The Damascus Rebellion

Skyalmian · Post by **Skyalmian** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 10:04 pm

Free Lebanon wrote:DAMASCUS REBELLION UPDATE:

No newspapers are getting in or out of Syria, the media is controlled very tight, and the Syrian scene witnessed a dramatic, security deterioration the last 24 hours.

Precise Intelligence reports coming from Syria indicated massive army troops deployment around the capital Damascus. Most of the military Barracks of the Syrian Army around Damascus gave allegiance to the dissidents: Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan and General Ali Safi. These people in the Syrian Army were against the withdrawal from Lebanon.

It is known that President Bashar Assad is in the city of Alleppo, assessing the internal situation within Syria and trying to organize a "forced" return to Damascus.

We will provide you with additional details as soon as we have them.

[NOTE: The Syrian military General backing Ghazi Kanaanâ??s movement is General Ali Safi and not Madi as originally reported by error.
The Lebanese Foundation for Peace apologizes for this error of publishing.]

The Intelligence Hour for Syria and Lebanon
Special Flash: Damascus, Syria

A Coup d' Etat took place in Damascus late last night. Intelligence reports coming from within the Syrian Military Command indicate the following:

A rebellion split The Syrian Army in two factions .

Since yesterday , Damascus is under the de facto control of the Syrian Army, under the command of Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan, and supported by Syrian Intelligence General Rustom Ghazaleh, Syrian military General Ali Safi, and Firas Tlass son of former Minister of Defence, Mustafa Tlass. The group rebelled against the decision of President Bashar el Assad to withdraw from Lebanon and seized the Damascus military yesterday.

Around 3 am, Damascus time, the Syrian Air Force bombarded two military airfields around Damascus, the Air force base of Dumair, and the Air force base of Katana. Also, late night around 3 am, the Syrian Air force bombarded military positions of the Syrian Army west of the city of Homs.

President Bachar el Assad retreated secretly to the city of Aleppo where he is temporarily holding ground. He is massing special forces troops loyal to him and preparing himself to take back Damascus by force .

The Syrian President left in Damascus his brother in Law, Syrian Military Intelligence Chief General Assef Shawkat to negotiate a settlement with the dissidents. The situation within the Syrian military was very tense for a week and exploded yesterday. The dissident group took control of Damascus as they were very upset at the Lebanon withdrawal for they left behind a billion dollar industry.

Has anyone heard about this?

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 10:14 pm

Frickin' shame G.W. Bush went and stirred up all this crap in the middle east. We could have had Al Gore and Saddam and bin Laddens Al Queda and all the stability and status quo that they stood for....But NOOoooo! Everything has to change now!!! What ever will we do?!?!

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 10:36 pm

Wow... hadn't heard about that yet! Keep your eyes open for more news.

bash · Post by **bash** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 11:00 pm

Bizarre that, if true, Assad likely will be the horse we'll saddle (temporarily). Yesterday he was a despot and now he'll be *our man in Damascus*. I knew the slide toward democracy was going too smoothly and someone was going to push back. I wonder if Assad will request American assistance to regain control if he gets in a tighter corner. Fortunately, we're in the neighborhood.

Either way, this news appears without collaboration so far and it's best to wait for confirmation.

Flabby Chick · Post by **Flabby Chick** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 2:11 am

Zilch in the Israeli press.

Skyalmian · Post by **Skyalmian** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 2:18 am

Wow... hadn't heard about that yet! Keep your eyes open for more news.

I will. I bookmarked that site.

---
Someone reported it to the Drudge Report. If Matt posts it, it'll likely be the top headline for today, and then it will be news (his site has 9.5 million hits a day).

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 6:24 am

Checked just now. Nothing at Drudge, nor at al Reuters or the BBC.

MDX · Post by **MDX** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 9:44 am

I don't trust news reporters. They're too notorious for blowing things outta proportion when they're no big deal. Someone so much as sneezes in court, the press is all over it. Whenever they show a high-speed chase (like the one just last week that went through THREE COUNTIES), I watch the chase and ignore the reporters.

Skyalmian · Post by **Skyalmian** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 10:44 am

Ouch. Me + Others = Owned

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:59 pm

Don't eat too much of that humble pie. Although Assad may not be running for cover right now as the report suggested it is probably coming sooner than later.
The whole middle east is like East Berlin was, we in the west are just counting down to the inevitable moment when the radical factions loose their grip on the future of the region.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 1:49 pm

I don't think the radicals have much of a grip on the future and they never did. Radicals are just a small group of people that speak loudly, nobody is going to listen to them in the long run.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 2:06 pm

Suicide bombers didn't turn the tide in WWII and they aren't going to do it now.

Tyranny · Post by **Tyranny** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 11:30 pm

Dedman wrote:Suicide bombers didn't turn the tide in WWII and they aren't going to do it now.

preach on brothah!