Affrontements au sein de l’armée à Deraa – 28 avril 2011

Activists: Syrian army units fighting each other over crackdown

usatoday.com

28 04 2011

A witness and human rights groups reported clashes between Syrian army units over the crackdown on anti-government protesters in the southern city of Daraa, the Associated Press reports.

Al-Jazeera reports that individual Syrian soldiers who refused to fire on demonstrators were executed on the spot. It posted video showing some units pulling back from the fighting and siding with civilians. Al-Jazeera says a few officers and soldiers, perhaps 20, have refused to shoot at civilians and defended them. Reports that whole section of the army have split up are incorrect, Al-Jazeera reports on its Syria Live Blog.

The AP reports that Ausama Monajed, a spokesman for a group of opposition figures in Syria and abroad, said today that his group received reports of clashes between units since President Bashar Assad sent the army into the southern city Daraa, the center of the popular uprising, on Monday.

That deployment appears to have led to resistance among some soldiers to participating in the crackdown.

The reports were corroborated by two witnesses and an activist who spoke to the AP. Read more…