Humanitarian aid and weapons found with rebels in Syria

Refugee and Migrant Crisis

The Syrian government claimed a major victory when it said it discovered that supplies meant for refugees were falling into the wrong hands. CCTV’s Alaa Ebrahim filed this report from Damascus.

The Syrian Army, backed by an allied militia launched a major offensive Wednesday deep into southern parts of the country regaining control over the town of Deir al-Adas in the province of Dara’a. The town has strategic value because it connects the three provinces of Dara’a, Qunaitera and the countryside of the capital of Damascus.

Badges and flags left behind by defeated rebels gave important information about who these rebels are. Along with Islamic slogans found around the captured area, graffiti revealed slogans that promised the capture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by the Islamic State.

“Based on our experience, militants always leave behind large quantities of stashed ammo and food and medical supplies for two reasons, one is that taking them will slow them down as they retreat and the second is that they plan on returning to the town they left.” a lieutenant in the Syrian army said.

The Syrian army found buried rocket storage areas containing rocket launchers along with other types of ammunition like thousands of rounds and mortar shells.
The surprise came when huge amounts of food and humanitarian aid packages, sent from all corners of the world, to help Syrian refugees were found in rebel hands.

Medical supplies from organisations like Doctors Without Borders that were sent to help a hospital more than 100 kilometers away was also found in rebel hands.
“These were originally sent to refugees in neighboring Jordan and then taken by rebels who move freely across the borders. This is not the first time we see international aid going to fuel the fighting.” Journalist Kamel Saqer said.