SYRIA: Syrian rebels are seen attacking houses of suspected government militia and detaining men in the border town of Haram in Idlib

Record ID: 281533

  • Title: SYRIA: Syrian rebels are seen attacking houses of suspected government militia and detaining men in the border town of Haram in Idlib
  • Date: 27th October 2012
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF INJURED MAN SUSPECTED OF BEING A GOVERNMENT FIGHTER LYING ON GROUND, TALKING TO REBELS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF THE IDLIB MARTYRS BRIGADE, BASEL EISSA, SAYING: "Right now, we will give him emergency aid. Then we will investigate his situation. If he was a shabbiha (pro-government paramilitary) fighter, we will try him. If he was a fleeing soldier, we will r
  • Embargoed: 11th November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA81GRMZF8MSK49SFAA7JOBZKFK
  • Story Text: Syrian rebels seized suspected government fighters in the border town of Haram in Idlib province on Friday (October 26) hours after a ceasefire for the Muslim festival of Eid a-Adha had been due to take effect.
    A group of fighters belonging to the rebel Idlib Martyrs brigade entered empty streets in Haram, near the border with Turkey, to the sound of nearby gunfire.
    Later fighters were seen blasting their way into the homes of suspected government militia men.
    The fighters seized what they suspected were fighters loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
    They said Assad forces had been shelling in contravention to the supposed ceasefire.
    The rebels are reportedly attempting to create a continuous area of territory along the Turkish frontier between the army-occupied city of Jisr al-Shughour and the embattled city of Aleppo.
    A rebel leader told some of the captured men in Haram they would be treated fairly.
    "Don't be afraid, no one will hurt you, no one will touch you. Now you will give your identification cards to the judge. If your name is associated with a crime, you will go to court. If your identification proves your innocence, we will return you safely to your families, in which case you will be paid for the days you spent held by the rebels," head of the Idlib Martyrs Brigade, Basel Eissa said.
    The action in Haram came on the first of a truce called by international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who had hoped to use it to build broader moves towards ending the 19-month-old conflict which has killed an estimated 32,000 people.
    A rebel leader in Haram said the declared cessation had been breached by Syrian government forces.
    "We woke up assuming there was a truce. Today is Eid. They sang the Takbir (Muslim greeting) this morning. But since five in the morning they began shelling us. They fired heavily, which proves that for them there is no ceasefire. We were sleeping and some of our men were wounded during this supposed truce that we committed to and which they never did at all," commander of the Binnish Martyrs Battalion, Morhaf Selatt, said.
    The battle for Haram, where residents are largely government loyalists, has been fierce, and has put its historic citadel under threat, from where government forces are fighting back against the rebel advance.
    Rebels stopped by some of the houses during Saturday, with some families coming out to talk to them.
    Some of the rebel fighters were seen holding babies and exchanging conversation in doorways.
    An unidentified woman in one of the houses said she and her family just wanted the ordeal over with.
    "We have been surrounded for two months. We've had no food, no drink, no electricity or gas, no nothing at all. Hopefully they will enter safely. Hopefully we will be safe later. God protect us," she said.
    After initially taking up their positions in Haram, rebel fighters stormed houses they suspected had been used by pro-government paramilitary groups, called shabbiha.
    Explosions inside houses could be seen, while rebels cleared rooms with automatic gunfire.
    Bodies could be seen laid outside some of the houses, and on the roofs of others.
    Eissa and his crew detained one wounded man they suspected of being a shabbiha.
    "Right now, we will give him emergency aid. Then we will investigate his situation. If he was a shabbiha fighter, we will try him. If he was a fleeing soldier, we will return him safely to his family."
    Rebels have promised a fair trial for the detainees.
    The Syrian military said it had responded to attacks by insurgents on army positions on Friday, in line with its announcement on Thursday that it would cease military activity during the holiday but reserved the right to react to rebel actions.
    On Saturday (October 27) Syrian opposition activists reported a return to heavy government bombardment in major cities on Saturday, further undermining the declared truce.
    Activists in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, the suburbs of Damascus and in Aleppo, where rebels hold roughly half of Syria's most populous city, said that mortar bombs were being fired into residential areas on Saturday morning.
    The war in Syria pits mainly Sunni Muslim rebels against Assad, from the minority Alawite sect which is distantly related to Shi'ite Islam. Brahimi has warned that the conflict could suck in Sunni and Shi'ite powers across the Middle East.
    Brahimi's predecessor, former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, declared a ceasefire in Syria on April 12, but it soon became a dead letter, along with the rest of his six-point peace plan.
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