Moving regime forces in Daraya
The LCC in Daraya reports on Wednesday that “10 tanks, […]
17 April 2013
The LCC in Daraya reports on Wednesday that “10 tanks, five MBPs and three cars mouted by guns have been sent to the southern side of the city,” as seen in this video. “This shows their weakness in opening more than one frontline in Western Ghouta,” says Abo Hamzeh al-Dirani, the head of media office in Daraya.
The regime “probably removed these forces to send them to Jdaydet al-Fadel (near Artooz), where the FSA was surrounded and opened a front line with the regime to break the seige. They’re now fighting there.”
Local citizen journalists say this is the first large withdrawal of government forces from the city of Darayya in Outer Damascus. Darayya, home to Al-Mazzeh Air Force Base, has been under siege for months. The army has failed to recapture the town, though it holds the base, and has been bombing the city on daily basis. The city was one of the first strongholds of the Syrian uprising. It was the hometown of Ghaith Matar, a Syrian activist who was killed under torture by Syrian security in September 2011. Several ambassadors attended his funeral, including Robert Ford. Darayya is just minutes away from Bashar al-Assad’s People’s Palace, the 4th Division HQ and the ‘Security Square’. Video courtesy of DC Puls Station.