Feature: Military personnel pay last honor to fallen comrades in Syria's Homs
A relative of a fallen pilot holds his picture during a funeral of 17 killed soldiers at a military hospital in Homs, central Syria, on Nov. 26, 2011. A total of 10 Syrian army personnel, including six pilots, were killed Thursday afternoon by armed groups near the violence-hit province of Homs in central Syria. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
DAMASCUS, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- To the sobbing and wailing of relatives, funeral procession was held Saturday for 17 army members, including six elite pilots, who were killed two days ago by alleged armed groups in the restive central city of Homs, amid government and army pledges to hit back against the perpetrators.
Dozens of the fallen officers' comrades and family members assembled at the Abdul-Hadi Shuqfe military hospital to provide a military funeral ceremony to honor the fallen members amid an atmosphere thick with grief and tears.
Some were groaning and sobbing in pain while hoisting the posters of the deceased officers.
Military taps were played on bugles by the honor guards as the coffins, draped with the Syrian flag, were carried over their comrades' shoulders to the ambulances that later carried them to their hometowns for a dignified burial.
A relative of killed Brigadier Nizar Isper said that the family was honored by his martyrdom but they hoped if he would have been killed in fighting with the real enemy, in reference of Syria's archenemy Israel.
On Saturday, Governor of Homs Ghassan Abdul-Al stressed that the Syrian government would go on with its crackdown on "criminals " following the killing of the elite military pilots.
"Following the massacres, Syria will step up its pressure to reach those criminals," Abdul-Al said, adding that the flare-up in violent acts in Homs is to be blamed on the Arab League (AL) decisions.
"The AL decisions aim to further aggravate the situation to cope with the ongoing betrayal against Syria," the governor told reporters, who were taken Saturday to Homs in a government- organized trip to attend the funeral and visit some injured officers in military hospitals.
On Friday, the Syrian armed forces said in a terse televised statement that an armed terrorist group had assassinated six pilots, a technical officer, and three warrant officers who were working at one of the military air bases at the Palmyra-Homs highway.
It said that the assassination was carried out Thursday afternoon, and that the attack is a "dangerous terrorist escalation that unveils the real face of the plot ... and demonstrates the involvement of foreign sides in supporting these terrorist operations in a bid to weaken the qualitative combating capabilities of our armed forces."
The Free Syrian Army, allegedly army defectors, on Friday claimed responsibility for the officers' ambush near the violence- slammed Homs. It has recently claimed responsibility for several assaults against army bases.
Syria has been accusing armed groups for the bloody assaults against civilians and army personnel that claimed the lives of around 3,500 people so far.
The funerals came hours ahead of the AL meeting in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, in which the 22-member bloc would consider economic sanctions against Damascus after it ignored a deadline to allow Arab monitors to assess progress of an AL plan aimed at ending the eight-month bloodshed in Syria.
Sanctions would include halting Arab dealings with the country' s central bank, freezing the government's bank accounts as well as canceling flights to the country.
Officials from the pan-Arab body would also decide to cease commercial trade with the Syrian government "with the exception of basic goods so as not to affect the ordinary Syrians."
Syria's official SANA news agency has reported that the Syrians consider the AL "as a tool for foreign interference and that it serves a Western agenda to foment trouble in the region."
No comments:
Post a Comment