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E. Ghouta/Damascus Adventures: Syrian Army seizes strongholds, civilians form armed groups
 Syrian Army seizes 3 rebel strongholds across east Damascus [ALMASDARNEWS] Vanguard forces of the Syrian Army scored a major advance inside rebel-controlled areas of Damascus’ East Ghouta region, seizing the turban stronghold towns of Uataya, An-Nashabiyah and Hazrama. The victory was achieved after an entire day of heavy festivities between the Syrian Army and rebel forces of the Jaish al-Islam ...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful... faction near to and inside Uataya. In the end, superior firepower in the form of tanks, artillery and  s would propel Syrian troops to overrun all turban defense lines and strong-points within the town.By this advance, the Syrian Army virtually isolated the towns of An-Nashabiyah and Hazrama from all other turban-held areas within East Ghouta and de facto split to the Lion of Islam pocket into two. However, a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package... when the Syrian Army entered An-Nashabiyah and Hazrama, it found the towns to be completely bereft of Lion of Islam fighters who had fled both settlements in the final hours of the Uataya battle to avoid being encircled. Thus in a day of campaigning, the Syrian Army has managed to wrest control of three large towns in East Ghouta which for years prior represented unbreachable turban strongholds. Civilians in east Damascus form armed groups to combat militant factions [ALMASDARNEWS] Civilians in Death Eater-controlled areas of Damascus’ East Ghouta region are beginning to form gangs to combat murderous Moslem factions and escape towards government-held areas according to reports by Russian military sources. Reports state that what started off as protests against murderous Moslem groups in East Ghouta by disillusioned ’civic activists’ is now slowly turning into a grass-roots counter-insurgency movement. Russian sources note that festivities between East Ghouta residents and bully boyz on Wednesday left four civilians and 3 ’terrorists’ dead. Although such actions are clearly in favor of the Syrian government, there exists no evidence that the newly formed bands of anti-militant civilian fighters are coordinating with government forces. Posted by: Fred 2018-03-04 |
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