The latest incident involves Abdul Basset Abu Mohammad, a top General in the Syrian regime armed forces (NDF), who apparently received some blows from officers manning a barricade and who belong to the Political Intelligence branch. In-fighting among Assad loyalists on the rise.
Here is how NOW Lebanon, relying on the original source described the incident:
“The NDF’s commander in Deir Ezzor wanted his relatives [to] be [allowed] through the [military intelligence] checkpoint to areas outside regime control,” a resident from the town of Baghiliya, which lies just north of Deir Ezzor, told the website.
“The [intelligence service] members refused to let Abdulbasset pass and the matter ended in an argument. Then [they] attacked him […] and his relatives, beating them viciously with the butts of their rifles.”
Abdulbasset Abu Mohammed was rushed to hospital after an argument between him and members of Syria’s Political Intelligence branch descended into an exchange of blows
Subsequently, the NDF commander’s relatives “were all arrested and Abdulbasset was taken to [the city’s] military hospital in critical condition.”
The Baghiliya resident added that Abdulbasset had maintained connections with high-ranking regime officers.
Al-Souria Net’s correspondent also spoke to activists in regime-held areas of the city, who said that privileges once enjoyed by NDF members are being taken away.
“The influence and control that certain […] NDF families used to enjoy have begun to recede day by day,” the outlet reported.
“Now they stand for long hours in front of shops and bakeries, just like everyone [else]. Before, they used to go straight, using the influence of their [relatives in the militia].”
“The army has even evicted them from several houses which it appropriated on the pretext that they had belonged to Free Syrian Army members.”
Of late, another incident involving Rustum Ghazaleh Assad’s chief of political security, and a rival general, Rafiq Shehadeh, the director of military intelligence ended in Ghazaleh dying from his wounds. In-fighting among Assad loyalists on the rise.
The pressure on the regime is mounting on two fronts. Sunnis fighting with Assad have become a target of abuse by the Alawites ruling and the regime’s morale is so low, sharks are beginning to chew on their own.
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