Residents of #Damascus reporting "sounds of blasts", with a few of them reporting "strong tremors shaking windows".
Sirens reportedly heard in the capital. Masaken Barzeh reportedly hit, though unconfirmed. #SyriaStrikes
Reports coming out of strikes vs #Jemraya District, #Damascus. Jemraya is where the Scientific Studies and Research Centre is located #SRSC #SyriaStrikes
Unconfirmed strikes reportedly being spotted against targets in #Qasyun Mountain (Home of Presidential Palace and other military units), as well as #DummarProjects#Damascus.
Unconfirmed strikes as of yet reported in #Misyaf, near #Latakia (suspected CW Production Lab)
#Damascus resident reported seeing "air defence missiles fired from direction of #Mazzeh airbase". She's not sure whether airbase had been hit.
Meanwhile, early reports indicating #Dumair Airbase had also been hit.
Footage from #Damascus shows air defence missiles being launched. Location not specified. #SyriaStrikes
Pro regime #Misyaf FB channel denies reports of town being targeted (nearby a suspected CW site)
Meanwhile, in #Damascus, residents still reporting hearing blasts.
Rebel activists reported seeing missiles flying from Al-Ghab Area, west of #Idlib, heading south towards Damascus.
Maytham Achqar, a resident of #Damacus, publishes more footage of air defence systems trying to shoot down missiles over the capital.
Pro-regime FB accounts appearing to confirm #Dmeir Airbase hit. "No casualties reported so far," they say. #SyriaStrikes
Reports coming in of sites in #Hama being targeted.
Pro-regime FB pages denying any strikes taking place but confirming "air defences active in the area". Also denying any strikes reported vs #Homs.
Pro-regime FB pages now confirming strikes vs #Homs but saying air defences "have dealt with missiles over Homs skies"
Pro-regime FB page also confirming strikes vs #Keswa near #Damascus as well as strikes vs #SSRC
#Damascus Resident to @BBCNews:
"It was mayhem above us. Most missiles shot down. I saw > 20 anti-air missiles launched. They'd fly really high then start weaving across, like they were following their target. I didn't see the cruise missiles but i saw sum falling debris nearby"
#Coalition issues warning to potential rebels near #Jordan borders.
'This was a defensive strike... We are not at war with the regime... If you attack regime positions, you will not be supported'
Footage said to be from the #Kesweh area, south of #Damascus, showing an air defence "shooting down a US cruise missile" #SyriaStrikes
Footage from #Damascus Now shows buoyant Damascenes in Umayyad Square in "defiance of Tripartite Aggression", celebrating a "morning of victory".
Pro-regime FB mocking #Syriastrikes:
"That's as many missiles as you can get with Saudi money. Insert another coin to continue"
Footage from earlier this morning from #Damascus#Barzeh in distance where #SSRC was hit, with one cruise missile after the other. #SyriaStrikes
Footage near #Homs, shot earlier this morning, shows what looks like a missile in distance. Sound of jets could be @RoyalAirForce Tornados which @DefenceHQ reported to have struck targets in area.
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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”.