Akram, the Angry Arab correspondent in Syria, sent me this:
"For the sixth consecutive day, the fighting between the Syrian governmental forces and the anti-regime rebels continue in multiple quarters in Damascus. Last night, the Damascenes were able to hear shelling, explosions and fierce clashes with machine guns while helicopters of the Syrian army were hovering over the city.
"For the sixth consecutive day, the fighting between the Syrian governmental forces and the anti-regime rebels continue in multiple quarters in Damascus. Last night, the Damascenes were able to hear shelling, explosions and fierce clashes with machine guns while helicopters of the Syrian army were hovering over the city.
In the early
hours of the morning, an eyewitness residing in Al-Dweila'a quarter was able to
identify helicopters firing dozens of rockets on targets located in the southern
parts of Damascus. He also saw what he thought to be blinks of artillery
positioned in the mountain of Kassioun, near the presidential palace, that were
shelling unknown targets.
With
the fighting escalated, another war seems to be intensifying. Unfounded rumors about mass
killings committed by unknown gunmen against civilians in quarters considered
opponent swept the city. Yesterday, the Syrian Ministry of Information issued a
statement warning the
Syrian citizens of baseless news prepared by western intelligence apparatuses
and psychological war centers, adding that the goals of this campaign revealed a
clear weakness on the side of the conspirators against Syria abroad and their
tools inside Syria. Nevertheless, state-owned and proponent media outlets
themselves looked to be participating in such campaigns when the state-owned
news agency, Sana, said that an alleged
security Company in Qatar Make Models Analogous to Buildings and Places in
Syrian Cites to Fake Videos on Situation in Syria, a report reiterated today
by a Addounia TV, a pro regime TV station.
The
results of fighting were clear, even in areas not affected directly by the
battles. The traffic in Damascus was too much less than what should to be in a
normal working day. Public transport was almost absent, and one couls only see
cabs, minibuses, small and mid-sized trucks carrying people who have fled the
combat zones, while hundreds of families were walking roads trying, desperately,
to find a shelter. The garbage accumulated in streets because the garbage men
who mostly reside in areas affected by the fighting were unable to reach their
work.
Meanwhile, the Syrian cabinet, who turned out to be irrelevant
in political and security issues was totally absent, even, in humanitarian
ones. Some people wonder why schools, gyms and temples aren't yet open to
receive thousands of displaced people. It seems that the regime doesn't want to
acknowledge the humanitarian crisis."
