DAMASCUS – The Syrian Arab Army were handed a slight reprieve this week as infighting between ‘rebel’ terrorists groups broke out around the Damascus suburb and terrorist stronghold of East Ghouta yesterday, with clashes continuing through this afternoon.
So far it’s reported that fighting between al Qaeda-linked terrorists from Jaish al-Islam and the Failaq al-Rahman brigade has killed at least 38 of each others’ fighters so far, but also some civilians have also been caught in the crossfire.
21WIRE contributor in Damascus Ghoufran Derawan reports:
“The terrorists of “Jaish Al-Islam” (The army of Islam ) have shot demonstrators – apparently people who were supporting other groups of terrorists – in the Kfar Batna neighborhood in eastern Gouta. Kafr Batna is a town in the Rif Dimashq Governorate in southern Syria and a suburb of Damascus, 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) east of the Bab Sharqi neighborhood. Also, there is mutual shelling of mortars and rockets between the “Jaish Al-Islam” and the “Failak of Rahman” and also ‘Nusra Front’ with clashes of heavy machine guns in Kafr Btna.”
Watch the following video, posted via ‘opposition’ sources via Damascus Now on Facebook:
There are also reports of a tank belonging to the “Army of Islam” during the storming of all-male demonstrators Haza in the middle sector of the Eastern Gouta. Reports from the Facebook page of Waiel Olwan, spokesman of Failak al-Rahman terrorist group includes a statement saying that militants of the Failak Al- Rahman in Qaboun cut off the supply routes of ammunition and food as a result of recent battles in the eastern Ghouta.
In the past, when this kind of in-fighting has taken place, state sponsors of terror, like Qatar, had to intervene with promises of more money in order to stop the bloodshed among rival extremist fighters. Last April 2016 saw such a situation, when agents from Doha were called in to negotiate a ceasefire following a similar incident.
Interestingly, this latest development comes at a time when the Syrian Arab Army are making major advances in putting down terrorists enclaves in the Damascus districts of Jobar, Qaboun, and Barza – where terrorist fighters have also moved some of their operation underground, tunneling below the city in order to evade government forces above ground and to build supply routes safe from government artillery and airstrikes.
This latest incident near East Ghouta also comes on the heals of yesterday’s Israeli missile strike in Syria against a target near the Damascus Airport which Israel claims was targeting a “Hezbollah weapons facility” – when in reality the illegal Israel strike against Syria was designed to hamper Syrian Army efforts to retake terrorist-held areas in Damascus. Israel has been active aiding terrorist fighters in Syria since early in the conflict.
A statement by terrorist group Jaish al-Islam claims that in-fighting is a result of a new al Nusra Front (al Qaeda in Syria) umbrella ‘alliance’ group called “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” (‘Sham Liberation Organization’ aka the ‘Liberation of the Levant Committee’), who were arguing with Jaish al-Islam about ‘access’ to various throughways in the district. In reality, and judging by past similar clashes, the infighting is more likely over money, weapons, stolen goods, or control of one black market or another.
Since 2016, in order evade international labeling of terrorist groups and also to preserve their western and gulf funding and support, al Qaeda affiliate groups in Syria have been busy changing their names, sometimes every few months.
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