an inside look at life in Latakia under terrorist attacks
by Eva Bartlett - In Gaza
On Tuesday, in addition to the massacre of civilians in Homs by multiple terrorist car-bombings and a rocket attack, and the terrorists’ mortar attack-murder of 14, mostly children, in the west of Damascus’ old city, there were attacks as well as in other areas of Damascus and outskirts.Yesterday, mercenaries attacked Latakia.
Lilly Martin, an American living in Syria for the past 22 years, had this to say yesterday:
“Today, in Latakia, this afternoon there were 2 long range missile attacks. Both landed in a crowded residential area inside the city which is called “Bastan al Rayhan”. One home was destroyed, but no deaths and no injuries reported.
These long range missiles started landing in Latakia on March 9th. Since then many have landed, but not every day. They are random and sporadic. Some have hit without death and injuries, and one hit with 15 dead and dozens injured seriously. So it is very ‘hit and miss’.
None of the missiles have a TARGET. They do not calculate and target an Army base for example. It seems the terrorists have these long range, military grade missiles, but they don’t have a method of targeting. Or, they don’t know how to use them, or they don’t care?
In each case, the missiles are put in the back of a pick up, driven from Turkey to a spot inside Syria, then shot off, then the truck drives back to Turkey. The military can trace each missile. Today’s missiles came from Rabiah. Rabiah is a village which is within hiking distance of of Turkey. Driving it would take 20 minutes, going fast. Rabiah is in the Latakia province, it is located just north and east of Latakia. This Rabiah area has been a constant source of terrorists. It is the Turkish government support of the terrorists which allows these missiles to be shot. The terrorists count on the Turkish official support. When they get to Turkey, they are ‘home-safe’.
Meanwhile, the refugees from Kassab are still at the church here. Kassab remains occupied. Is Kassab the ‘new’ Palestine? Will the residents of Kassab wait 60-70 years to go back home? I am very upset about Kassab, and not just because my own home there was destroyed, but because I really hate and hold the Turkish gov’t responsible. By contrast, I don’t hold the Lebanese gov’t responsible, I don’t even consider Lebanon as having a gov’t or a military. I blame the terrorists themselves who have come in from Lebanon.
But, in the case of Turkey, that is a very sophisticated and well organized gov’t. I have spent a lot of time in Turkey, it is a high-class place, it is not run by idiots. This is why it hurts so much to see their direct involvement in crimes against humanity in Syria. I really would not have guessed they could be so evil.”
Lilly isn’t the first to have told me that the mortars and missiles the mercenaries/terrorists are firing are largely un-guided. However, although they are not guided, the terrorists do seem to have a system of firing and when someone on the ground confirms the hit, more mortars are fired from the same position, which is quite likely the case as with Tuesday’s repeated mortaring of the school in Damascus’ west part of the old city.
From “The mortars falling on Damascus are made in Eastern Ghouta“:
“The Damascus countryside: Jobar and al-Maliha are the two largest areas for manufacturing mortar bombs in Damascus’ Eastern Ghouta. This is mainly due to the presence of many scrap metal yards in both areas, which have provided materials for iron smelting factories that are also abundant there.
…The barrel of the mortar looks like an eggplant before it takes its new shape after it is hollowed out so it can be filled later with gunpowder and other metal pieces to ensure more injuries after the shell explodes.
…During the firing process, some of the armed opposition fighters use applications on tablet devices to locate the target more precisely. This method, however, cannot remedy the problem that the mortars’ targeting is very imprecise.
…Mortar shells land on random and imprecise sites, that is why armed opposition fighters resort to another method to ensure the most accurate targeting possible. The method is based on trial and error as a way to locate the target.
When the target is hit, they bolt the mortar’s bipod to make sure the building will be hit with dozens of shells later on….”
In a longer post on her FB page, Syria is My Home, Lilly lists some of the recent attacks on Latakia:
March 9, 2014: Two long range missiles, #107 GRAD, landed behind Orange Mall, and in a residential neighborhood in North Latakia city, killing one small boy and injuring his family, who were in a taxi. Windows were blown out of homes in the neighborhood from the power of the blast.
March 19, 2014: a long range missile landed in the residential neighborhood called Zeerah, which is near to the University of Tichrine, in Latakia City. Several cars were destroyed, and the missile left a large crater near the sidewalk, which is home to numerous sidewalk cafes. There were numerous injuries.
March 22, 2014: Mother’s Day in Syria: a long range missile attacked and landed at the Engineering Department at the University of Tichrine, in Latakia. No injuries reported, as it was Friday, and the students were not in class.
March 23, 2014: Saturday, long range missiles attack Latakia city. They landed on Baghdad Street, near the Main Police station, and not far from the Latin Church, which is an old Roman Catholic Church. The Commander of the Home Defense Forces, Hilal Al Assad, died while defending Latakia. The Home Defense Force is an armed and trained volunteer Army, which is under the direction and Command of the Syrian Arab Army. The Military Hospital, and other free government health care hospitals, is filling up quickly with injured soldiers and civilians, from the fighting in and around Kasab, and the Latakia countryside.
what the “revolution” bringeth: more mortars on Damascus, more dead civilians
by Eva Bartlett - In Gaza
The mortars are truly terrorizing the people of Damascus, and in the countryside where civilians are also coming under mortar fire from the great “revolutionaries.”
Sana News reported Thursday:
“Terrorists fired Thursday a mortar shell which hit the roof of al-Sa’ada private school in al-Qanawat street in Damascus, causing the injury of two teachers.
A source at Damascus Police Command told SANA that a mortar shell fell over the roof of al-Sa’ada private school, causing the injury of two teachers and material damage to the school.
Armed terrorist groups fired 4 terrorist mortar shells on al-Shagour neighborhood in Damascus two days ago. Two of the mortar shells fell on Bader Eddin al-Hassni Institute for religious science, killing 14 students and injuring 86 others.
One citizen was killed of mortar shells launched by terrorists on al-Tijara and al-Abassiyeen areas in Damascus.
A police source told SANA a mortar shell fell on al-Tijara Corniche, killing one citizen and causing material damages to the properties.
The source added 3 more mortars fell on the Abassiyeen square and the Mall, causing fire and material damages in the place.
Meanwhile, A child was killed and 22 others wounded of terrorist mortars on Jaramana in Damascus countryside.
A police Command source told SANA that 13 mortar shells launched by terrorists fell on the neighborhoods of al-Rawda, Qraiyat and other areas, claiming the life of one child and wounding 22 others in addition to huge material damages to the properties.
In another context, an armed terrorist group assassinated veterinarian Nawras Salman al-Jba’ei and killed his 1-year-old son, while injuring his wife in Sweida on Wednesday evening.
A Police Command source told SANA reporter that a group of armed terrorists intercepted the veterinarian’s car as he was driving along with his son and wife between the villages of Rami and al-Shreihi in the eastern countryside of the province.
The terrorists forced the family members to get off and opened fire on them, killing the father and his son and seriously injuring the mother, who was taken to a hospital in Sala village, the source added.
A source at the Police Command told SANA that a mortar shell fired by terrorists fell on a house the area surrounding al-Abbassein Stadium, causing the injury of its owner and material damage to the house.
The source added that another shell landed in a house near al-Huda Mosque in al-Dweil’a neighborhood, causing material damage to it with no human casualties.
Also, the flourishing of “freedom” in extremist-controlled Raqqa:
Syria’s Raqqa silently slaughtered under ISIL radical rule
Public execution of three Syrian civilians by extremist militants in Raqqa
Apr 27, 2014, al Alam
Residents of Syria’s Raqqa, suffering from a harsh rule imposed by the foreign-backed extremist group of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, use every opportunity to run away from their hometown.
The Western-backed Syrian opposition which has been leading the extremist-marked war in the country, left Raqqa residents to the radical al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s representative on the ground, in March, last year.
The group was later replaced with the ISIL, another extremist group which wanted to be with al-Qaeda in Syria’s multinational war, but was disbanded.
The opposition has totally left Raqqa after tearing it apart with long battles between its fractions.
Raqqa is today without a state, and its people grapple with death every day, with no hope in sight for a normal life.
But Syrian activists have recently shed light on what they call ‘Raqqa’s silent crimes’ committed by ISIL radicals.
Activists say hundreds of people have been abducted by ISIL in recent months; no one knows what they are going through, or whether they are even alive or not.
Women gather in front of ISIL base in Raqqa, which is set inside city’s historic church, and cry to get information about their abducted relatives.
“They cry, begging for information and for their sons’ release,” said Amer Matar, whose citizen journalist brother Mohammad Nour has been detained by ISIL for nine months, according to AFP.
“My mother suffers every day, because she is not given any information about her youngest child,” said Matar, a filmmaker from Raqa who became a refugee in Germany.
Many have left the town and many are still trapped inside, suffering from ISIL rule.
Sema Nassar, a prominent human rights activist, says ISIL is believed to be holding “more than 1,000 Syrians in Raqa province, though it is impossible to know the exact number.”
She also said those suspected of opposing ISIL or violating its puritanical social code vanish, all too often without a trace, while others have been publicly executed.
The province is home to an unknown number of detention facilities, including secret prisons where torture is especially severe, says Nassar, who works with the Syrian Network for Human Rights.
“ISIL sees activists as a challenge to their power, who must be eliminated,” said Nassar.
Despite the dangers, a group of dissidents using secret identities last week launched a campaign calling on ISIL to leave Raqa under the name ‘Raqa is Being Slaughtered Silently’.
Protesters across opposition areas last Friday adopted the slogan: “Cleansing Raqa of (ISIL chief Abu Bakr) al-Baghdadi’s Gang” and on Facebook and Twitter activists share photos of the group’s abuses.
One shows a field execution of several men, who kneel blindfolded in a public square, while another shows a man who has already been executed, tied to a makeshift cross in front of wide-eyed children.
Other groups report incidents including a woman given 40 lashes for failing to veil her face.
The campaign has already raised ISIL’s ire, prompting the arrest of some 70 people in Raqa in the past week alone, said Nassar.
“They’ve arrested anyone they’ve caught even opening Facebook for entertainment, people who aren’t political at all. They’ve imposed some crazy version of emergency law on Raqa,” Nasser told AFP.
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