@zamanalwsl recordings reveal direct confrontations between #Hezbollah & #TSK in S. #Idlib and #Saraqeb. Hezb fighters talk about 10+ KIA and inflicting heavy damage vs #Turkish forces (90+) when they pinned down their convoy. #TSK artillery managed to break Hezbollah's attacks.
On the #Saraqeb front, #Hezbollah fighters are suffering from #TSK artillery and drone attacks, according to the recordings. The fighter says #Russia has 'sat this fight out'. The death toll, initially set at 10, isn't final as many of their men 'are still under the rubble'.
The recordings are likely to be true. On 14 Feb, a Beirut contact mentioned that #Hezbollah will deploy 1000+ men of its Special #Radwan Forces with armour to the fighting in N. #Syria. (not including the ones already fighting since the beginning of the W. #Aleppo offensive)
He stopped short of discussing where the Radwan Forces were going to be deployed but the mention of Unit 1300 & Unit 500 in #Saraqeb in the @zamanalwsl recordings provide tons of credibility.
#Iran media mourning the death of #IRGC commander Ali Zenjani killed 'last night following #Turkey airstrike vs resistance [ likely #Hezbollah] positions in S. #Idlib'. Zenjani has been previously injured fighting in #Syria.
** Zanjani
#Hezbollah social media mourns the death of Talal Shamas, in Idlib.
'The Islamic Resistance proudly mourns a Knight who died while performing his Jihadi duty in #Idlib'.
Talal, pictured below, is seen sharing a position with what looks like regular #Russia Special Forces.
Ambulances carrying bodies of #Hezbollah fighters who died in #Syria on S. #Idlib and #Saraqeb following confrontations with #TSK, crossing over to #Lebanon through their Homs's border bastion of #Qusayr.
#Iran#IRGC fighters and Shi'a militants carrying body of IRGC commander Zanjani to be mourned inside the Sayyidah Zaynab Shrine in #Damascus before his burial in #Iran
Ambulances carrying bodies of #Hezbollah fighters killed in S. #Idlib and #Saraqeb during confrontations with the #TSK passing through #Lebanon towns amidst scenes of jubilation celebrating their 'martyrdom in the line of Jihadi duty'
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-Rumoured killed so far 40+ #Syria#SNA fighters. Most of whom are with the Sultan Murad Brigade.
- Syrians fighting 'ferocious' mountain warfare in #NagornoKarabakh.
- Injured to be repatriated.
-List has grown to 32 names.
- 15confirmed w/near certainty. (Possibly 17 shortly)
According to one of our contacts, a unit of #Syria#SNA Fighters has been killed fighting in #NagornoKarabakh today. 8 KIA and 2 MIAs.
He's on a family WhatsApp group of one of the dead fighters. A message was sent to explain the case of the officer missing in action. 1/5
⬇️
'One of the fighters was martyred. during the assault. The major, and 2 other fighters, went to retrieve his body. On their way back, a shell exploded next to them. The major was injured and a rescue team went to get him' 2/5
An official #Lebanon Customs document proven authentic, circulating on social media, shows that Customs had tried until 2015 to ask the original shipper to re-export the explosive material from Hangar12.
In 2014, the request was changed to either re-ship, or allow the sale to the Lebanese Explosives Company the requests were made up until 2017, stating that action should be taken considering 'its continued storage exposes facilities and employees to severe dangers'.
Investigative journo @riadkobaissi who has been stripping bare the #Beirut port Customs corruption over the past 10 years says that according to the laws, Customs 'didn't have the right to sell off' the cargo because of pending legal issues with the shipping company.
An extremely important thread on the spread of #COVID19 in #Damascus#Syria following lift of quarantine measures, emulating the #Lebanon example detailed by Dr @firassabiad
Al-Sharq al-Awsat's @ibrahimhamidi says 193 deaths were recorded yesterday, Friday, not all, from Covid but certainly many.
@omarsyrianok5 provides more details, says the burial measures are strict. Patients who die in hospital will be taken to the nearest cemetery to be buried there, regardless of family traditions. (bribery still an option to release the body)
Thread Upsum on view from #Damascus of #Syria MP Elections:
- 'North Korea option' seems a lot more likely.
- Under new and emerging external pressures, any internal dissent will be quelled, starting by parliament.
-A prelude to the '99.99% 2021 Presidential Elections'
A Damascus source commented on the recent elections result saying that @Charles_Lister analysis that Syria was going towards the 'North Korea option' is partially correct for the foreseeable future. politico.com/news/magazine/…
He said that in previous elections under Bashar al-Assad, the people were free to select independents because they had already been security vetted. Independent MPs in parliament also had a margin of freedom to operate under.
Chances are Rami #Makhlouf's life isn't in danger whatever may happen next . He's blood, after all.
The fall of the #Jaber Brothers, whom #Damascus perceived their actions as 'treason' (punishable by death), may be the most recent example.
The Jaber Brothers, once #Syria’s biggest tycoons and most powerful militia leaders, fell precipitously once they crossed red lines.
Tied to the #Assad family through marriage likely saved their lives and their ultimate downfall was limited to public disgrace & financial ruin.
The #Makhlouf saga is reminder that no matter how big a whale you are in #Syria, the megalodon is the apex predator.
Pieced together through insiders, at various intervals, this is the tale of the the fall of the Jaber Brothers, the ‘frog(s) that wished to be as big as the ox’.
Thread: #Damascus source view on the #Makhlouf saga:
“Rami's issues are with Maher Al-Assad and his frontmen, not with the first lady”
Source speculated that the much-publicised spat may be resolved in coming days, though he clarified that this isn't based on any concrete info
Going back to Aug 2019, he explained that in order for Maher to rid of #Makhlouf and replace him in the shadows without much popular backlash, he had to first isolate him from his support base. Therefore, his charities and the Boustan paramilitary forces had to be neutralised.
However, completely shutting down an organisation distributing aid, helping and hospitalising citizens would have incurred the wrath of the people against authorities and those perceived behind the clampdown. Therefore, the charity should still operate but under “new management”.