Rebels capture Syrian intelligence base near Israeli border

Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — Sunni rebels have captured a Syrian military intelligence facility near the Golan Heights.

The Free Syrian Army said it captured the military intelligence facility in the Hauran Plain in southern Syria.

FSA said the compound, located eight kilometers from the Israeli frontier, fell in a five-day siege that ended on March 17.

A picture taken from the Israeli side in the Golan Heights shows smoke after shells exploded in the Syrian village of al-Jamlah, close to the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria, on March 7.  /AFP/Jack Guez
A photo from the Israeli side in the Golan Heights shows smoke after shells exploded in the Syrian village of al-Jamlah, close to the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria, on March 7.  /AFP/Jack Guez

“The heroes of the Free Syrian Army broke into the military facility in the city of Jara after [Syrian President Bashar] Assad’s gangs took fighters of the Free Syria Army as prisoners of war and used them as human shields,” a rebel statement said. “They were found dead when the facility was broken into.”

Rebels said the military intelligence compound served as a command and control center for Assad’s Shabiha militia. They said the fall of the compound led to the rebel capture of the nearby town of Shagara.

Another rebel statement attributed responsibility for the capture of the intelligence facility to the so-called Martyrs of Yarmouk, deployed in both the Golan as well as the southern Syrian city of Dera. Yarmouk claimed responsibility for the capture of 21 United Nations ceasefire monitors on the Golan in early March.

The rebels, who cited FSA, also said they took over Syrian Army arms depots in the northern province of Aleppo. A rebel statement said the seizure on late March 15 included rockets and ammunition in Khan Toman.

“These are 107 mm caliber, made in Iran,” a rebel video statement said.
“These are the rockets that Bashar Assad was hitting us with.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the captured
weapons included BM-21 Grad rockets as well as mortars and main battle tank
shells. The British-based Observatory said the rebels, identified as
Islamist militias, also captured three MBTs and additional military
vehicles.

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