presidential elections and become president-for-life. And to hit the PKK where it hurts. The Turkish nationalists love these invasions and will vote for Erdogan. Islamist-nationalist leaders are the most dangerous ideologues and demagogues. The Kurds were so naive to play with Turkish nationalism. Kurds are known to “never learn” and repeat the same mistakes over and over again. But Ojalan and his gangs have a lock on the Kurdish zeitgeist, and feed crap to naive Kurds, who treat him like a god (mostly out of fear), and getting his followers to fight the Turks, and sell them the snake oil of “self-administration anarchism” to a bunch of simpleton followers living in 3rd world conditions. The only good thing that has come out of Syria is the Democratic Federation, and the Kurds are gradually destroying that one too, out of sheer incompetence and due to their childish “anti-imperialism” ideology.