Tuesday, January 29, 2013

#Syria #Assad believed to be hiding in bunker complex beneath presidential palace with "supplies for 6 months":


  believed to be hiding in bunker complex beneath presidential palace with "supplies for 6 months": 

ASSAD REGIME BATTLES TO RETAKE IDLIB PRISON AFTER FSA RELEASE 300 PRISONERS:

FSA CAPTURE PARTS OF IDLIB PRISON, A MAJOR RAILWAY TERMINAL IN SOUTH DAMASCUS AND HOLD ONTO DARAYA, DESTROYING ASSAD TANKS:
TIMELINE – 28th JANUARY 2013 15.00 GMT:
After 3 days the battle for control of Idlib’s main prison continues. In dramatic scenes on Friday, Opposition forces in co-ordinated attacks on regime positions across the city of Idlib, managed to break into the central prison and free more than 300 grateful prisoners, reputedly capturing a number of Assad’s soldiers in the process.
http://www.petercliffordonline.com/syria-news
FSA Free Prisoners at Idlib Central Prison
10 Opposition fighters were killed in the attack but those remaining are still fighting for complete control of the penitentiary in a city which is still largely under Government control.
Government forces are desperate to retake the prison, even using MIGs to drop bombs inside the penitentiary compound, because it is also a major checkpoint controlling the entrances to the city from the west.
The prison contained both criminals and political prisoners and the Opposition fighters will bring those they released before a judge to decide whether they should be released completely or complete their sentences elsewhere.
Opposition forces are almost certainly control of vast areas across Idlib province itself, enabling them to to now concentrate their fire on the provincial capital. A video of prisoners being released from Idlib prison under heavy gunfire is HERE:  and Al Jazeera has a another report, HERE: 
In the north-eastern part of Idlib province Opposition fighters yesterday captured the villages of Yaqoubiya and Janoudiya plus 4 tanks and 3 armored vehicles.
Deir el-Zour is under similar Opposition assault and unconfirmed reports say that the fighters have captured a large military checkpoint near the Deir Azzour Suspension Bridge and are targeting Assad’s political intelligence branch which overlooks the Euphrates river that divides the city in two.
Around Damascus, the fight for the Sunni suburbs continues with the Assad regime bombing and shelling civilians incessantly and unmercifully.
Fierce clashes are being reported at checkpoints near the entrance to the Yarmouk Palestinian Refugee camp and activists say that 13 people were summarily executed at a checkpoint by Shabiha in Daraya, where Opposition fighters are bravely holding on, even managing to destroy 5 tanks and 6 armoured vehicles trying to enter the suburb.
http://www.petercliffordonline.com/syria-news
FSA Destroy Assad Tank in Daraya, Damascus
There is also an unconfirmed reported that the Syrian Air Force managed to kill some of its own troops battling for Daraya yesterday afternoon, Sunday, with “friendly fire”.
The strength of the fighters in Daraya seems to lie in the fact that they are mainly defected conscripts from the nearby Assad military bases and know the area extremely well.
A spectacular attack on one of Assad’s tanks in Daraya, with a soldier fleeing afterwards, can be seen in HD, HERE: 
Latest reports from Damascus today, Monday, confirm that following heavy fighting  Opposition fighters captured the Qadam train station and terminal, reportedly one of the largest regime outposts in the south of the capital.
The clashes have led to the closure of the main highway nearby which links Damascus with Deraa in the south of the country. There is video footage of the battle for the rail terminus, HERE: 
Opposition fighters around Damascus also seized the base of the Army’s 22nd brigade in the East Ghouta district, just 10 kilometers east of Damascus International Airport, and captured another 2 tanks and large quantities of weapons.
Additionally they attacked the 781st Air Defense base in the suburb of Khan al-Sheeh and the Military Security Branch in the town of Sa’saa where they were able to set dozens more  detainees free.