Source: 21st Century Wire
In its zealous pursuit to misinform western public opinion about Syria, MSM has canceled dozens of scheduled interviews with a war reporter after he has declared to Belgian RTL radio: “It wasn’t the government of Bashar al-Assad that used Sarin gas or any other gas in Ghouta”.

Pierre Piccinin da Prata, the Belgian war reporter and Editor-in-Chief of The Maghreb and Orient Courier, held hostage with Italian war reporter Domenico Quirico by Syrian ‘rebels’ for five months, eavesdropped a conversation through a closed door- between their jailers about the chemical weapon attack and saying that President al-Assad was not responsible for Ghouta Sarin gas attack.

“Syrian government had no interest in using the gas. Strategically, it was useless; and that could only ruin his image on the international level, with the risk of an American attack,” the reporter told the Syria Times e-newspaper, calling on western media outlets that have been wrong about Syria, about what has really happened since 2011 to recognize their errors and restore truth for their readers and listeners.

Piccinin, who was sold by the commander of the Katiba of the so-called the ‘Free Syria Army’ he was with to the al-Farouk Brigade for a few hundred dollars, posed the following question: what is the point of being a war reporter if it is not to tell the truth?

Following is the full text of the interview:

ST: Why and how were you taken hostage by the Farouk Brigade as you had been a fierce supporter of the so-called ‘Syrian Arab Army’?

Piccinin: I was kidnapped by al-Farouk Islamists in April 2013, in al-Qouseir, in the governorate of Homs.

I was doing an ’embedded’ report at the time, with the ‘rebels’ of the Free Syrian Army (FSA – when they still existed, before disappearing when the rebellion was completely Islamized).

At that time already (April 2013), the ‘non-Islamist’ rebels realized that they had lost the game. Many were returning home or fleeing to Lebanon or Turkey. Some joined the different Islamist groups. Jabhet al-Nusra, especially (al-Qaeda in Syria). But some groups of the FSA continued to occupy the land they still controlled. But they no longer fought the Syrian army: they behaved like bandits; they ransacked the population, under the pretext of taking money for the war effort. And some FSA chiefs started to kidnap people, to enrich themselves personally. That’s what happened to me: the commander of the katiba of the FSA I was with sold me at al-Farouk for a few hundred dollars.

ST: What is the lesson you have learned from the five months in captivity?

Piccinin: As a war reporter and specialist of Syria, and Islamist circles, this experience (although it was very painful nervously and physically) taught me a lot about the evolution of the conflict and also about the realities and internal functioning of these Islamist groups. On their behavior, their convictions, their vision of the world…

I have not been locked up for five months. I was moved very regularly as the conflict evolved. At this time, the fighting followed one another: the front lines moved a lot. In particular, I experienced the siege and the fall of al-Qouseir. The city was taken over by the Syrian government in early June 2013.

So I was able to observe what was happening, constantly moved between Damascus and Aleppo. And I was not attached, nor blinded. I could even talk to the fighters who held me, regularly and also to the people I met. I was very guarded, sometimes locked up, but very often free to communicate, with the Islamists and with the people who gravitated around them. I took my meals with them. We often slept in the same room. I was even present when they prayed or during their military meetings.

I hoped that someone (among the people I meet) would react and help me to free myself. But the Islamists terrorized the population. People were very afraid of Ammar al-Buqai, the al-Farouk chief, who held me. And nobody dared to defend me. One day (it was in Yabroud, near the Lebanese border), a man told me: “They (the Islamists) are a real problem for us. It’s dangerous to contradict them. They are very dangerous. We must pretend to obey them.”

It was a very hard and painful human experience (for my family, my parents in particular, they are old). But, professionally, I dare to say that it was a great enrichment.

On the human side, moral, I also learned a lot. I have seen what level of cruelty, violence, malice and cynicism the human being can reach…

ST: You have stated that it is not the Syrian government that used Sarin gas or any other gas in Ghouta. Have you tried to give your testimony to international investigation committee about the use of chemical weapons in Syria? And Why?

Piccinin : At the end of this period of detention (it was at the end of August 2013), the jihadists who held me spoke only about this: the events of Ghouta.

And, at that moment, I was transferred to a large building (it was in Bab al-Hawa, near the Turkish border). This building served as a common headquarters for al-Farouk and the Free Syrian Army. It was in this place that we caught a conversation that allowed us to know that, most likely, the gases were used in Ghouta by an Islamist group, to provoke a reaction from the United States of America (I say “we”, because I was kidnapped with an Italian journalist, who sometimes accompanied me to Syria, and we were detained together).

Obama had promised that he would attack Syria if the government used gas. And it was a time when the rebels were losing the war. Everywhere! So… I guess if the rebels did that, it was to try to drag the United States into the conflict, hoping to reverse the military situation.

The Syrian government had no interest in using the gas. Strategically, it was useless; and that could only ruin his image on the international level, with the risk of an American attack.

My testimony was published by some media and I developed this question in several conferences.

But, no … Never the UN institutions have asked me to testify.

It must also be said that very few European media have published this testimony…

To tell you the truth, when I came back to Europe, I was contacted by dozens of media outlets, who wanted to interview me, and a lot of Belgian and French media of course. But when I gave the first interviews on Belgian radio in the morning, the day of my come back … I obviously talked about this issue of gas in Ghouta … Just after, the phone immediately began to ring: the media that had programmed my intervention in their broadcasts (radio and television) called me to tell me that the interview was no longer possible … For various absurd pretexts … The interviews were cancelled! Indeed, all Western media had accused the government of Bashar al-Assad of using the gas and had claimed that he was guilty. And a reporter who has been on the ground for five months was coming to testify to the contrary … That did not suit them …

Even my Italian colleague has preferred to keep quiet … I never asked him directly why, because I would not like to embarrass him … But I’m sure it was his editor-in-chief who told him not to talk about that …

Anyway. I should have shut up too. It is certain that my professional career has suffered a lot because of this revelation.

But, honestly, I ask myself the question: what is the point of being a war reporter if it is not to tell the truth?

ST: Have you visited Syria after your release? Would you like to visit Ghouta after its liberation from terrorist groups?

Piccinin: I have been to Syria many times since 2013. For example, I covered the battle of Raqqa, against the Islamic State …

But mainly with the Kurdish rebels. Never again with the Free Syrian Army (it does not exist anymore besides… apart some groups, manipulated by Erdogan’s Turkey, in the north of Aleppo). And not with the Syrian regular army.

Of course, I would very much appreciate being allowed to go back to Syria, with the government’s agreement to see Damascus again … and Aleppo.

I had an ambitious project… To ask President Al-Assad for a series of long interviews, for a book.

ST: As you have been in Syria during the war, why President Bashar al-Assad is standing strong after 8 years of terror war on the country?

Piccinin: Already in July 2011 (including in the Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique), I analyzed the situation in Syria and announced that the Baathist government would remain at the head of the country…

I explained the reasons, complex, for which the president Assad was strong enough to break the ‘rebels’.

Of course, we must mention the complexity of the conflict that President al -Assad had to face. I mean: the complexity of alliances and actors. Syria had to count on faithful and solid allies: Hezbollah party, Iran and, of course, Russia.

But, more than all that, certainly, it is the cohesion of the Syrian army which allowed the victory and the incredible sacrifices of the Syrian soldiers. It is a fact. The Western media have never talked about those boys who gave their lives to defeat the Islamists.

I met them in Syria. They were citizens, young men doing their military service. No monsters, as the media in the West have presented.

More, President Al-Assad had the support of communities, ethnic and faith-based minorities, who have always been protected in Syria and have been able to live in peace in the country (this is not the case in other Arab countries); moreover, President Al-Assad also had a lot of support of the Sunni majority, and particularly in the middle class, who appreciated his policy of economic development and openness.

But, above all, it is obvious that the majority of Syrians have been scared by Islamist fanatics: Syria is a secular country, where the level of education is high, and where there is also a form of social security which ensures the inhabitants of rather good living conditions (in comparison with other countries of the Middle East).

When it became clear that the “revolution” had turned into a fanatic, jihadist, Islamist insurgency, only the regular army could protect the people from the creation of an “Islamic state”. And the vast majority of Syrians supported the government and the army in their efforts to save the country.

ST: Would you like to add anything?

Piccinin: Only one word, for Western media…

It is time for all those who were wrong about Syria, about what has really happened since 2011 … All those who have not understood anything about this conflict … Time to let themselves question… To recognize their errors and restore truth for their readers and listeners.

Unfortunately, the Western press is not as free as it claims … And I doubt that such a questioning will ever take place.

Especially when I read the analyzes produced today: Western journalists have not remembered anything, learned nothing from the mistakes they made.

The consequence is that Western public opinion is very badly informed (or even “misinformed”) about Syria. And on this issue, citizens, especially in Europe, have the impression of “knowing”, but it is a “virtual” knowledge, and they live in a “virtual” reality, far removed from the truth.

***

Interviewed by: Basma Qaddour

Source: 21st Century Wire
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) restarted their operation in the eastern countryside of the Homs Governorate after a fierce battle with the Islamic State (ISIS) the week prior.

Led by their Republican Guard forces, the Syrian Arab Army restarted their operation this week by targeting a number of areas belonging to the Islamic State terrorists in the Badiya Al-Sham region of east Homs.

According to Anna News, the Syrian Arab Army has been clearing several Islamic State hideouts and trenches that have been used to launch attacks against the government forces in the past.

The Syrian Arab Army has been engaged in a fierce battle with the last remaining Islamic State terrorists that are still active at this front in the eastern countryside of the Homs Governorate.

Source: Fars News
The Syrian Army Forces pounded ISIL’s movements and strongholds in Eastern Badiyeh (desert) of Homs province, inflicting major losses on the terrorists on Friday.

The army soldiers engaged in fierce clashes with ISIL near Humeimeh and T2 Oil Pumping Station in Eastern Badiyeh, killing and wounding a number of terrorists.

In the meantime, the army aircraft pounded ISIL’s positions and movements in a region between Homs and Deir Ezzur provinces, destroying several positions and military vehicles and killing or wounding a large number of terrorists.

Major General Alexei Tsygankov, the chief of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria said on Wednesday that officers of the Center found an ammo cache in the village of Um-Sharshuh, Homs province.

“Thanks to intelligence obtained by the Syrian security agencies, an ammo cache was recovered in the Eastern part of the populated locality of Um-Sharshuh. An anti-tank guided missile, three reactive shaped charge mines, 52 hand anti-tank grenade launchers and over 8,500 pieces of ammunition were handed over to the government forces,” the Russian commander said.

Over the past 24 hours, Russian observers registered some ceasefire violations in Aleppo, Deir Ezzur, Lattakia and Dara’a provinces.

Syrian field engineers trained by Russian specialists have searched 20 buildings in the town of Douma and Eastern Ghouta and destroyed three mines, four shells and 17 improvised explosive devices. At least 35 mines and 21 improvised explosive devices were found in East Kafr Laha, Homs province.

Source: Press TV
Foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants have handed over large quantities of munitions and explosive devices, some of them Israeli-made, before their evacuation from towns south of the Syrian capital Damascus to the country’s north.

Syria’s official news agency SANA reported on Saturday that the extremists gave away their weapons as they left Yelda, Babila and Beit Sahem towns for northern Syria as part of a process to declare southern Damascus free from terrorism.

There were 60mm, 80mm and 120mm mortar shells, 14.5mm and 23mm PK machine guns, sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, improvised explosive devices and Israeli-made landmines among the weapons.

This comes as Syrian government forces have on numerous occasions found considerable amounts of foreign-made munitions, including Israeli-made ones, from terrorists’ hideouts across the war-ravaged Arab country.

The Arabic service of Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported on May 4 that Syrian army troopers had launched a clean-up operation in the southern part of Homs, located 162 kilometers north of the capital Damascus, and uncovered a huge cache of Israeli-made munitions, including chemical warfare and digital equipment, meant to be distributed among anti-government extremist groups.

On April 3, Syrian troops carried out operations in the villages of al-Salihiyah, al-Dweir, al-Kishma and Sabikhan in the country’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr near the border with Iraq, and discovered Israeli-built chemical substances, explosive materials and weapons there.

Syrian soldiers also uncovered several artillery shells produced by some members of NATO.

An unnamed Syrian military source said many rocket-propelled grenades were found inside the Daesh arms cache in Salihiyah, while the depot in Dweir contained rocket launchers as well as mortar shells of different kinds.

In September 2016, Israeli legislator Akram Hasoon accused the Tel Aviv regime of directly providing military assistance to members of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham Takfiri terrorist group, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Hasoon, in a post published on his Facebook page, said the extremists were shelling the Druze village of Khadr under the generous support and protection of Israel’s minister of military affairs Avigdor Lieberman.

He wrote that Israel had offered advanced technological equipment to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham militants in order to give them the upper hand in clashes with Syrian government forces.

Source: Press TV
Syria has announced that several of its military bases located in the provinces of Hama and Aleppo have come under missile fire.

According to Syria’s state news agency on Sunday, “a new aggression with hostile missiles” happened at 10:30 pm local time, in which military positions in the Hama and Aleppo villages were targeted.

The origins of the attacks are still unclear, but come several weeks after Russia and Syria said Israeli warplanes struck an air base in the Syrian province of Homs.

It also comes a few weeks after, the US, Britain and France carried out a string of airstrikes against Syria over a suspected chemical attack against Douma. Washington and its allies blamed Damascus for the suspected assault.

The Syrian government has strongly denied the allegation, calling on Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to send a fact-finding mission for investigations.

Over the past few years, the Israeli military has launched sporadic attacks against various targets on Syrian soil, in assaults slammed by Syria as attempts to boost terrorist groups who have been suffering heavy defeats on the battlefield with Syrian government forces.

On several occasions, the Syrian army has confiscated Israeli-made arms and military equipment from militants fighting pro-Damascus forces. Israel has also been providing medical treatment to the extremist militants wounded in Syria.

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Russia and Syria say Israeli warplanes struck an air base in the Syrian province of Homs and that Syrian air defense systems shot down five of eight missiles fired.

The Interfax news agency cited the Russian Defence Ministry as saying Monday that two Israeli F-15 warplanes carried out strikes from Lebanese air space on the T-4 air base on Sunday.

“Two F-15 planes of the Israeli army hit the airbase between 03:25 am and 03:53 am Moscow time (0025 GMT and 0053 GMT) with the help of eight missiles controlled remotely from Lebanese territory, without entering Syrian air space,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said.

The Russian military noted that Syrian air defense systems had shot down five of the eight missiles fired.

Source: Fars News
The Syrian army continued operations in the Eastern parts of Homs province, and extended the range of its advances in regions near the ancient city of Palmyra (Tadmur).

The Syrian army units engaged in fierce clashes with ISIL terrorists in Badiyeh (deserts) of Palmyra South of the city and regained control over vast areas near al-Abtar mountain after killing several ISIL members.

Meantime, the Syrian air force pounded ISIL’s positions and moves in areas near the wheat silos and al-Sukhneh region, destroying a number of military vehicles and inflicting losses on the terrorists.

Also, the army’s artillery units targeted the ISIL bases in al-Sawame’ (wheat silos) region, smashing 3 military vehicles.

Earlier today, the Syrian army’s artillery and missile units along with the country’s Air Force hit hard the positions of ISIL in Eastern Homs and Al-Nusra Front (also known as Fatah al-Sham Front or the Levant Liberation Board) in Northern and Northwestern parts of the province, inflicting tens of casualties on the terrorists.

The warplanes carried out several combat flights over ISIL’s positions and movements in the regions of Um al-Raman, Fat’hat al-Mahasah, Ibn Arsan mount, East of the city of Palmyra (Tadmur), al-Bardeh and East of the town of al-Quaryatayn in Eastern, Southeastern and Southern Homs, killing a number of terrorists, including several non-Syrians.

A large volume of ISIL’s arms, ammunition and military hardware were damaged in the air raids.

In the meantime, the artillery and missile units shelled the positons of Al-Nusra in the towns and villages of Talbiseh, East of al-Rastan, al-Za’afaraneh, Taldou, al-Tibeh al-Qarbi, Kafr Laha and Aqrab in Northern and Northwestern Homs, destroying terrorists’ positions and command posts and killing several militant commanders.