Syrians Demonstrate against Al-Nusra, FSA Militants Defect, Join Army

Local Editor

Syrian took to the streets of rebel-held Mayadeen in eastern Syria on Wednesday for a third straight day to demand that extremist al-Nusra Front fighters leave the town, a watchdog said.

"For the third day in a row, protests erupted in Mayadeen calling on the al-Nusra Front to leave the town," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Protests erupted after the al-Nusra Front set up a religious council in the east of Deir Ezzor province, where Mayadeen is situated, to administer affairs in the area.
At the weekend they set up a religious police force in Mayadeen, the Britain-based Observatory said, adding that the force had held a parade in the town.

Amateur video showed a large convoy of vehicles driving through the east of Syria. Rebels held up black al-Qaeda flags while driving down an unidentified road.
"The protests are an important indicator that people in eastern Syria- where people do not have a culture of religious extremism - do not welcome the imposition of religious law," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

A second amateur video distributed on Sunday by activists showed protesters, some of them on motorcycles, holding a night-time demonstration in Mayadeen.
"Protesters are calling on al-Nusra Front to leave al-Mayadeen!" said the unidentified cameraman filming the event.

In parallel, al-Watan newspaper reported Thursday that militants in Aleppo failed to infiltrate or achieve any breach or progress towards the air security building.
The daily further mentioned that the big losses in the ranks of the militants belonging to the so-called "Free Syrian Army" were reflected on the morale of the armed groups. Thus, many armed militants including a whole combat battalion of insurgents joined the ranks of the Syrian Arab Army inside the Meng airport.

Source: News Agencies, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org