Half of Syria no longer under Assad's control, opposition says
Opposition sources also report regime taking away sole responsibility for dealing with uprising from Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Daoud Rajha.
By Zvi Bar'el Tags: Syria Bashar Assad Arab League UN Security CouncilSyrian opposition leader Colonel Riyad al-As'ad, commander of the Syria Free Army, said on Wednesday that around half of the country is no longer under the control of President Bashar Assad’s forces.
The Syria Free Army - which has managed to recruit over 25,000 army deserters and citizens so far - has apparently refrained from taking control of more territory out of fear that the regime would respond with more force and yield a significant increasing in the number of casualties.
This is also apparently the reason that the opposition group retreated from the suburbs of the capital Damascus on Sunday, following an attack by regime forces, in which opposition forces were shelled, and fired on by tanks.
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Colonel Riyad al-Assad, commander of the 'Syria Free Army.' |
| Photo by: Reuters |
Opposition sources have also reported that President Assad has decided to split the responsibilities of his top military officers, taking away from Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Daoud Rajha the sole mandate for dealing with the crisis that has gripped Syria since March last year.
The mandate has passed partly to former Defense Minister Hassan Turkmani, who will be responsible for military operations, while General Jamil al-Hassan will be tasked with repression and arrest of opposition members organizing demonstration in the streets. Two of President Assad’s nephews, Rami Makhlouf and Hani Makhlouf, will be charged with logistics.
Assad’s brother and brother-in-law will be tasked with imposing a blockade on families of the Syrian political establishment, in order to prevent them from defecting.
If these reports are correct, they point to a very heavy pressure on Assad, and indicate fear bordering on hysteria as to what is happening in Syria.
Today, despite an increase in the number of defectors, the highest ranks of the military are still loyal to the regime. Some of those who have defected indicate that there are splits among the ranks whose origin is battles of ego within the ranks themselves, as opposed to a real opposition to the Assad regime.
It seems that some of the senior officers who recently defected intend to set up their own headquarters for the defector army, and it is not clear whether the commander of the “Syria Free Army” will join them or whether he will manage “his army” separately.
Violence continued on Wednesday as the opposition reported that at least 20 people were killed by Syrian government forces in a restive area on the outskirts of Damascus.
The deaths in the area of Reef Damascus included six army defectors, Syrian activist Ayman Idlibi told DPA.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Arab League and Western powers said at a UN Security Council meeting they were not seeking military action to end the bloodshed in Syria, in an effort to bring Russia and China onboard for a solution.
The high profile council meeting in New York was attended by several government ministers and a high-ranking delegation from the Arab League.
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Define a happy ending to the Syrian crisis, and hope that's what we get. A peaceful, prosperous country. A great tourist destination. Somehow that doesn't seem likely this week. Maybe we need bigger and bloodier wars again to help people remember, thats it PEACE and living in harmony we all really want and need.
you affect me in every way not only am i circumsized against my wailing wihes but my living and loving the misfits rampant throughout the bible and bought and sold for shackles etc I can see when the Arabs are blaming you no time to create a Valencia in palistine nor when many are blaming someone else is there any possiblity for peace whether it is God or man because does God want the same you in heaven when you can only make hell here and take it there because no one with good intentions only change anything so God my advice is stop and think do you want singers paryers cryers and bellyachers up there doing the same things their doing herre and anti you or believing you need them to defend your honour. I rest my case. I think God would why why did I ever think this was a good idea.
All of you support the terrorist butcher Assad? You'd rather he stay in power? How many of you are even Syrian?
another of its key allies in the region. I never onced believed that Syria and Israel were real enemies. The Israeli military junta that governs Israel needs the Syrian dictator more than anyone else to give it the pretext to go wage war around the region in order to avoid facing it's biggest challenges i.e. ending the military occupation, internal divisions within Israeli society, the "demographic" problem of the non-Jews in the country, the Palestinians, etc. The best thing that could ever happen to Palestinian rights is for the Assad regime to fall and anyone who thinks otherwise are either in denial or incapable of reading politics beyond the surface.
lol
Yesterday hundreds of "Free Syrian Army" surrendered to the Syrian Arab Army and lost control around Damascus ... Look you can't go back to syria , all us know , just stay in turkey or go to usa or Israel or anywhere and start a new life ...
Yesterday u said that you lost withdrew from all the cities?
may be, people of Syria have now to pay the price. And I doubt whether the demand, Assad has to retreat, will help in this situation. There are more than a dozen foreign ministers in the EU who could have had started visits and communication with Damascus in the last 12 month to prevent this bloody fight.
The West and the whole world realise (unlike AKeenReader) that any dictatorship is doomed, no matter is it Syria, Libya, Iraq or Third Reich.
Coincidence? It seems they're willing to see another 30,000 civilians dead if it means an anti Israeli dictator is still in power. So they don't care about arabs at all, just sticking something in Israel's wheels.
What is more in his excitement making blunders in TAUTOLOGY
What about Saudi, Egypt, Jordan, bahrain! Full of s _ _ t
I don't believe much of the Syrian government's analogy, but I certainly don't believe anything the so called "opposition" claims...
Assad threatening to set the middle east on fire. Why have your voices dimmed O saviors of humanity O fighters for human dignity and peace? Why your silence? Obsessed perhaps with the planting of a new corn field somewhere in Israel?
the efforts for peace has to begin, before any war and bloodshed starts - and the Middle-East is under fire since the West took a look on oil and then when it has implanted a state of colonists in the heart of region.
I criticize both, remember during the intifadas thousands of civilians were killed.
Outside interests have armed and supplied the rebrels in order to topple Assad. This is an old and well tested strategy that America and others have often used iwith some success. Of course it leads to much killing and violence, but, if it topples the leader, then it is a success. Note the demeanor of those making the greatest outcry. Is anybodyy asking where the rebels got their weapons? No. They are only calling for the leader to surrender to the rebels. I wonder how Israel and America would handle armed rebels. Would the government flee the nation? Would they turn the nation over to the unelected rebel leaders?
They are democracies which allow their people to have voices so your hypothesis does not hold water.
In Israel and USA there are no armed rebels, because of democracy. Where does Assad and Hezbollah get their weapons from ?
The US was not helpful to avoid the conflict in Syria, but there are inner problems, which should have been solved month and years ago. And a free Syria would be a better partner for the Palestinians in their fight for their rights
Doesn't take a genius, but even if 1% of the weapons were supplied from abroad, then all the better. After all, this is the people against a butchering unelected dictator.
Outside interests have armed and supplied the rebrels in order to topple Assad. This is an old and well tested strategy that America and others have often used iwith some success. Of course it leads to much killing and violence, but, if it topples the leader, then it is a success. Note the demeanor of those making the greatest outcry. Is anybodyy asking where the rebels got their weapons? No. They are only calling for the leader to surrender to the rebels. I wonder how Israel and America would handle armed rebels. Would the government flee the nation? Would they turn the nation over to the unelected rebel leaders?