Syrian Troops Break Siege of Key Army Camps in Idlib
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Syrian troops have broken a months-long rebel siege on two key military bases in the northwestern province of Idlib, killing at least 21 opposition fighters, a watchdog said on Sunday.
"Regime forces managed to lift the siege on the Wadi Deif and Hamdiya military camps after the army went around the rebel fighters and attacked them from behind," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
At least 21 rebels were killed in the attack, which focused on the village of Babulin, the Britain-based group said.
Troops "now control two hilltops on either side of the Damascus-Aleppo international highway" reopening a supply route for the army, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse.
The watchdog said two military trucks carrying materiel and soldiers have since been spotted passing through the area for the first time in months.
The area is in the countryside near the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan, which fell to rebel forces last October.
Rebels began blocking military supply routes north and to the nearby Wadi Deif and Hamdiya army bases after they seized Maaret al-Numan, which lies on the Damascus-Aleppo highway.
Elsewhere in the country, the Observatory reported air raids on the Al-Hajar al-Aswad suburb of southern Damascus, as well as continued shelling of the Daraya suburb, where regime forces have been struggling to oust rebels.
Violence throughout Syria killed 138 people on Saturday, according to a tally from the Observatory, which relies on a network of doctors and activists on the ground for its figures.
14 April 2013, 17:23
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Revolution ends next tuesday! Send the heroic Aoun to the front lines!
14 April 2013, 20:16
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josh wtf is your problem? what has the saudi king got to do with suicide bombers? they condem it. It is harram harram harram you keeping linking suicide bombings to wahabis when every wahabi sheik condemed it.
14 April 2013, 21:10
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No he's right eno the Saudis r funding these fighters. It's not cheap to wage war, someone has to pay for it.
14 April 2013, 21:14
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When I reply to josh I get deleted for some reasons:/ ... But I will reply anyway...
The Ba'ath and the Islamist are dif sides of the same coin. Yes the Ba'ath system kept Syria free from major crimes, but also free from any major advancement. They're both obsolete systems of government. It's like avoiding fire by sticking your hand in dry ice... Ull get burned both ways!
And F the naharnet moderators! I'd love to know what standards they go by!
14 April 2013, 22:31
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Josh... And I will agree with u, I'd rather live in Syria (b4 the war) than in Saudi. But in reality, I'd rather live in neither.
When I say advancement, I don't mean the backward bedouins sitting on oil and buying anything just for the sake of buying! :/ ... What I mean is: can u explain to me why Syrians leave Damascus to study in Beirut?? Y isn't it the other way around? Damascus is the oldest inhabited city, and was once the center of science and education in the world. So what happened? Syria live 40years of peace... What was done with it?... Syria occupied Lebanon for 30years. What was done with it?
My point is, the gulf culture is not our own. In this day n age, they cannot rule us. And neither can any soviet area systems like the Ba'ath. They failed at what they tried to do. No matter how great the intentions, they failed us. It's time to face up to the facts. Arabs cling to history too much, a well planed changed can be good.
