Mounting anger, more mourning in Latakia, with dozens more regime troops killed in fighting

May 08, 2015

Latakia, 08-05-2015: Mourning is continuing among the ranks of Assad’s supporters in Latakia and anti-regime sentiments are mounting as the number of bodies of local regime troops being returned after being killed in fighting on various fronts across Syria continues to increase due to the victories by rebel forces who continue to make great progress across the country despite the massive odds against them.

Among the senior officers in the ranks of the regime military whose deaths were announced by pro-regime media was Major General Wael Mohammed Hammad, a regimental commander of the Fourth Armoured Division headed by Maher al-Assad (Bashar’s brother), to whom he was also reportedly the most trusted aide. The deceased officer was a resident of the town of Derekish in Latakia province.

Other senior regime officers from Latakia province killed in recent days also include Nadim Ghanim, a senior officer in the regime’s air force and commander of an airbase in rural Damascus, who came from the rural area around Tartous, and Lieutenant Marhaf Arif Mohammed, along with tank battalion commander Fadi Ali Mahmoud, both from the village of Sheikh Badr, also in rural Tartous.

Other regime officers and troops killed in fighting whose bodies were returned to Tartous in recent days also include Brigadier Kamal Mahmoud Deeb, Ali Fathih Hussein, Yael Mohammed Assad, Ali Hassan Ali, Ahmed Hassan Hassan, Ahmed Saqr Suleiman, Ahmed and Yousef Maihoub, Adham Nadim Issa, Ibrahim al-Ibrahim, Ibrahim Mohammed Issa, Bashar Ali Issa, Baghat Ahmad Suleiman, Ali Fateh al-Hussein, Suleiman Ahmed Habib, Khader Ali Shaaban, Asim Ma’arbes, Abdul Karim Shaaban, Azam Ali Amor, Ali al-Khatib, Fayyad Suleiman, Mazen Subaih, Muthana Hammoud, Muhammad Boutha, Mohammed Jamil Hussein, Muhammad Kaddour, Mohammed Alaa Bakr, Mohammed Mazer Nawous, Mohammed Mansour, Wael Tayyip and Haitham al-Younis. All these officers are from Tartous and the surrounding area, died in fighting against rebel forces around the National Hospital in Jisr al Shughour, which has been surrounded by rebels for 13 days so far, following the liberation of the city from regime control.

On Wednesday, the bodies of a number of other regime officers killed in fighting were returned to Tartous, including those of Major General Yassin Abdou Mualla, the Deir el Zour airbase commander and other airbase personnel, and Colonel Walim Shafiq Muhanna, the commander of the regime battalion defending the Kwaires military airbase in Aleppo province, whose body was returned along with those of four First Lieutenants, who were named as Issa Hafat Kulaih, Mahmoud Khamis Khamis, Ghadir Khalil Suleiman, and Ahmed Habib.

It should be noted that the province of Tartous epithet on Wednesday last Maj. Gen. "Yassin Abdo Mualla," the commander of air defense in the monastery of the military-Zor Airport, and a number of its elements, in addition to Colonel "William Shafiq Muhanna," battalion commander protecting Kwers military airport in Aleppo, and four lieutenant first, were: "Jesus kept Kulaih, and Mahmoud Khamis Khamis, and Ghadir Khalil Suleiman, Ahmed Habib.

Report and photos from S.N.N. (Shaam News Network): http://www.shaam.org/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1/%D8%A3%D...