Assad Loyalists Protect Damascus Mountain

By Sally Arthy, Senior News Editor, Damascus

Every night for the past week, loyal Assad supporters have bedded down in tents on Mount Qussioun overlooking Damascus.

On the top of the mountain is the main transmitter for Syrian TV.

These people are trying to protect the site from possible US attack. As such they say they are human shields.

They wear white T-shirts with the logo, "Over our dead bodies".

Government forces at a checkpoint on mount Qussioun

Their canvas tents are in two uniform rows on either side of a parking area at one of the most panoramic viewing points on the road up.

Patriotic songs blare out from a sound system set up in one of the shelters.

A huge Syrian flag has been draped down the side of the hill. And it is draped around the backs of some of the activists who have set up the camp.

One of the organisers is 21-year-old law student Hussain Othman. He says he started the sleep in "to protect Syria".

File picture of mount Qussioun

He said: "We will continue until the end. We are civilians. We are against any military strikes."

Ammar Shamia is also in the crowd of demonstrators. He says two of his sons were shot dead by opposition forces last year. 

One was 14-years-old, the other just eight. He says they were killed because their four-year-old brother was singing a pro-Syria song.

Three friends from Damascus University have come to the camp to check it out. They hope to find a bed for the night.

One of them, Isaa Ali, is angry. His voice rises when he talks about the possibility of American strikes.

He said: "I want to continue to study. I want other governments to leave us alone."

Below the camp the city of Damascus sprawls out. It is a spectacular view. But it is punctuated by plumes of smoke - a reminder of the war still raging on the ground in this country.

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