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