\u2018Whole families murdered\u2019: Syrian rebels execute over 80 civilians outside Damascus<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia Today<\/p>\n\n\n\n
16 DECEMBER, 2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over 80 civilians in a town northwest of the Syrian capital of Damascus have been executed by Islamist rebels, sources within the Syrian military told RT. Many others were kidnapped to be used as human shields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Government forces are continuing a large-scale operation against Jabhat al-Nusra and Liwa Al-Islam fighters, who captured the town earlier this week. The area is located some 20 kilometers away from Damascus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to SANA news agency, around 1,000 militants were in the town when it was enveloped by the army on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The military sources said the \u201carmed groups have performed an execution of civilians\u201d in Adra, RT Arabic correspondent Abutaleb Albohaya reported from Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor now it\u2019s established that over 80 people were killed in the areas now taken over by the army. Often whole families were murdered,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The number of executed civilians is expected to rise after government troops manage to recover the rest of the town – which has a population of around 20,000 – from the Islamists, the military source added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome families were kidnapped in order to be used as human shields in areas where the Syrian army is now trying to free the civilians,\u201d Albohaya stressed. Iraqi Al-Ahd television says this is the reason the Syrian army is abstaining from using artillery on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe military sources also said that the other kidnapped families were moved to the area south of Adra in the direction of the town of Douma, which has been the opposition\u2019s strategic backland since the start of the Syrian crisis [in March, 2011]. It\u2019s also where the most important rebel fortifications are situated,\u201d Albohaya said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rebel presence remains strong in Adra, with \u201csnipers entrenched in high-rise buildings,\u201d he added. \u201cMany opposition militant groups are still acting in areas outside and within the town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The army\u2019s special forces have performed several successful operations against those groups, which have resulted in the deaths of dozens of militants, the military source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The military is storming every house and has already freed dozens of Alawite, Druze, and Christian families from the rebels, Al-Ahd reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government troops have cornered a highway leading to the international airport in Damascus, which is situated four kilometers away from Adra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The military does not exclude the possibility that militants will break through the blockade in this direction, putting the nearby town of Dahiyat al Asad in danger, according to Al-Ahd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018People toasted in ovens\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What the Islamist rebels did when they entered Adra on Wednesday morning was a \u201cmassacre,\u201d one a local resident told RT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe situation was terrible – with killing, atrocities, and fear as the background. Unidentified armed men came into town, but it was obvious that they were Jabhat al-Nusra militants,\u201d Muhammad Al-Said said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe worst crime they committed was that they toasted people in ovens used to bake bread when those people came to buy it. They kidnapped and beat up many,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Al-Said, the rebels committed the atrocities so they could place blame on government forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the resident said that Adra citizens are \u201cwaiting for Syrian troops to save us from the terrorists, who came from other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThose, who could, fled to Damascus. Some hid in the basement, with infants, the elderly, women, and sick people among them. The situation was really terrible,\u201d Al-Said said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Geopolitical analyst Patrick Henningsen sees foreign encouragement of rebel forces as one of the reasons behind the Adra tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat it does indicate\u2026 is that there is involvement by the western intelligence agencies that have links to some of those radical jihadist groups,\u201d Henningsen told RT. \u201cAnd that has been proven throughout history and is also the case today. The first thing that needs to happen for any peace talks to succeed is that Western governments cannot be involved in any way, shape or form, either through proxies or through the intelligence agencies or third parties in arming, financing, giving aid of any kind to the Syrian opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, an estimated 76 people, including 24 children were killed when the Syrian government reportedly launched a series of airstrikes in rebel-held districts throughout the northern industrial city of Aleppo. Helicopters dropped barrels containing TNT explosives on anywhere between 6 and 10 districts, leveling shops, entire apartment complexes and sections of roads. It was reportedly the worst bombing raid on rebel-held territory in over 6 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aleppo, Syria’s largest city by population and one time commercial hub, is now divided between areas occupied by troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebel fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Large swaths of the city have been decimated after rebels launched a major offensive in July 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bloody civil war has been raging in Syria for almost three years. According to UN estimates, over 100,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Condemning the brutality, ODFS Director, Ribal Al-Assad, said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“These are abhorrent acts, a clear signal that these Islamic militants are not, and have never been, on the side of the people of Syria – there aim is simply to annihilate minority groups and all who do not share their perverted ideology to turn Syria into a Caliphate state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let us be clear, these are atrocities of the highest order, genocidal in nature and a clear warning that if this conflict does not end soon, then the beautiful mosaic of Syrian society will be destroyed forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We need a diplomatic solution to the conflict as a matter of urgency; the people of Syria do not have much time left. We need to start talks with all parties who believe in a genuine and free democracy and we need to start them now.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018Whole families murdered\u2019: Syrian rebels execute over 80 civilians outside Damascus Russia Today 16 DECEMBER, 2013 Over 80 civilians in a town northwest of the Syrian capital of Damascus have been executed by Islamist rebels, sources within the Syrian military told RT. Many others were kidnapped to be used as human shields. Government forces are […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6425"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6434,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6425\/revisions\/6434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}