Syria in Last 24 Hours: Army Seizes Strategic Town in Homs

The army units seized the town on Dasht Al-Holeh in Homs only one day after they regained control of Al-Zara town in the same region.

Also in the past 24 hours, divisions among the foreign-based Syrian opposition reportedly widened after the former head of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Salim Idris, was replaced by Abdullah al-Bashir.

Idris in a statement strongly criticized Ahmad Al-Jarba, Head of the Syrian National Coalition, and Asa’ad Mostafa, also an SNC member, accusing them of disloyalty, the Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported.

The daily underlined that the ouster of Idris has resulted in emergence of differences between him and other SNC leaders.

Meantime, twelve Syrian nuns kidnapped by the rebels earlier could possibly be released on Sunday, local TV reported.

The pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said it has “information about a deal for today’s release of the kidnapped nuns of Maloula amid preparations for official reception of them in Damascus”, Xinhua reported.

Also, a British newspaper report showed how wealthy Saudi men exploit Syrian girls who fled the insurgency that has hit the Arab Country since 2011, and which western countries and their regional allies – especially Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey- back.

Nawar is a shy 17-year-old with very pale skin, just like her sister Souza, who is 16. Four months ago, both were married off to much older Saudi Arabian men. But after 20 days, the men disappeared.

Their parents were paid a dowry of 5,000 Jordanian dinar (£4,200) for the two girls. Their father was asked at a local mosque whether he had any daughters. The matchmaker, a fellow Syrian, then proposed that they marry two Saudi friends. Nawar’s husband was 55, Souza’s 45, The Independent reported.

The men promised to relocate the entire family to Saudi Arabia. But now the family live in a single moldy room in Amman, their dreams dashed. Luckily neither of the girls is pregnant.

Meantime, militants of foreign nationalities slaughtered 10 citizens, among them an elderly man and a 10 year-old child in Daraa province, Syria.

A videotape circulated on websites showed gruesome scenes of militants speaking foreign languages, picking hostages and forcing them to kneel in a row.