On January 21, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) 4th Division deployed large reinforcements in the southern governorate of Daraa.
According to local sources, the reinforcements, which came from the capital of Damascus, were deployed in the district of al-Dahiyah, near the western entrance of Daraa city.
The reinforcements included ten battle tanks. At least four of the tanks were T-72 “Adra,” a local upgraded version with a heavy add-on armor especially designed for urban warfare.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the reinforcements may have been deployed to support an upcoming operation by government forces in Daraa’s countryside. This is yet to be confirmed.
The monitoring group has documented 46 attacks in Daraa since the start of 2021. These attacks claimed the lives of 23 people, categorized as follows:
- nine Syrian soldiers, intelligence officers and pro-government fighters;
- seven former rebels;
- seven civilians.
Last year, the 4th Division deployed similar reinforcements in Daraa. Back then, several sources claimed that the SAA is preparing to launch a large operation to end chaos in the governorate. Nevertheless, nothing happened.
A large-scale operation by Syrian government forces could improve security in Daraa, especially if it was carried out in coordination with former rebels.
Does the editor in chief of South Front have schizophrenia or something, or is it possible he/she doesn’t even bother to check for story progressions, because after reading the story from 2 days ago disclosing many disturbing events that took place in this very same area between the SAA 5th Corps 8th Brigade and the SAA 1st Corps 4th division, this story doesn’t seem plausible. The article the other day should’ve also included 2 important facts, and the first was a bombing of a busload of 5th Corps soldiers which resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen soldiers and many more wounded, the second fact they should’ve included was the desertion of a few dozen 5th Corps soldiers and the reasons for their desertion, which is multi faceted. Firstly they were reprimanded because they failed to use heavy handed tactics to put down the anti Iranian [not anti Government] protest that were taking place in Darra, which they refused to do because they didn’t want to shoot their relatives and friends, and not long after that [a few weeks I think] their bus was bombed. They claimed it was members of the 4th division that were responsible for the bus bombing and I suspect they were right. But todays story is telling us they’re about to start cooperating again, but I can tell you not to hold your breath waiting for that to happen, it’s more likely they’ll start shooting at each other first.
I wonder if some days the SF team has a Russian editor in chief and every now and again he switches places with a Syrian editor in chief, and maybe even sometimes an Iranian editor in chief, and that’s why we seem to get so many conflicting perspectives and conflicting facts so often.