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Tuesday 12 June 2012

Syrian army primed to “wipe out” armed opposition


"Syrian Shuhada" database shows Homs topping the "provinces of death" 

As in the Vietnam War, a Syrian army “Tet Offensive” is in the cards.
President Bashar al-Assad’s forces are seemingly about to blitz all rebel strongholds across Syria and along its borders with Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Jordan.
Ibrahim al-Amin, editor-in-chief of the pro-Assad Lebanese daily al-Akhbar, and an unimpeachable source of official Syrian news and views, says Syrian forces are set to initiate a “campaign to wipe out the armed rebels.”
According to Amin, “The plan this time is for comprehensive military operations… aimed at obliterating all armed groups irrespective of their nature or identity…
“The reasons and spurs for across-the-board cleansing campaigns are multiplying by the day.
“Syrian military and security circles believe a recurrence of chaos in the presence of UN monitors, as happened under the Arab observers, would open the way to greater deterioration and more bloodshed. (The difference now) is that the majority of extremist armed gangs are led by non-Syrians.
“Also, the behavior of foreign intelligence services helping them suggests they are prepared to destroy everything in Syria. They are primed to target, not only military and security forces, but all public and civil establishments as well under the pretext that these belong to the regime.
“In addition, they are raising the level of confessional and sectarian tensions through a series of roving criminal operations…
“The important thing now is to deal them blows of the kind that would redraw the entire scene – on the ground, politically and publicly.
“It seems Syrian security is now focused on Damascus’ immediate vicinity.
“A decision is also in place to mount a major campaign to stamp out any (hostile) activity in the Damascus suburbs, down to the borders with Lebanon…
“Talk is of massive and very fierce operations along the border with Lebanon to shut out all the sites being used by the opposition – even if this led to strikes against forces operating on the border proper. The implication is that Lebanese groups supporting the Syrian opposition are directly in harm’s way. The implication also is that since Lebanon can’t prevent the establishment of regions harboring armed rebels, the Syrian authorities will act to neutralize such areas.
“Together with the decision to make the city of Homs and its environs free of military bases or pockets of Syrian armed rebels, preparations are underway for the selective targeting of Syrian opposition fighters, chiefly those using areas bordering Turkey, Iraq and Jordan as gathering and training hubs.
“It seems the Syrian army has already mounted highly punitive actions there, which led to the extermination of entire clusters.
“Concerning the Syrian leadership, coordination with its Russian counterpart on such matters is ongoing.
“Insiders say Moscow might have blocked some military orders that were about to be executed. But – in the context of bracing for the next round of diplomacy – Moscow will not stand in the regime’s way to carry out operations unseen before.”