One side is
beginning to die
One Syrian side is beginning to die.
It is President Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime, which
has bombed Syria to smithereens.
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| Inside the captured state missile defense base |
Yesterday, the regime lost al-Taaneh missile defense
base east of Aleppo in northern Syria that had been the source
of regular attacks on surrounding villages.
Insurgents surrounded
the base overnight and fought with soldiers for hours. They overran the base
around dawn, killing dozens of troops and rounding up others.
Video
recorded shortly after the battle shows multiple missiles pointing in various
directions, some on the back of trucks, and a radar tower. Opposition activists
said they were S-75 surface-to-air missiles.
Rebels took weapons,
including antiaircraft machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and armored
vehicles before retreating to the outskirts of the base.
Watch the video:
The other side is fighting to live
Insurgents against the
regime are fighting to live.
The Syrian city of
Maarat al-Nouman, a strategic link between Damascus and the cities of Homs,
Aleppo, Latakia and Tartus, is the latest flashpoint in the conflict.
After members of the
Free Syrian Army (FSA) gained control of the city last Tuesday, following a
two-day battle, the Syrian army bombarded the city of 150,000 Wednesday.Heavy clashes between
government troops and the FSA at checkpoints just outside Maarat al-Nouman
continued Thursday morning.
Syrian forces fired
long-range heavy artillery at targets in Maarat al-Nouman early Thursday, hitting
the city’s National Hospital.
FSA fighters made their
way into the hospital and moved out under fire a total of 15 preterm infants
from incubators.
Video shows the infants
being wrapped, hand-carried and tiptoed out by the insurgents to a safer makeshift
field hospital through a back exit hole to avoid sniper fire.
Talking to Aljazeera TV
off camera, the makeshift field hospital’s Dr. Hani Maarouf, said one of the five
preterm infants who were kept there died and the four others are now in stable
condition.
The remaining 10 have
been hospitalized “elsewhere near Maarat el-Nouman or in neighboring countries.
“
Asked why the regime
was targeting medical facilities and hospitals, Dr. Maarouf said snappily,
“Because it’s a criminal regime.”
Watch the video:
