What Hilweh was really saying for the first time on Assad regime TV live was that shabiha (gangs of criminals who were quashed by Hafez Assad and resurrected by his son for the purpose of terrorizing those who oppose him) have been terrorizing residents and looting their homes in the al-Hamdaniyah neighborhood in the regime-controlled area of Aleppo.
The widespread corruption and lawlessness of the Assad regime were two of the sparks that ignited the Syrian revolution and they have not diminished over the past five and a half years; even though the regime-controlled media has until now avoided talking about how Assad thugs are treating the civilians in Aleppo.
Pictures and videos published on social networking sites by Syrian activists over the life of the revolution have shown beyond a doubt the volume of these crimes of killing, looting and torture and the exposure was sufficient to virtually eliminate the terrorist activities of shabiha in the areas of Aleppo currently under opposition control. As a result, those types of activities are no longer being reported by opposition activists there.
On the other hand, the Assad regime TV has finally been forced to admit the extent of these criminal behaviors that have continued in the areas under Assad’s control and are harming the regime’s progress in the battles of Aleppo.
Hilweh’s statement via live broadcast has set a precedent among Assad regime media and reveals, according to observers, a "real crisis" being experienced by Assad "forces" in Aleppo which have reached the point of fraying.
Thugs ruling Aleppo
What was undisclosed by Shadi Hilweh in his live speech has been revealed by loyalist pages of the Assad regime on social media as details were given about what has been happening in the al-Hamdaniyah neighborhood.
According to the loyalist reports, following a sharp attack by opposition forces on the neighborhood of Ramouseh, scared parents in the adjacent neighborhood of al-Hamdaniyah left their homes and went to areas they believed to be safer.
While their homes were left unattended, groups of armed thugs began looting the houses, taking furniture and whatever struck their fancy and then selling their ill-gotten loot in popular markets.
In addition, a Syrian news network confirmed that "thugs" have looted houses in the pro-regime al-Zahra neighborhood near the University of Aleppo.
A woman who left her house in al-Hamdaniyah to stay with a friend confirmed that her house had been robbed by Assad thugs after she left.
She said that everything in the western neighborhoods of Aleppo are susceptible to interference of Assad thugs: shops, gardens, houses of worship, cars and all personal belongings.
Najlaa, who lives in the Baghdad Station neighborhood, told Orient Net: “People of Aleppo are living in a big jail nowadays. We feel that we are strangers… having too much stress and tension… fearing always that a thug might come and rape us at any time such as happened to our friend in the Al-Seryan area in 2015.”
She adds: “The authority of the thugs in Aleppo is larger and stronger than that of the regime; especially in the western neighborhoods of Aleppo."
It is noteworthy that allied forces of these criminal "thugs" are also participating with regime forces in battles against opposition fighters in Aleppo and are considered to be a vital part of the first line of defense of the city.
These declarations by local civil sources from within the Aleppo neighborhoods controlled by the Assad regime reveal the painful reality being experienced by Syrian civilians for whom being robbed and terrorized by Assad "thugs" only adds to the stress of struggling from a lack all the basic necessities of life in the city.
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