Syria: 8 Killed, Various Injured, and Weapons Seized

Local Editor

Eight people were killed, including one policeman and around 11 injured on Sunday, when a group of armed gangs opened fire on them in the town of Talbisa near Homs.
An official source at the Ministry of Interior said the armed group opened fire randomly, terrorizing citizens and cutting off public roads, noting that the police forces were unarmed and were keeping order.

The source also stated that after the Homs-Hama-Aleppo international highway was cut off in the area next to the town of Talbisa by armed criminal groups that were terrorizing innocent civilians, a military unity was mobilized to the area to put an end to the armed groups' crime spree and prevent them from cutting off the highway again, reported SANA.

Upon the unit's approach, the armed criminal groups' members who were situated in buildings near the highway opened fire on the military unit, which returned fire and killed 3 members of the armed groups and wounded 15, while 5 army personnel were wounded.

On another note, the Syrian authorities seized on Sunday a huge consignment of weapons in a refrigerator truck driven by an Iraqi in a bid to smuggle it from Iraq to Syria via Al Tanf border crossing.

Director-General of Syrian Customs Mustapha Al Bikai said the weapons seized comprise up-to-date machine guns of various kinds, automatic rifles, sniper rifles, pistols, night-vision scopes, grenade launchers and large quantities of various kinds of ammunition.
He said the weapons were hidden in a 12-meter-long secret compartment, well-prepared and equipped with compressors for opening it, adding that the weapons were enveloped in a tin material so as not to be detected by devices.

Bikai said other weapons consignments have been seized lately as there were attempts at smuggling them into Syria via Bab Al Hawa, Al Salama, Jdaidet Yabous crossings.
The Iraqi driver Hussein Karim Jabbar confessed to the Syrian Sattelite Channel that he received USD 20,000 per trip.

"I work as a transport truck driver... I entered Syria through Al Tanf border crossing with a large shipment of weapons that includes various kinds of advanced machine guns, automatic rifles, sniper rifles, pistols, night-vision scopes, grenade launchers and large quantities of various kinds of ammo and machine gun magazines," Jabbar said.

Jabbar said that he met Maher Mehdi who owns an oven and delivers bread to the Iraqi army and began working with him and the two become close friends. After a while, Mehdi told him that he will do him a favor by sending weapons to Syria in exchange for a large sum of money.