Do Syrian Soldiers Loot Towns Liberated from Terrorists? (Photo)

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Photos, allegedly, showing Syrian soldiers, plundering houses of local residents in the west suburbs of Aleppo, were published in Twitter.

Photo: twitter.com / edwardedark

Photos, showing several Syrian soldiers, carrying household appliances away from some building and loading them into a vehicle, were published online on Thursday. According to an author of the publications, the soldiers, shown in the photos, are plundering houses of local residents in the west suburbs of Aleppo.

The owner of the Twitter account, who published the photos, also noted that the military men allegedly are members of the Suqur al-Sahara, Ali Shili and al-Asha’er brigades, which, according to the author, are pro-government paramilitary units.

Pics: pro gov paramilitaries looting west Aleppo suburbs. Implicated are Suqur el Sahra, Ali Shili brigades & Asha’er #Syria pic.twitter.com/TyaCN63eKn

— Edward Dark (@edwardedark) 17 ноября 2016 г.

According to open sources, Suqur al-Sahara, also known as the Desert Hawks Brigade or Desert Falcons, is an armed private militia branch, affiliated with the Syrian Arab Army and fighting on the side of the Syrian government.

Al-Asha’er, also known as Jaysh Ahrar al-Asha’er or the Tribal Army, was formed by “a group of al-Raqqa elderly dignitaries” in order to fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group and the pro-government forces. The group repeatedly supported offensives of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and positions itself as a part of the ‘moderate’ opposition.

We could not find any information on affiliation of Ali Shili. The author of the post also did not give any clarifications on this matter. However, considering the fact that he made a mistake, calling Al-Asha’er a pro-government paramilitary unit, we dare to assume that this ‘brigade’ may also be a representative of the Syrian ‘moderate’ opposition.

Reasons that guided the author of the post, when he were identifying the soldiers and their belonging to the above groups, also remain a mystery, as military men do not have any insignias on their military uniform.

In addition, the photos, appeared on Twitter on November 17, were first published by Arabic-language sources on September 14. Authors of the posts claimed that the soldiers were spotted in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus, after local jihadists were evacuated to Idlib. However, the author of the fresh post on Twitter decided that the events took place in Aleppo. A reason of this conclusion also remains a mystery.

Photo: twitter.com / Souria4Syrians

Some commentators of the photos are sure that they show members of the National Defence Forces (NDF), plundering houses of local residents, while others claim that jihadis have long ago sold out everything from homes and factories they occupied, so, there just can be nothing that could be looted.

Who is depicted in the photos and what were these people doing at the time of taking the photos? We cannot answer these questions. However, we have big doubts that if these military men were members of the Syrian Government’s Army and were plundering houses of local residents, they would let to take photographs of their ‘dirty business’.

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