Syrian Regime Appoints Druze Commander for Aleppo Military Operations

Syrian sources have revealed that Major General Murshid al-Dahir has been appointed as head of the security committee in Aleppo, succeeding Brigadier General Muhammad Khaddur, who appeared two months ago in a video while recruiting the people of the villages of Nubl and Al-Zahra from the Shiites to fight alongside the forces of the regime of President Bashar al-Asad and pledging to give them high salaries and jobs in the state and instigating them from a sectarian perspective against the Sunni fighters of the Free [Syrian] Army [FSA]. Sources close to the regime said that Brigadier General Isam Zahr-al-Din has been appointed as commander of the army operations in the city where the Al-Asad regime is preparing to launch new military operations to break the siege on the western neighborhoods that are under its control and to open the road to the city of Aleppo and break the siege on Nubl and Al-Zahra on the outskirts of Aleppo and the siege on the central prison of Aleppo, and also to break the siege on the military airport of Mang. 

Brigadier General Zahr-al-Din is a Druze from Al-Suwayda Governorate and known for his strong loyalty to the Al-Asad regime and his cruelty and harshness in the battles with the FSA. He was reportedly one of the key operational commanders in Duma in Rif Dimashq and Baba Amr in Homs in 2012. 

Supporters of the regime pin hopes on these military changes in Aleppo to make progress in Aleppo where the regime has lost control over most areas. They hope that the regular army will be able to open the road to the city of Aleppo and ensure the entry of basic supplies to the neighborhoods under the control of the regime as they are suffering from a siege because of the closure of the main crossing that connects the eastern and western quarters (Karaj al-Hajz crossing) and preventing citizens from transporting necessary items into the western quarters.

In this context, Jabr al-Shufi, member of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces [Syrian Opposition Coalition, SOC], who is from Al-Suwayda Governorate, told Al-Sharq al-Awsat that "this behavior is not strange because the Syrian regime is seeking to fan the flames of sectarian sedition between the Syrians." He said that there are "officers from the Druze sect within the regular army who are still working as tools in the service of the Syrian regime." Al-Shufi said that "Zahr-al-Din, who is known for his crimes, does not represent the Druze, who always stress their adherence to the Syrian national identity and not being carried away by the plots of the regime that seek to cause sedition." 

On the existence of Druze villages in the Idlib rural side that could be affected because of the regime's military decisions, Al-Shufi said that "the population of these villages, which number 17, has embraced the FSA since the eruption of the revolution and their position will not be different now." He affirmed that "there are no tensions between these villages and their pro-revolution Sunni periphery." Indeed, sources following the Syrian situation indicate that the Druze of northern Syria are politically in harmony with Lebanese leader Walid Junblatt and Mrs Muntaha al-Atrash, daughter of Sultan Pasha al-Atrash, and have supported the revolution since its eruption. 

In another development, the pro-regime Damas Post website has revealed the death of 50,000 soldiers from the regular army, including 30,000 from Al-Sahil [coast] area since the eruption of the Syrian revolution in March 2011. According to the figures of the "Martyrs' Office" affiliated with the Syrian Defense Ministry, 13,440 dead soldiers are from the Alawite villages in the coastal governorate of Tartus and 4,477 soldiers are from the city of Jablah, which is affiliated with the Latakia Governorate, both of which are inhabited by a majority of residents from the Alawite sect, which Bashar al-Asad hails from. The sources said that 5,000 members of the military, including officers and NCOs, are held by the FSA. 

This is the first time that figures are revealed about the human losses amid the forces of the regime, which imposes a blackout regarding everything related to losses of the army and Shabbihah [pro-regime militias]. The disclosure of this information was through Syrian sources, which Damas Post did not name. The website is used for releasing reports and information as an unofficial channel. There has been no official statement regarding these statistics and figures, which are estimated at much more than that since there are still hundreds of soldiers in the regular army who could do the compulsory service and who are missing and not registered in official records. The parents of those soldiers have not received any information about their fate.

 

Al-Sharq al-Awsat