Eighth Brigade leads attack on our forces in Daraa: Syrian military expert
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – A military expert close to the Syrian government described the current situation in Daraa governorate, southern Syria, as “complicated,” accusing the Eighth Brigade of the Russian-backed Fifth Corps of spearheading the attacks against the government forces alongside opposition fighters.
The expert, who spoke to North Press on condition of anonymity, pointed out that negotiations are continuing between the Central Committee that represents the opposition factions and military and security representatives of the Syrian government under Russian auspices, stressing that “there is no good news yet from these negotiations.”
He revealed the government forces’ intention to escalate the situation if the negotiations fail, because “the preparations have been completed and plans have been made to completely resolve the Daraa issue.”
Regarding the details of what happened during the past two days after the failure of the last agreement, the military expert said, “All the checkpoints deployed in the eastern, northern, and southern countryside of Daraa were subjected to coordinated attacks, and the task of these checkpoints is to protect main roads and secure traffic between villages in Daraa Governorate.”
“The members of these checkpoints, whose status was settled, are from the southern regions, and a large number of them played an important role in betraying their comrades and attacking them,” he added.
On the issue of government forces’ prisoners, the military expert stated that “those who have been captured by the armed groups cannot be considered prisoners, because a large part of them were released last night, and this indicates that the scene is complex and overlapping, and not everything published by some opposition pages is accurate or true.”
He revealed that most of those kidnapped “will be released in the coming hours, because the government forces also have some prisoners from these factions, and their release is being negotiated under Russian mediation.”
He said that a large number of fighters of the Eighth Brigade, which operates under the command of the Russians, had already attacked the army’s checkpoints, and a large part of them had attacked their colleagues at the same site or checkpoint. “Therefore, there is a betrayal by some members whose situations were settled through reconciliations,” he added.
The expert revealed that some of these members attacked military units whose mission is technical or logistical, and are charged with the tasks of protecting and securing the borders with Israel, considering that “the members of this brigade play a role in fueling the conflict in southern Syria.”
rwarof the elementsome elementsed groups,—————————————————–
With regard to the Syria-Jordan highway via Daraa, the military expert said that it has been cut off since yesterday evening and the entire transit movement on the Damascus – Daraa – Nasib Border Crossing highway has stopped, despite Jordan’s announcement of the opening of the crossing and the International Transit Line between Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
He pointed out that Syrian forces will inevitably open this road, which they previously secured under more difficult circumstances when the area was under the threat of ISIS and al-Nusra Front during the previous years.
The military expert estimated the number of killed and wounded in the battles so far in the dozens, as “the number of the opposition fighters who have been killed exceeds 20, while the number of government forces killed can be counted on one hand, and the number of wounded is double that.”