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Syrian troops battle hundreds of renegade soldiers
The demonstrations are Phase I, the repression is Phase II. This is Phase III...[Emirates 24/7] Syrian troops fought intense battles with hundreds of fellow soldiers who have turned their weapons against the regime of  President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... , revealing the increasingly militarised nature of an uprising started months ago by peaceful protesters. Also Friday, tens of thousands of demonstrators erupted into the streets across the country as they do each week after Friday prayers, braving gunfire by government forces who have waged a relentless crackdown. At least 11 protesters were killed and scores were maimed, human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... groups said. Opposition activists and the government confirmed a fourth straight day of battles in Rastan, just north of the central city of Homs. The fighting, which began with a government assault on Tuesday, is some of the most intense since the outpouring against Assad's regime began in mid-March. The army defections as well as reports that once-peaceful protesters are increasingly taking up arms to fight the six-month-old government crackdown have raised concerns of the risk of civil war in a country with a deep sectarian divide. Around 250 tanks and other army vehicles began entering the town early in the day, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "The army has been trying to push forward in Rastan for the past four days but they have not been able to," said an activist who spoke on condition of anonymity because the sensitivity of the topic. The Syrian government has banned foreign journalists and placed heavy restrictions on local media coverage, making it difficult to independently verify events on the ground. The UN says some 2,700 people have already died in the government crackdown since mid-March. The army defectors involved in battles in the Rastan area and in the Jabal Al Zawiyah region in the northern Idlib province number around 2,000, according to another prominent rights activist who also spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the matter. Syria has a volatile sectarian divide, making this kind of civil unrest one of the most dire scenarios. The Assad regime is dominated by the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, but the country is overwhelmingly Sunni Mohammedan. The town of Rastan, from which the Syrian army draws many of its Sunni Mohammedan recruits, has seen some of the largest numbers of defections to date. Syria-based rights activist Mustafa Osso said Rastan had witnessed more defections in recent days and the deserters were fighting to prevent troops loyal to Assad from entering the town. Hundreds of Rastan residents came out in demonstrations in support of the defectors, he added. A military official said the days of festivities in Rastan have killed seven soldiers and coppers as government forces conducted a "qualitative" operation on Thursday and Friday in an effort to crush "gunnies" holed up inside the town. Thirty-two other troops were maimed, the official said. The comments by the unidentified official were carried by state-run news agency ...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?... SANA on Friday and were a government acknowledgment of the stiff resistance in Rastan. Many gunnies were also killed or tossed in the clink, the official said. The government describes its armed opponents as "terrorist gangs," not army defectors. The official said the gunnies had terrorized citizens, blocked roads and set up barriers and explosives. Friday's protests spread from the capital, Damascus ...The City of Jasminis the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... , and its suburbs to the southern province of Daraa, the coastal city of Latakia, the northwestern province of Idlib as well as Hama and Homs. Eleven people were killed, according to the London-based Observatory and Osso, the activist. Most of the dead were from the province of Hama. Others were killed in Homs and Idlib, they said. They had no immediate word on Friday's corpse count in Rastan because of the intensity of the fighting. Amateur videos posted online by activists showed thousands of people shouting in support of Rastan. In the Damascus neighborhood of Hajar Aswad, hundreds chanted, "Rastan is the castle of defiance." "Rastan will overthrow the regime," read one banner waved by protesters in the Damascus neighborhood of Qadam. Many of the protesters there covered their faces with scarves or masks to hide their identities. Posted by: Fred 2011-10-02 |
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