Syria Direct: News Update 11-19-2013
*The Syrian air force targeted the Brigade 80 military base […]
19 November 2013
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The Syrian air force targeted the Brigade 80 military base and the neighborhoods surrounding Aleppo International Airport Tuesday amidst ongoing clashes for control of southeastern Aleppo, reports pro-opposition Sham News Network.
* On Monday, Damascus officials announced the death of Ahmed Shaban Rustom, the director of the Syrian army’s vehicle pool management, reports pro-opposition website All4Syria. FSA-affiliated opposition battalion Dere’ Al Asimaa killed as many as 60 regime soldiers Sunday when it bombed the Motor Vehicles Administration building in Harasta, considered a strategic regime command center in northern East Ghouta.
* The opposition has disputed reports in pro-government media claiming that Ahmad Fahid Nama, a Syrian army defector and commander of the Military Council in Daraa, was killed outside the town of Atman in Daraa province Monday. Nama, a well-known leader of the armed opposition in Daraa, is a personal friend of Ahmed Jarba, president of the Syrian National Coalition, pro-regime media reported.
Ahmad Jarba second from left, and Ahmad Fahid Nama, third from left, at prayer in Daraa in October.
* A total of “94 individuals who were misled and became involved in recent events in Syria turned themselves in to authorities in Hama to benefit from the amnesty in Presidential Decree Number 70,” reports official news agency SANA. On October 29th, Bashar al-Assad issued a “general amnesty” for men who had deserted the Syrian army before completing their mandatory military service.
