A suicide squad of at least 13 Syrian pilots has signed a pledge to serve as kamikaze pilots against Israel in the event that the United States attacks the Assad regime, the London Guardian reported Thursday.
A Syrian army office told the newspaper, “If the US and British armies launch a single rocket we will launch three or four, and if their warplanes raid our skies they will face hell fire.
“If we are unable to shoot down their warplanes with artillery, we have military pilots who are ready to attack these foreign war planes by their own warplanes and blow them up in the air.”
The Guardian said it could not verify the information but noted that the same officer previously has shared reliable information about battles between rebels and loyalists to the regime.
“We have more than 8,000 suicide martyrs within the Syrian army, ready to carry out martyrdom operations at any moment to stop the Americans and the British. I myself am ready to blow myself up against US aircraft carriers to stop them attacking Syria and its people,” he declared.
The same officer also denied that the Assad regime was involved in last week’s chemical attack, near Damascus.
The Indian IANS news agency also reported two days ago that approximately 10 pilots wrote a letter, quoted by the Syriasteps website that is close to Syrian government agencies, that “we, soldiers from this nation, who sacrifice ourselves for its dignity and pride with our souls and our blood, are ready to carry out suicide attacks.
We will conduct these attacks at sea, in the air or on the ground, wherever the enemy forces are located,” it added.
The suicide threat may be real or may be another propaganda effort by the regime, which has controlled the flow of news out of the country since the rebellion began to take on serious dimensions.
It is impossible to know if the suicide squad actually exists or is another poly to assure Syrians that Assad is in control.
Following are a few headlines that the regime’s official SANA news agency published Thursday, illustrating how it denies reality:
“Any military attack on Syria is violation of UN Charter;”
“Any military aggression on Syria will create a catastrophe in the region ;”
“Syria will press on war against terrorism”;
“Syria not afraid of any aggression and we will have eventual victory”; and
“Syria submitted proof of chemical weapons use by terrorists”;