Talk:Assault on Deir Attiya

November 20-28, 2013

Locals Speak
Copied from here "Arabi Souri" translated a state TV video from immediately after the retaking of the village, dead terrorists still lying around. Hospital shown from in- and outside. Creepy. Sucks when the hills you live below contain this kind of zombies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnDpJJphUKI --CE (talk) 17:00, 29 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Good, visuals! And some details. One local man cites the terrorists' odd looks - beards dyed red being one feature. That is historically an Ikhwan (WP) thing - ideally they use the blood of infidels, but sometimes they use dye. As I've noted before, Utaybi is one Ikhwan tribal name, and SyrPer lists another Utaybi killed here or nearby in recent days. Same link, 11 names given, four specified as Saudi, including "Abdul-Rahmaan Al-'Utaybi (SAUDI ISSUE OF A RAT-MONKEY MOTHER)" All-in-all, "Once they departed, it was easy to see that the rodents left behind 150 or more carcasses with 42 being confirmed Saudis and another 24 confirmed Emirate rodents," most not identified yet.
 * Fascinating. I wasn't aware of those guys at all. Thought Ikhwan is only a synonym for the Muslim Brotherhood. --CE (talk) 14:11, 30 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Creepy people they were/are - ordinary Wahabbis were weak infidels to them, barely tolerable. The beards might really add something. Just the tribal names (or the ONE I can recognize) appearing means little when this Ikhwan stuff is 100 years old or more, hardly practiced since. But if they're doing the beards, they might be doing other stuff they used to. Cutting open pregnant women is one of those, and that's been happening, like in Latakia under another Uteybi. So considering the beards, maybe it wasn't so imaginative to wonder... --Caustic Logic (talk) 00:54, 1 December 2013 (UTC)
 * Oh, and I wasn't aware that the Muslim Brotherhood was called Ikhwan at all. It's about the right word, but may not be official. Rather, maybe, an insult, behaving as if they were those Ikhwan scum people still remember. But these guys perhaps ARE them, or the direct genetic and cultural inheritors whose great-grandfathers were in the last battle lines when house of Saud turned on them around 1920. A little f*#&ing chilling, that possibility and the thinking that would underly it. --Caustic Logic (talk) 08:45, 1 December 2013 (UTC)
 * The word itself just means brothers, apparently. --CE (talk) 16:50, 1 December 2013 (UTC)

Another report (edit: after 2:30 minutes from an earlier report it switches to the same as above): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D_m0DVZCEA --CE (talk) 22:27, 1 December 2013 (UTC)

The Saudi Connection
The pro-government sources identify the dead as largely a mix of foreigners including Chechens and especially Saudi Arabians. A space for the names:

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Above is mentioned the clues of a chilling possibility - the re-emergence of the Saudi Arabian Ikhwan militia/cult of yore with the red-dyed beards. More on that could go here. --Caustic Logic (talk) 02:24, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

Saudi Royal Guard
High-level Saudi military personnel were involved, pro-Iranian sources report, based on the claim that at least one of them was killed there and found afterwards.
 * FARS News: Saudi Royal Guard Killed in Syria’s Deir Attiya
 * Shia Post: Saudi Royal Guard Killed In Syria’s Deir Attiya (with graphic photo of blasted dead rebels)

From the first link:
 * According to Al-Alam correspondent, reporting from Syria, the Saudi Royal Army commander known as Abu Ubaida who led terrorist al-Nusra Front’s operations in the Christian town was killed in clashes with the Syrian army.
 * Number of foreign militants identified during latest clashes in Qalamoun has been noticeable, Mohamed Nasour who is a local journalist in Douma said.
 * Number of foreign militants identified during latest clashes in Qalamoun has been noticeable, Mohamed Nasour who is a local journalist in Douma said.


 * He said most of the militants in Douma region, located in Northeast of capital Damascus, are from Saudi Arabia.


 * Nasour added during last week clashes 40 Saudi militants were killed while many others tried to flee the area through Arsal Mountains towards Lebanon borders.

This could of course be a sign of approval from high levels within the kingdom. It could also be a rogue zealot in the military, who defied all the kingdoms strategems to protect Syria, climbed through their barbed-wire fence towards whichever border, and joined the Jihad as a lone gunman. And perhaps brought a team of re-activated Ikhwan lone gunmen.

Cited was a reporter for Iranian Al-Alam. Here then is their original English-language report:
 * Saudi royal guard killed in Syria's Deir Attiya - English (loaded very slow for me)
 * ''A Saudi Royal Army commander has been killed along with 40 Saudi militants in Syria’s Deir Attiyeh during clashes that freed the strategic town from al-Qaeda-linked militants.

According to Al-Alam correspondent, reporting from Syria, the Saudi Royal Army commander known as Abu Ubaida who led terrorist al-Nusra Front’s operations in the Christian town was killed in clashes with the Syrian army.'' Otherwise about the same as the copy posted above. I like their context summary these days:
 * The war in Syria started in March 2011, when pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of Western and regional states.
 * The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history.