2:20 PM - 27 Dec 12 · Details
FILLED WITH THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT, ASSAD CONTINUES HIS KILLING SPREE ACROSS SYRIA, ANOTHER 1,000 FLEE:
TIMELINE – 27 th DECEMBER 2012 12.15 GMT:
Christmas of course means nothing to the Assad regime who have kept up their relentless bombardment of their citizens across Syria over the last three days.
Explosion Wadi Sharia, Hama
In the Wadi Sharia neighbourhood of Hama on Tuesday a massive explosion destroyed more homes and more than 1,000 people are reported to have fled to Turkey from the area around Halfaya in rural Hama where the bakery queue was attacked by jet fire last Saturday (scroll down, see below).
In the Tafas district of Deraa in the market area 9 people died from shell and rocket fire.
Another 13 people were reported executed in Deraa on Tuesday. On the same day regime forces brutally shelled the village of North Zafarana in rural Homs, reportedly using both phosphorus and cluster bombs.
Deir Balbeh, also in Homs province, came under severe bombardment and a ground invasion is expected. 9 women who fled the violence in the area were arrested and have not been seen since. In Ma’rrat al-Numan, in Idlib province, a MIG-21 is reported to have dropped phosphorous bombs yesterday morning, HERE:
Deir el-Zour continues to be attacked as the Opposition fighters continue their assault on the city’s military airbase but large areas of the suburbs are being destroyed by shellfire that comes from Government forces on the airfield, HERE:
Still With Hope Despite The Pain
Further clashes have also been reported around the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus over the last two days and the Syrian Army has continued its campaign against the Sunni districts of Daraya, Douma, Harasta, Kafarbatna and Zabadani, though without capturing any of them.
41 KILLED IN GOVERNMENT ATTACK ON SIMPLE VILLAGE BUT FSA DESTROY 6 MORE AIRCRAFT:
The worst Government atrocity seems to have been an attack by Army tanks on the village of Mazraat Kahtaniya, whose houses are mainly made of mud, killing at least 41 people, including 20 children, around 8 kilometres north-west of Raqqa.
On the other side Opposition forces report continued successes, including the reported downing of 2 Government jets over the suburbs of Hama, a helicopter over the regime base of Mezzeh near Damascus and the destruction of three helicopter gunships on the ground at the Assad airbase of Menegh near Aleppo.
Also in Aleppo, Opposition fighters have continued their assault against the Police Academy at Khan Asal, HERE: and operations against the airbases at Quwayres and Menegh. The fighters also captured a useful prize, a warehouse full of flour in the western suburbs of Aleppo, HERE:
In Idlib province the Opposition have relaunched their attacks on the army bases at Wadi al-Daif and Hamdiya near the town of Ma’arrat al-Numan, which so far they have been unsuccessful in liberating, but have finally succeeded in capturing the citadel above Harem near the Turkish border, HERE:
In Hama province fierce fighting is currently reported around the town of Marek, which opposition fighters only took a few days ago.
