How were the Syrian Army and its allies able to plant bombs accurately on the militants’ track?

Nidal Hmedeh

What were the Syrian opposition militants preparing in Eastern Ghouta when they were ambushed in Buhayrat Otaiba? What was the direction of the ambushed armed group? How were the Syrian Army and its allies able to plant bombs accurately on the militants' track? Did this ambush foil a big attack that was being prepared for Otaiba and Eastern Ghouta? Was the circulated media information about an attack from Jordan just an attempt from the opposition and its supporters to distract attention from the main operation that failed due to this ambush?

These questions arose since the media broadcasted the video of the big ambush in which more than two hundred militants belonging to the Syrian opposition were trapped in Buhayrat Otaiba after they had left from the besieged areas of Eastern Ghouta. In this report, we will talk in details about what happened in and around that area during that night and the days that preceded it.

On the night of 25 February, Syrian opposition militants were trapped in a deadly ambush while they were leaving Eastern Ghouta at night. All 221militants were killed or injured by the bombs planted on the track that they would use.

As for the details, units of surveillance and reconnaissance of the Syrian Army and its allies spotted month ago slight movements from Eastern Ghouta to Buhayrat Otaiba and the desert belonging to it through a detour in Adra. Every night a small group of two or three members used a specific track to move from Eastern Ghouta to Buhayrat Otaiba and then to the desert belonging to it.

Surveillance, wiretapping and arrest of some militants led to information about preparing a major attack on Eastern Ghouta. The attack was supposed to be similar to the attack that took place in mid-December, during which 1500 militants from the Syrian opposition took control of large areas of Eastern Ghouta and Otaiba triangle.

The new attack plan was very similar to the old plan; it consisted of launching two attacks from two sides: the first one from outside Ghouta and the second from inside Ghouta to lift the siege.

The Syrian army and its allies benefited from the lessons of the first attack in which Otaiba was the most important and strategic point and the main objective that armed groups had sought to reach and take control of due to its strategic site; in fact, Otaiba is a gate for Eastern Ghouta from the south and controls the surrounding villages. The previous attack proved that the fall of Otaiba led to the fall of several villages.

The militants’ plan required gathering hundreds of fighters of the opposition in one point in the desert belonging to Buhayrat Otaiba where they would receive training for two days. Then they would be provided with specific weapons to launch a big and wide attack on Eastern Ghouta. The plan also required the leaving of a large number of militants from Ghouta toward that point in the desert to support the militants responsible for attacking from the desert of Otaiba. According to the plan, while the militants are waiting the zero hour in the desert, the militants remaining in Ghouta assist them by an internal attack.

During several nights small groups were spotted on the same track. This led to confirm that militants wanted to know how safe is that track to be used for movement from and towards the besieged areas of Ghouta. That is when this particular track was planted with bombs.

In the week that preceded the big ambush, small groups were using the same track without being attacked; they walked over the bomb-planted ground but surveillance units used to let them continue. This led the armed groups to be sure that the track is safe.

After the middle of a night, surveillance units of the Syrian army and its allies spotted a six hundred meters long line of militants walking on the above-mentioned track. Militants were withdrawing carelessly; they were in a hurry to do something. Units responsible for surveillance did not believe what they saw by night vision binoculars and thermal cameras; it was a big group of militants that must not be missed and cannot be treated as the previous small groups. Order was given to detonate the bombs once the large group reaches the booby-trapped area. In fact, this is what happened later on; the bombs planted on both sides of the tracks were detonated. The explosion hit more than 200 gunmen and some others were captured. As a result, this ambush foiled a massive and sudden well-prepared attack on Eastern Ghouta.

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