Syrian rebels assassinating military foes
By
Published: April 25, 2012
Updated: April 25, 2012 - 12:00 AM
The gunmen walked into an apartment building before dawn this month in the quiet Damascus suburb of Jaramana, went to the fifth floor and knocked on the door. When the police commander opened up, the men shot him dead and left.
Syrian President Bashar Assad's opponents increasingly appear to be resorting to assassinations of loyalist military officers in an escalation of their campaign to bring down the regime.
At least 10 senior officers, including several generals, have been gunned down in the past three months, many of them as they left their homes in the morning to head to their posts.
The latest occurred Tuesday when attackers shot down a retired lieutenant colonel and his brother, a chief warrant officer, at a home supply store in another suburb of the capital, according to the state news agency. Elsewhere in Damascus, an intelligence officer was killed, opposition activists said.
The targeted slayings are rising as an intensified crackdown by regime forces in recent months has dealt heavy setbacks to Syria's rebels.
The pace appears to have accelerated even more sharply since a cease-fire plan brokered by U.N. and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan went into effect April 12 ? and just as quickly began to unravel.
A spokesman for Annan said in Geneva that satellite imagery and other credible reports show Syria has failed to withdraw all heavy weapons from populated areas.
It is unclear whether the slayings are being carried out by rogue elements in the opposition seeking revenge or whether they represent a coordinated strategy by rebels to destabilize the regime.
terrapin manny pacquiao vs marquez manny pacquiao vs marquez dish network