Syria – News 2014

RISING TIDE OF ANTI-ASSAD RHETORIC AMONG ALAWITE SUPPORTERS AFTER TABQA AIRBASE DEFEAT:

TIMELINE – 2nd SEPTEMBER 2014 13.40 GMT:

Increasingly there seems to be a rising tide of disquiet among the normally pro-Assad Alawite community against the prolonged war, its cost in terms of human life and the competence of the ruling elite.

Until recently, this would have been unthinkable, but last month leaflets appeared in Assad’s heartland of Latakia questioning the rule and ability of the Assad family and more recently social media comments suggest there is further disquiet.

Alawite Support for Assad Starting to Wane?

Things have come to a head over the fall of the Tabqa Airbase in Raqqah province to the Islamic State, where some of Assad’s officers fled the base leaving their men to face a grisly end, humiliated and then executed by the Jihadists (scroll down -see reports below).

The Assad regime has barely acknowledged the loss of the base, merely saying its troops had made a “tactical withdrawal and re-grouped” elsewhere, saying nothing of the deaths of hundreds of its soldiers or releasing their names.

Pro-regime rhetoric on social media which for the last few years has praised “the brave Syrian army and the hawks of the air force” has now turned in some cases to describing Assad as “an insufficient leader” and the Minister of Defence as “the minister of death”.

Other comments described the Assad government as “selfish and opportunist” saying, as 110 bodies of dead soldiers arrived at Latakia airport, “They don’t care about the soldiers or the fighters in People Committees, they only care about their positions.”

There also seems to be a rising tide of revolt within the military with several reports of officers and men executed at Hama military airport for “abandoning their posts at Morek” or attempting to defect, and more recently a report of 3 officers executed in Tartous, including a brigadier, after being accused of “betrayal and giving information to the enemy” in Hama province.

Yesterday, Monday, it emerged that a pro-government activist, Mudar Hassan Khadur, who had started a social media campaign calling on the Assad Government to release the names of the soldiers killed or missing from Tabqa, was arrested last Friday after being tricked into a meeting.

A post on Khadur’s Facebook page at the weekend said he had been arrested in Damascus after authorities had contacted him and promised to help investigate the fate of the missing soldiers, and went on to name 2 senior military officials whom Khadur was supposed to meet. Another post called on Assad to intervene.

“Mudar Khadur. Not a traitor. Not a collaborator. Not a terrorist,” said another, “We must all stand with Mudar.”

Khadur launched a Facebook page called “Eagles of Tabqa Military Airport” (in Arabic) shortly after the airbase fell and the page has so far received more than 12,000 likes.

Speaking anonymously, another anti-Assad Government Alawite said, “There are Alawite villages that have no more young men. They’ve been killed. And all this time, people thought their sacrifice would help end this crisis.

“But after Taqba, things have gotten very bad, and the government doesn’t even bother to tell us what happened. How much more can our community handle?”

Opposition sources have said that neither the Syrian Defence Minister nor the Interior Minister have any effective power, as everything is now run by Hezbollah and Iranian military officials. How true that is and whether this dissent continues to grow remains to be seen.

There were unconfirmed reports yesterday, Monday, of something “big” happening in Damascus as a senior Government level, but no details have as yet emerged. Things will not be improved after the Islamic State released today, Tuesday, a list of 193 names of regime soldiers it had killed at Division 17, Brigade 93 and Tabqa Airbase, all in Raqqah province.

4 ASSAD BASES NOW UNDER SERIOUS ASSAULT IN IDLIB, HAMA AND DEIR EZ-ZOUR PROVINCES – 1 COMMANDER FLEES:

Meanwhile, things maybe hotting up in Deir Ez-Zour province where very heavy fighting has been reported around the military airport over the last 2 days as it comes under attack from the Islamic State. This morning, Tuesday, the commander of the airport, Issam Zahreddine, appears to have fled and has re-appeared in Sweida province in the south of Syria.

In Hama province, the more moderate Opposition, despite heavy bombing from the Syrian Air Force, has continued its steady advance, destroying 2 regime tanks at Helfaia north-west of Hama city and a MIG-23 jet on the ground at Hama military airport with a Grad missile.

Islamic State Destroy Cigarettes and Water Pipes in Al-Mayadin

The regime has retaliated by bringing in reinforcements at Suqaylabiyah on the Ghab Plain to make an assault at Al-Jalamah and Tal Malah, also north-west of Hama city, and made 10 airstrikes at Lataminah in the same area.

There are also Opposition claims that yet another bomb filled with chlorine gas was dropped near Kafr Zita, (Arabic only) HERE:

In northern Aleppo province the Islamic State is shelling Tel Rifaat while in the north-eastern part of Aleppo city the regime mistakenly managed to drop a barrel-bomb intended for the Opposition on its own territory at Karm Al-Jabal.

Opposition sources said Monday that regime barrel-bombs and shells killed 42 children in Aleppo and Idlib provinces over the weekend, while Syrian Air Force planes have continued to pound the Opposition-held suburb of Jobar in Damascus.

Republican Guard units which led an assault on Jobar over the last few days are said by Opposition sources to have suffered heavy losses, at least 30 killed last Thursday and Friday alone.

The Opposition also managed to blow up another building in Jobar with a tunnel-bomb, reportedly with Assad’s troops inside, HERE: and they eventually got tired of this sniper on top of a water tower in Jobar and took action him too.

Also in Damascus province, the Assad regime dramatically rained down a torrent of Grad missiles on the Opposition-held suburb of Zamalka on Sunday.

In Idlib province Opposition fighters are in a major operation to try and take the 2 remaining Assad bases near Ma’arat Al-Numan at Wadi Deif and Al-Hamidiyah, hitting armoured vehicles with a TOW missile launcher, HERE:  and HERE:

The regime has hit back by trying to eliminate the Opposition fighters in the area by dropping barrel-bombs on the village of Shekh Mustafa just south of Ma’arat Al-Numan.

In Homs province there are unconfirmed reports that the Al-Nusra Front carried out an ambush on Assad’s troops on Sunday on the road between Palmyra and Sukhna, killing as many as 70 soldiers.

More than 60,000 residents of the north-eastern city of Hasakah, in the province of that name, are reported to have fled the Ghuiran district over the last 4 days after the Syrian Air Force started bombing it, claiming that it had been infiltrated by Islamic State fighters.

Last Friday the UN said that more than 3 million people have now fled Syria completely, a million in the last year alone. This probably does not include thousands that have fled and not registered with the UNHCR.

Within Syria 6.5 million are thought to have been displaced from their homes. Together the figures represent almost 50% of the entire Syrian population.

On the more positive side, after the UN Security Council passed a resolution to by-pass the Syrian Government in order to deliver aid, the World Food Programme says it has been able to deliver food parcels to 580,000 people in August with humanitarian supplies, 4 times as many as in the preceding 6 weeks.

Altogether, the UN estimates that it reached 4.1 million people with desperately needed food, but others continue to suffer in hard to reach areas in Raqqah, Hassakah and Deir Ez-Zour provinces.

Al-Nusra Front Commandeer UN Vehicles

In Quneitra province, serious negotiations are underway to obtain the release of 45 (previously said to be 44) Fijian UN peacekeepers seized by the Al-Nusra Front (ANF) near the border.

Apparently, the ANF demands for the safe release of the peacekeepers are compensation for 3 of their number killed in fighting with the UN, humanitarian assistance to the people of Ruta, a stronghold of the group on outskirts of Damascus, and the removal of the ANF from the UN list of banned terrorist organisations. A tall order!

Meanwhile a group of around 75 Filipino UN peacekeepers trapped in 2 locations under Opposition fire managed to get away under cover of darkness in what was described as the “greatest escape”.

35 UN peacekeepers were escorted out of their camp inside UN armoured vehicles, while the other 40 trudged across the hills for 2 hours under covering fire from their colleagues.

Heavy fighting has continued between Opposition fighters and the Assad regime as the Opposition try to keep the regime away from the border crossing.

The Israelis, who are observing all this from their side of the frontier, are also reported to have shot down a drone flying above Quneitra town, presumably owned by the Assad regime.