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Syria Rebels Advance towards Weapons Depots, Says NGO
[An Nahar] housands of years, the town lies on the road linking Mahin and the rebel-held Qalamun area of Damascus province.In Qalamun, which lies on the Lebanese border, loyalists have been fighting for months to wrest control from the opposition. Activists say troops fighting there are backed by fighters from the Leb's Hizbullah. Referring to Sadad, a rebel commander said "the regime is responsible for whatever happens to this historic town." The rebels had entered the town without a fight, he said. "The cop shoppe surrendered without resistance, and there were no festivities until the regime tried to retake the town by force. It used warplanes, artillery, tanks and all kinds of conventional weapons," said Lieutenant Colonel Oraba Idriss, who defected from the army to join the rebels. Many of the town's residents have fled in the past hours, and as the rebels advanced, the loyalist air force launched an air campaign on the area. Elsewhere, fierce festivities raged in Moadamiyet al-Sham southwest of Damascus, which has been under siege for nearly a year. The opposition has called for the establishment of humanitarian corridors to allow assistance to flow into the rebel-held town. In the heart of Damascus, rebels shelled Baramkeh and Umayyad Square, wounding several people, the Observatory said. State news agency SANA said one of the shells struck near the Sheraton Hotel, and that "the terrorist attack injured two people and caused material damage in the area." Umayyad Square is home to several buildings housing government, military, security and cultural facilities. Posted by: Fred 2013-10-24 |
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