generalspeaking

Living and Dying By the Scimitar

Syria bled ranking military officers as they fled the regime to foreign parts or to join the rebels in defiance of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Members of the government also left their loyalty to the Alawite Shia government, some in authentic disgust over their leader's penchant for shrugging off the violence that succeeded in killing so many Syrian civilians. But the regime really received a shock back in July of 2012 when the most secure area of Damascus was somehow infiltrated and a powerful bomb set off.

At that time, the rebels who successfully planned to inform the regime in no uncertain terms that they were capable of hitting at the very centre of its power base, gave a quite substantive demonstration that they could, and would. They targeted a meeting of high-profile, important military, security and intelligence leaders named by Syrian officials a "crisis cell".  The committee was accustomed to regularly meeting in tandem with the escalating crisis.

Among those who were killed were Bashar al-Assad's brother-in law, as well as the Syrian minister of defence. "I can confirm that we have help from the inside," said Louay Mokdad, a logistics coordinator for the rebel Free Syrian Army, proud of the success of their carefully planned upset for the regime, one that had been in the planning stages for quite some time, and for which they had inside assistance.
 
They were hugely successful. The blast succeeded in killing Defence Minister Gen.Dawoud Rajha, Assef Shawkat (Assad's brother-in-law), Gen. Hassan Turkmani, a former defence minister, and an assistant vice-president who later died in hospital. Interior Minister Maj.Gen. Ibrahim al-Sha'ar and Gen. Hisham Ekhtiyar, national security chief were wounded in the attack.

And now another prominent military intelligence officer in the regime has been killed by a rebel attack. Gen. Jama'a Jama'a, head of the Syrian military intelligence for the country's northeast was shot dead by snipers during a battle with rebel groups. Included among those rebel groups was militiamen linked to al-Qaida in Deir Ezzor.

Deir Ezzor province contains much of Syria's oil, and in recent months it has come into rebel groups' control. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the Nusra Front are prominently located in the area. And Jama'a was appointed chief of intelligence there, a reward fro his long career serving the Assad regime. A service that included the assassination of Rafik al-Hariri, former Lebanese prime minister.


The European Union had imposed sanctions against Jama'a in recognition of his role in "repression and violence against the civilian population", back in 2011. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, rebels and government soldiers have been fighting and killing one another in Deir Ezzor as the regime attempts to retake the critical area.

There is now one less regime authority for the rebels to concern themselves with. Syrian state television reported that Jama'a was martyred while carrying out his national duties to defend Syria and its people and pursuing terrorists in Deir Ezzor", and with his death a decreased opportunity for the regime to retake Deir Ezzor, a prime smuggling route for fighters and weapons into Syria.

Labels: Conflict, Islamists, Syria

posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, October 22, 2013