Regime
Improvises an Explosion in Deir Azzour, Loses Control Over Turkey
Border-crossing
kl:03,48 20|05|2012 Sawtalkurd
Top Stories
- The Lebanese government handed over Syrian activist Alaa Taha al-Atrash to the Assad regime after arresting him under charges of falsifying his residence papers in Lebanon.
- The Assad regime detonated a car in the neighbourhood of Masaken Ayyash in the city of Deir Azzour, killing nine civilians and injuring dozens.
- Revolutionaries seized control of the main Turkey border-crossing of Bab Hawa in Idlib.
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Summary of Events
The Assad regime detonated a car in the neighbourhood of Masaken Ayyash in the city of Deir Azzour, killing nine civilians and injuring dozens. Similar to the explosions in Damascus and Aleppo, the explosion took place in an area subjected to high levels of surveillance and control by the most influential intelligence agencies in the area – in this case the Air Force Intelligence and Military Intelligence. As usual, state media was present at the location within minutes. The explosion coincided with a visit by the UN observers to the city.
The number of UN observers in Syria reached 276 observers from 38 countries, supported by 61 staff members. The UN observers’ mission announced that the deployment of military observers and their staff was completed in a record time frame, and that the observers were deployed in the provinces of Damascus, Homs, Hama, Idlib, Deir Azzour, and Daraa.
Regime forces continued their violations of the cease fire despite the full deployment of UN observers. Security forces opened heavy fire in the neighbourhood of Arbaeen in the city of Hama, raided the village of Zakat amid heavy fire and arbitrary arrests, and shelled the villages of Kawkab, Kabariya, and Kirah in the province of Hama. They also opened heavy fire in the Ibzimo area in Aleppo, the towns of Inkhel and Naima in the province of Daraa, and the Damascus suburb of Jesrain. The shelling continued in the Damascus suburb of Kafarbatna, the neighbourhood of Jobar, and the city of Qasir in the province of Homs.
Assad’s forces killed at least 29; nine fell as a result of the regime-improvised explosion in the city of Deir Azzour and seven in Idlib as regime forces opened heavy fire in the town of Kafarnabel and shelled the village of Kherbet Jouz.
The Lebanese government handed over Syrian activist Alaa Taha al-Atrash to the Assad regime after arresting him under charges of falsifying his residence documents in Lebanon. The Lebanese government moved al-Atrash to Syria where he is wanted by the regime, after the Lebanese courts dropped the charges against him.
In the province of Idlib, revolutionaries seized control of the main Turkey border-crossing of Bab Hawa, as they destroyed over a dozen armoured units and tanks, took over the arms depot and the Military and Political Intelligence buildings, and secured the defections of dozens of soldiers and officers. Regime forces dispatched military jet planes and helicopters from the Mannegh military airport in the province of Aleppo to shell the border crossing. The liberation operation took place after revolutionaries were able to purchase a full Syrian army warehouse in the province of Idlib. Instances where Syrian army officers are selling army equipment for high sums of money and securing an escape route for themselves and their families outside the country have greatly increased. Reasons ranged from deteriorating economic conditions to discontent with the regime’s brutality and sectarianism. Officers found numerous ways to secure such deals, including registering the sold equipment as war losses, or facilitating the revolutionaries’ raids on their warehouses.