Assad pulls troops bordering Israel and moves them to engage the real enemy - other Syrians, with “extreme brutality”

JERUSALEM (NYT) — Israel’s military intelligence chief said on Tuesday that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria had moved forces to Damascus from along the Golan Heights region, bordering on Israeli-controlled territory, after street battles raged in the capital between rebels and Syrian Army forces.

In a security briefing to a parliamentary committee, the intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, estimated that Mr. Assad “will not survive the uprising, even if it takes some more time.” He said that 13,000 soldiers and officers had defected from the Syrian Army, and that 60 to 70 senior officers had been killed by the opposition, according to the spokesperson’s office of the Israeli military.

But the general said the opposition had failed to coalesce into a united front and instead comprised many groups with different ideologies. “We don’t see organized opposition forces leading an uprising,” General Kochavi said.

In the briefing, the general said that satellite images show that Mr. Assad’s forces are directing artillery at highly populated regions and acting “extremely brutally, which displays their desperation and indicates they are unable to find more efficient solutions to pacify the uprisings.”

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