Syrian official media reports five security personne martyred in attack on checkpoint

A Syrian official source said that an armed criminal group attacked a security checkpoint on Saturday afternoon in Nawa in Daraa countryside, killing five security personnel and wounding five others.

The source was quoted by the official SANA agency as saying that two members of the armed group were also killed in the fire exchange and the other 15 wounded.

A military checkpoint in the city of Izraa in Daraa countryside was also attacked by an armed criminal group, SANA reported. The checkpoint guards confronted the armed group which resulted in injuring two guards and killing one member of the criminal group while the rest fled, it added.

SANA also said that an armed group on Friday opened fire on fire engines and hit them with stones in the Juber area in Damascus. The fire engines were on their way to extinguish fire after receiving a call from the area's inhabitants in this regard. Several firemen were seriously injured and were taken to a hospital.

In a statement to the Syrian Satellite Channel, one of the firefighters said that they headed to Juber to extinguish a fire at a gas station, and when they reached there, a gathering started throwing stones on them despite the fact that the fire engines were not close or heading towards them.  He added that the gathering started smashing one of their cars, while an armed group opened fire on it. "The fire engine was damaged, three firemen were wounded. The other vehicles managed to turn around and run away", he said.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry stated that the number of the security forces injured by the armed groups since the beginning of the events in Syria rose to 286 on Saturday. 

In related political developments, the Syrian newly-appointed cabinet approved on Saturday the new housing cooperation law as to provide houses to the citizens with reasonable and economic prices. The law also reduces the amounts of interests on house loans. The cabinet also adopted the mechanism proposed by the Ministry of Electricity to provide electric supply for artesian wells instead of diesel. It also approved the continuation of distribution of subsidies and food baskets to people affected by drought in Hasaka, 595 km from Damascus, during 2011.

The cabinet also asked the Minister of Local Administration to set up a timetable for finalizing the ministry draft law and the Minister of Information to put a timetable for completing the draft media law to be quickly discussed and approved in the coming sessions.

Meanwhile, a Syrian official source expressed regret over a statement made by US President Barack Obama on Friday regarding the situation in Syria since it wasn’t based on an objective and comprehensive view of what is truly happening. The source said that Syria already refuted what the US Administration claimed regarding the use of Iran or others to resolve internal issues, expressing surprise over the US Administration insistence to repeat these allegations which shows a lack of responsibility and represents a part of the instigation that puts Syrian citizens at risk.