New details regarding killing of the ISIS "Caliph" in Jassem, Daraa announced yesterday, based on my sources who participated in the operation. The op was carried out by former rebels, mostly from Jassem, Tel Shehab, Tafas and Mzayrab. These fighters have "reconciled" with the Assad regime but generally refuse to fight other rebels & stage protest against the regime. ISIS repeatedly assassinated prominent pro-revolution personalities and commanders & attempted to assassinate many others.

Fascinating details in this interview w/ the former head of Wagner's intelligence office in Syria & later adviser to Prigozhin
* The financing of Wagner salaries & benefits comes from the Russian state budget. Weapons come from the Russian MoD * The Kremlin turned to the use of Wagner in Syria after realizing that the Syrian Army is incapable of carrying out ground ops even w/ Russian air support, contrary to the expectations of Russia's MoD. To prevent massive deaths among Russian ground forces, Wagner were used.

New revalations re the Israeli 1982 war in Lebanon from secret protocols obtained by @ronenbergman show that Israel's security leadership had plenty of info concerning the criminality of the Christian militias it was allying with, yet chose to ignore it. * There was an internal disagreement in the Mossad & IDF concerning coop w/ the Christian militias in Lebanon. The commander of the IDF's Sayeret Matkal described them as "very weak miltarily & even weaker morally. They are corrupted to the bone. A group of murderers"

Bogdan is providing us with evidence about horrific living conditions in besieged Mariupol, where his parents live & the "filtration" of displaced Ukranians by Russian authorities. The Russian regime used similar methods to screen & arrest displaced persons in Chechnya.

https://twitter.com/kinvshchuk/status/1505614202546921478

The reports about "filtration" of displaced Ukranians & forcible transfer to Russia are incredibly worrisome.
edition.cnn.com/2022/03/19/eur…
In Chechnya, grave abuses took place in filtration camps.
Amnesty:
amnesty.org.uk/press-releases…
Human Rights Watch:
hrw.org/news/2000/02/1…

Wow. @ronenbergman confirms that Israel rushed to classify the 6 Palestinian civil society orgs as terrorist groups after Israel found out that @citizenlab discovered NSO's spyware Pegasus on the phones of activists in these groups. m.ynet.co.il/articles/skpho… Classifying these 6 organizations, which defend the rights of children, laborers and hold both Israel & the Palestinian factions to account, as terrorists, was intended to retroactively justify the Shin Bet's usage of Pegasus to spy on the activists.

The Biden admin imposed fresh sanctions today, mostly targeting additional Assad regime entities and personalities involved in industrial-scale human rights abuses.
Notably, for the first time, the US sanctioned a Turkish-backed militia, Ahrar al-Sharqiya (AaS) & its commanders. AaS is commonly described as a "rebel" or "opposition" group, but it has not fought the Assad regime in over 5 years. Instead, Turkey utilized AaS to fight ISIS and the Kurdish YPG.
home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel…

Growing tensions in Daraa al-Balad with regime shelling on civilian homes & sniper fire leading to displacement of families away from the neighborhood. The regime gave insurgents living in the neighborhood a deadline until 8 PM local time (40 mins ago). A month ago, the regime began imposing gradually tighter freedom of movement restrictions on Daraa al-Balad & later sent large reinforcements of the 4th Division (vid). The regime wanted insurgents to hand over all weapons & allow entry of the mukhabarat into the neighborhood.

Current state of play in Israel & Gaza: As in previous rounds of conflict, the Israeli Air Force has largely run out of low-risk and high-impact targets to strike. Both sides seem to be deescalating, with Hamas firing only at the south & Israel halting destructions of high rises Instead, Israel is striking tactical targets, such as rocket launchers, tunnel openings, homes of Hamas leaders (whose targeting is illegal under international law, unless directly tied to military activity), and is hoping senior militant commanders surface so they can be killed

Live on Israeli TV right now, a Jewish mob attacked a man they suspect of being an Arab. Police is nowhere in sight kan.org.il/live/tv.aspx?s… Israeli TV captured the lynching because they were there filming an Israeli gang attacking Arab-owned shops. Some in the mob were wearing Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) shirts. Guess who ensured they make it into the Knesset? timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-said…

Incredibly worrisome development that sets apart the current conflict from previous Israel-Gaza wars. Palestinian and Israelis are attacking each other in the streets, torching holy places, shops. Israel hasn't witnessed such inter-communal violence in decades.

https://twitter.com/MairavZ/status/1392545710327877636

The current violence in a culmination of multiple processes: the rise of the Israeli far-Right (in part due to Netanyahu's efforts), the growing de-professionalization of the Israeli Police, Judaization of Arab neighborhoods in mixed cities, incitement by Jewish politicians

Israeli military commentators (Army mouthpieces) are saying the Israeli Army will significantly intensify bombings of Gaza & destroy more skyscrapers. Since when do buildings become legitimate military targets by being tall? This is collective punishment par excellence. This policy of collective punishment has been the one pursued by Israel for years vis-à-vis Gaza. It produced wars every 3-4 years on average & impoverishment of Gaza, deterioration of the entire infrastructure needed to sustain life: hospitals, water, sanitation, electricity.

Today's Jerusalem Day march ends in an orgy of hate at the Western Wall. They sing: “Remember me! Strengthen me! Just this once, God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Palestinians (may their progeny be erased!) for my two eyes!” (altering Judges 16:28) The 1996 song, "remember me" is associated with the Israeli far-right. In gained renewed attention after it was played in 2015 at a wedding while attendees celebrated the torching to death of Palestinian baby Ali Dawabsheh by Jewish militants

Interesting. Îlham Ehmed, the co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political body of the SDF that controls NE Syria, calls for the establishment of "a joint project with the Syrian opposition... to turn north & east Syria into the epicenter of shared democracy" This statement by Ehmed m-syria-d.com/?p=10484&fbcli… follows statements she made publicly in September, calling for dialogue with the Syrian opposition that is independent (not subservient to foreign powers)

I tested positive for COVID. I'm doing well & actually relieved. Thought I'd share my symptoms because they were so atypical that I delayed getting a test for 8 days after their onset.
I got what felt like a typical cold, no coughing, no shortness of breath, stuffy nose. I also had a slight fever and muscle ache. After 4 days, I lost the sense of smell, but thought that it was due to the stuffy nose. Then I started gradually losing the sense of taste. I thought that it was due to the loss of sense of smell.

Pro-regime media activist Shafiq al-Hariri, who runs the Facebook page Aleppo News Network, has been arrested for documenting abuse at an orphanage in Aleppo.
The FB page: facebook.com/ANNaleppo/
On his arrest: snacksyrian.com/%d8%aa%d9%88%d… The co-admin of a pro-regime FB group where mostly corruption is discussed was arrested by the Syrian regime yesterday and released today. Several of the posters in the group, who I suspect aren't Syrians based in the country, recently called for protests over living conditions.

Today is the 50th anniversary of the coup that brought Hafez al-Assad to power. His son, who took the reigns 20 years ago, to a large extent continued his father's legacy of ruling through terror. Recent years under Bashar saw a return of trends characterizing the 80s under Hafez * The growing influence of Alawi warlords from the countryside, at the expense of the Sunni urban elite whom Bashar courted during his first 10 years in power.
* Re-emergence of powerful smuggling networks that form the regime's core structures.

Lines outside of the Ibn al-Amid bakery selling subsidized bread in the Rukn al-Deen neighborhood in Damascus. Regime areas are facing an unprecedented shortage of bread. Fuel, electricity & water are rationed. Prices of other goods are increasing. Syrian Lira tumbling again. The growing incidence of hunger among Syrians is the result of the regime's decision to destroy the country to keep Assad in power, the Lebanese banking crisis, endemic corruption, COVID-19 economic slowdown & Western sanctions cgpolicy.org/wp-content/upl…

Video of a Syrian mercenary in Azerbaijan speaking about the heavy shelling carried out by Armenian forces. I reached his cousin. The fighter is Mustafa Qanti, 23-years-old. He was recruited to go to Libya by the Hamza Division, a Turkish-backed faction. Mustafa is a former rebel in the ranks of Liwaa al-Tawhid, fighting the regime since the age of 14. He later joined al-Jabha al-Shamiya. JaS doesn't send fighters to Azerbaijan & he was recruited by a Hamza Division middleman. These men take a cut of the fighters' salary.

Some clarifications on the Syrians apparently being shipped by Turkey to fight in Azerbaijan (previous thread here:

https://twitter.com/Elizrael/status/1310164366097027072

)
I know some of the men who've signed up to go & spoke to relatives & friends of men who've left (but no confirmation of their arrival) These men are overwhelmingly members of the Turkish-established and backed "Syrian National Army" (SNA), a conglomeration of former rebel groups & newly created militias that fight under Turkish command in northern Syria (against the Kurdish YPG militia & previously ISIS).

I have not been able to verify the arrival of Syrian fighters from the Turkish-backed factions (SNA) in Azerbaijan as of now. I can confirm that dozens of fighters from NW Syria (outside of regime control) left Syria via Turkey in an unknown direction about a week ago. Families lost touch with these men since their departure. Rumored destinations include Azerbaijan, Qatar, Turkey and Libya. I am in touch with families & friends of men who left and will report once they manage to get in touch with their loved-ones.

It is much worse than this. Most Canadians in Syria are children who are stuck in 2 camp, al-Hawl and Roj, where children routinely get sick due to polluted drinking water & die of the cold in winter. There are 5 Canadian men (imprisoned), 15 women and 25 children in NE Syria.

https://twitter.com/rafsanchez/status/1309795562590437378

1000s of children of different nationalities are held in al-Hawl & Roj. Their govs refuse to take them back, despite recognizing that this policy kicks the can down the road & that it's an environment ensuring their radicalization. This policy is not just immoral, but also stupid