RSS Feed
July 20th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
In a further blow to Mr Assad’s authority, state television confirmed that
Hisham Ikhtiyar, the head of general security, had become the fourth
fatality among the president’s elite inner sanctum after he died of wounds
sustained in the attack.
More than 600 people are estimated to have died since the assassination on
Wednesday, an indication that Syria’s civil war has become a bloody and
protracted fight to the finish after 16 months of turmoil.
A day after Russia and China vetoed a British resolution threatening Mr Assad
with sanctions if he did not take steps to end the violence, the Security
Council finally overcame its differences to extend the mandate of its
300-strong observer mission to Syria by a further 30 days.
But with the chief observer, Maj Gen Robert Mood, declaring that mission was
an “irrelevance” in the absence of a political solution to the crisis, the
belated display of international unity appeared largely inconsequential.
The regime claimed to have “cleansed” the suburb of Midan after a massive
assault involving tanks, helicopter gunships and artillery, with troops
posing victoriously for cameras.
“Our heroic forces have completely cleansed the Midan area of terrorist
mercenaries,” state television announced.
The rebels fought doggedly to retain their foothold in the capital, but their
inferiority in both numbers and firepower began to tell.
For the rebels, who presented their withdrawal as a “tactical retreat”, it was
undoubtedly a setback, the first of their six-day campaign “Operation
Damascus Volcano” to bring the rebellion to the capital.
Rebel corpses were shown strewn across streets lined with rubble and burnt-out
vehicles, although sniper fire audible in parts of the district suggested
that it had not been entirely subdued.
With heavy fighting restricted largely to the periphery of Damascus, a veneer
of normality returned to its inner districts. The streets were still largely
deserted, but a few shops re-opened.
Amateur video footage showed bodies lying along Khalid Ibn Walid street, a
major commercial thoroughfare leading to Midan, as gunfire crackled nearby.
A second video showed panicked civilians fleeing as shots rang out in Tijara,
the city’s main financial district.
Yet though the army can claim to maintain a tenuous hold in the centre of the
city by day, at nighttime gun-battles on streets considered the safest in
the country just weeks ago suggest that no-one is really in control.
Demonstrating that their ability to strike anywhere had not been blunted,
rebel forced overran and set ablaze a military barracks in central Damascus
said to have been used as a training ground for Mr Assad’s feared Shabbiha
militia.
“The strategy is to retain control of the outskirts of Damascus and launch
lightning assaults on key installations,” said one opposition activist in
Damascus. “The aim is gradually to wear down the regime until it is too weak
to defend the city.”
In Aleppo, clashes were reported in four districts — Salaheddin, Azimiyeh,
Akramiyeh and Ard el-Sabbagh — although it was unclear who initiated them.
For weeks, government forces and rebels have fought heavy battles in the
country around Aleppo, with opposition fighters steadily closing in on the
city, which has so far been largely loyalist. They may finally have gained a
foothold after army units were pulled back to the capital.
Related posts:
Views: 0
Posted in 
Tags: 
