Syrian Army Successes had Disastrous Impacts on Gunmen Morale: The Daily Telegraph

 LONDON- The British “Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday that the recent successes, achieved by the Syrian Arab Army in terms of fighting the armed groups, have had disastrous impacts on the gunmen’s morale and led many of them to lay down their weapons and return to their normal life.

The newspaper referred to the growing confidence in President Bashar Al-Assad’s leadership, which makes the powers that demanded the overthrowing of the Syrian leadership, such as Britain, France and the US, to look impotent and weak.

Gunmen Defect Back to Government

In its report on Wednesday, the Daily Telegraph said that hundreds of gunmen who fought the Syrian government are defecting back to the government side.

 In addition, growing numbers of gunmen are signing up to a negotiated amnesty offered by the Syrian government, after those gunmen had discovered that they are “disillusioned” by the extremist twist of the so-called “revolution” in Syria and that they are exhausted after more than two years of conflict and feeling that they are losing.

At the same time, according to the Telegraph, the families of retreating gunmen have begun quietly moving back to government-controlled territory, seen as a safer place to live as the Syrian army continues its military push against the terrorists in different areas of the country.

The move is a sign of the growing confidence of the government, which has established the Ministry of National Reconciliation with the task of easing the way for former “opposition” gunmen  to return to the government side.

The newspaper quoted Ali Haider, the minister in charge of national reconciliation as saying: “Our message is, ‘if you really want to defend the Syrian people, put down your weapons and come and defend Syria in the right way, through dialogue’.”

“Haidar has established a system in which opposition fighters give up their weapons in exchange for safe passage to government-held areas,” The Telegraph added.

The prevalence of extremist groups in some areas, particularly in the north, has caused some “opposition” gunmen to give up on their cause, the newspapers said.

 Haider told the Telegraph that two days ago he attended a ceremony at which 180 opposition gunmen rejoined the government’s police force, from which they had previously defected.

The Daily Telegraph previously visited the reconciliation ministry’s headquarters in Damascus the office was crowded with the family members of gunmen in the city’s suburbs who said their men wanted to return.

According to the Telegraph, a ministry negotiator, who gave his name only as Ahmed, was in the process of arranging the return of a “rebel” commander and 10 of his men from the Ghouta district.

“It took us three months of negotiation and this is a test,” he said. “If this goes well, the commander says that 50 others will follow.”

 H. Mustafa