Divided loyalties of the regime’s military formations | 4th Division storms rural Damascus, killing seven defected soldiers
Reliable sources have informed the Syrian Observatory that the 4th Division led by Maher al-Assad, brother of the head of the Syrian regime, imposed this afternoon a security cordon around the city of Ad Dumayr in the countryside of the capital Damascus, storming one of its neighbourhoods where a group of defected soldiers from the division were holed up.
According to Observatory sources, the defectors were settled-status members who joined the ranks of the 4th Division with their weapons. Regime forces used various types of heavy weapons during the operation, coinciding with the flight of three jets which terrorized the citizens by breaking the sound barrier several times over the city.
In the meantime, regime forces carried out a raid and search of the city’s neighbourhoods, searching for the wanted soldiers who managed to escape.
On the other hand, seven soldiers of the division were killed and others wounded, while the forces of the 4th Division were able to pull their bodies out.
Moreover, the Syrian Observatory has monitored the arrival of ambulances in the city to transport the regime forces’ dead and wounded during the clashes.
Tensions are growing between Russian forces and the Iranian-backed the 4th Division, as Russian ordered to withdraw all checkpoints affiliated to the regime’s 4th Division.
It is worth nothing that Ad Dumayr area has military barracks of various military formations, including the Special Forces and the 4th Division, led by Maher al-Assad, the brother of the Syrian regime’s head.
Reliable SOHR sources have confirmed that Russia ordered to withdraw all checkpoints affiliated to the regime’s 4th Division led by Maher Al-Assad, Bashar Al-Assad’s brother.
According to SOHR sources, Maher Al-Assad rejected the Russian orders and no checkpoints have yet to be withdrawn. Meanwhile, Russia is exerting hard efforts to entrench the Russian-backed “5th Corps” presence throughout Syria, especially in Daraa, through mounting recruitment operations in return for large financial incentives.
It is worth noting that the 4th Division deploys across Syria, at a time when it is supposed to be stationed only in Damascus and countryside.