Early on May 28, former rebels fighting in the ranks of the Russian-backed 5th Corps launched a fierce attack on an ISIS-affiliated group in the northwestern Daraa countryside in response to a well-planned ambush that targeted members of the governorate’s reconciliation council.
The ambush, that took place late on May 29 near the town of Muzayrib, claimed the lives of prominent members of the reconciliation council, Uday al-Hasheesh, Adnan Yousef al-Shanbour and Raafat Al-Barazi.
Three others members of the council were injured, including Mahmoud al-Bardan. The local commander, who is known as “Abu Murshid,” enjoys excellent relations with Russian forces.
Daraa’s former rebels held a small ISIS-affiliated group in Muzayrib, led by a man called “al-Shaguri,” responsible for the ambush. The former rebels launched an attack to capture or kill the terrorists. Heavy clashes took place in the town for several hours.
The attack on Muzayrib reportedly ended with the arrest of several suspects. Nevertheless, the situation in the town is still tense.
The ambush was not the first attack by terrorists in Muzayrib. Earlier this months, nine policemen were brutally killed in the town.
Daraa’s former rebels and the Syrian Arab Army could launch a large-scale operation against ISIS remnants in northern and northwestern Daraa in the upcoming few days. A curfew was imposed in the town of Tafas, a known stronghold of radicals, by the reconciliation council following the attack on Muzayrib.
Yet another diversion to save Idlib from falling to the SAA.
Isn’t the 5th corps is a part of the SAA ?
The 4th and 5th army corps were constructed by Russia and backed by Russia but they’re members of the SAA just like the 1st 2nd and 3rd army corps are, the only difference is the 1st 2nd and 3rd army corps are backed and supported by Iran. The 1st 2nd and 3rd army corps officers usually belong to the Alawite or Orthodox Shia sects whereas the officers from the Russian backed 4th and 5th army corps come from all the different religious sects [mostly Sunni]. The 1st 2nd and 3rd army corps are at full strength [about 50,000] but the Russian backed corps are a mishmash of militia groups and only have half the numbers the Iranian backed army corps do.
Thanks, that was a rhetorical question. Some think that because the 5th corpe is supported by Russia, it doesn’t really belong to SAA.
Sure, but the terrorists are launching these attacks so SAA units are tied up in Daraa (and elsewhere).
This is great news for Syria, but sadly most South Front readers will have absolutely no idea what this really means, so I’m now going to spend some time explaining the situation. For a start the 5th army corps [and the 4th army corps] are Russian supported and constructed by Russia, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd army corps are backed by Iran. The 4th and 5th army corps aren’t pro Iran but are instead solely pro Syria and Russia, but the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd army corps are just as loyal to Iran as they are Syria. The 4th and 5th army corps have officers from all ethnic and religious groups, they aren’t all just Alawite or Orthodox Shia, and the Russian’s actively recruit former Baathist party members to become officers in these 2 army corps, and they do it because of the Baathists undivided loyalty to Syria. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd army corps instead mainly have officers from the Alawite or Orthodox Shia religious sects , so they sometimes have divided loyalties, Syria and Iran [quite often].
Here in Daraa there are 2 main groups of protesters, one group are anti Assad protesters and they’re usually ex FSA, HTS, or Isis fighters/supporters, so they’re actually the bad guys. The other group are mostly just upset with Iran, they don’t want Iranian backed militias in their neighbourhoods and they don’t want their missiles either, and they don’t want them because they don’t want to be stuck in the middle of a new war between Israel and Iran, so they aren’t the bad guys, they just have families they want to protect, so they’re actually the good guys.
Some of you will be choking when I call the anti Iranian protesters in Daraa the good guys and will probably want to reply with a disparaging comment, but before you do go check and find out where a lot of the Russian backed 4th and 5th army corps commanding officers come from, you may get the shock of your lives, a lot of them actually come from the same group of people protesting in Daraa now, the ones protesting about the heavy Iranian presence there.
Russia sent their people in a week before the Iranians did and that was good thing, the officers from the 5th army corps actually live in Daraa and know what needs to be done, their families live and work here so they’re not going to be heavy handed when they don’t need to be, and they’ll treat the anti Assad protesters totally differently to the anti Iranian protesters, Iran won’t do that though, they’ll instead probably start another civil uprising by treating all the protesters alike.
So it’s not so simple down here, if it was you could say the ex FSA, HTS, Isis, anti Assad protesters are the ones killing Syrian government agents, and you could also say the anti Iranian protesters are the ones killing Iranian agents, but since some anti Iranian protesters actually belong to the Russian backed section of the SAA, and some Iranian agents are members of the SAA too, it’s very hard to say who’s on who’s side, and who’s been killed for what reason. This article tells us that members of the 5th army corps were recruited from the rebel factions but that’s not the whole story, the rebel faction they were recruited from reconciled with the Syrian government without a fight way back in 2017, so they weren’t rebels when the Russians recruited them, they should’ve mentioned that, but the other protesters like the FSA, HTS, and Isis protesters didn’t give up without a fight, Assad had to beat them into submission. I look at things very simply, for me there’s a Russian way of doing things and an Iranian way of doing things, and up until now Iran’s been doing things it’s own way down here in Daraa, but now since the Russian cavalry has arrived, I’m hoping thing will be done a little differently. Let’s see if the Russians can do what the Iranian’s couldn’t, they will if Iran gets out of the way, but sadly I don’t think Iran will move out of the way, from what I can see so far Iran’s been pushing even harder to maintain a strong presence here, oh well, at least Russia’s trying.