These are the 'Ghost' killer thugs pumped up on steroids who are proving key to keeping Syria's brutal President Bashar Assad in power.
Covered in tattoos of images of their leader, they are blamed for roaming the nation massacring children and women by slitting their throats or shooting them at point-blank range.
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| Pumped up: Areen Al Assad, with a tattoo of Bashar Assad on his bicep, is said to be one of the 'Ghost' killers roaming Syria |
Wielding AK-47s and machetes, they are said to carry out the government's dirty work so officials can claim the rampages are not being sponsored by the state.
Known as the 'Shabiha', translating to 'Ghosts', they wear combat trousers and black t-shirts and are paid the massive sum of £130 per day. Their modus operandi sees them swarm in to towns after the army has stopped shelling.
A source said: 'Their mission is to terrorise the civilian population and conduct ethnic cleansing.' A massacre of 108 civilians in Houla two weeks ago, including 49 children, has been blamed on the group who fanatically follow the Muslim Alawite sect.
Dr Mousab Azzawi, who had treated some of the Shabiha in Latakia, said recently: '…What makes them so terrifying is the combination of strength and blind allegiance to the regime.
© Daily Mail, London
U.N. suspend Syria mission
DAMASCUS, June 16 (AFP)The UN military observers sent to Syria to monitor an April 12 ceasefire that never took hold have suspended their mission, veteran peacekeeper Norwegian Major General Robert Mood said on Saturday.
Speaking of intensified violence over the past 10 days, the risk to observers and the “lack of willingness by the parties to seek a peaceful solution,” Mood said the mission is “suspending its activities.
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