The Lebanese Foundation for Peace is reporting that a military coup has swept Assad’s regime because of disputes over the withdrawal from Lebanon.

A Coup d’ Etat took place in Damascus late last night. Intelligence reports coming from within the Syrian Military Command indicate the following:

A rebellion split The Syrian Army in two factions .

Since yesterday , Damascus is under the de facto control of the Syrian Army, under the command of Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan, and supported by Syrian Intelligence General Rustom Ghazaleh, Syrian military General Ali Safi, and Firas Tlass son of former Minister of Defence, Mustafa Tlass. The group rebelled against the decision of President Bashar el Assad to withdraw from Lebanon and seized the Damascus military yesterday.

Around 3 am, Damascus time, the Syrian Air Force bombarded two military airfields around Damascus, the Air force base of Dumair, and the Air force base of Katana. Also, late night around 3 am, the Syrian Air force bombarded military positions of the Syrian Army west of the city of Homs.

President Bachar el Assad retreated secretly to the city of Aleppo where he is temporarily holding ground. He is massing special forces troops loyal to him and preparing himself to take back Damascus by force .

The Syrian President left in Damascus his brother in Law, Syrian Military Intelligence Chief General Assef Shawkat to negotiate a settlement with the dissidents. The situation within the Syrian military was very tense for a week and exploded yesterday. The dissident group took control of Damascus as they were very upset at the Lebanon withdrawal for they left behind a billion dollar industry.

I had read an article yesterday that the regime was cracking down more on newspapers, but I hadn’t thought too much into it at the time because that’s no different than any day.

No newspapers are getting in or out of Syria, the media is controlled very tight, and the Syrian scene witnessed a dramatic, security deterioration the last 24 hours.

Precise Intelligence reports coming from Syria indicated massive army troops deployment around the capital Damascus. Most of the military Barracks of the Syrian Army around Damascus gave allegiance to the dissidents: Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan and General Ali Safi. These people in the Syrian Army were against the withdrawal from Lebanon.

It is known that President Bashar Assad is in the city of Alleppo, assessing the internal situation within Syria and trying to organize a “forced” return to Damascus.

They are going to continue to update as they receive more news. I will also continue to monitor the news wires and blogs to see if anything else appears. Keep in mind that the people performing this coup, if in fact this is happening, are the ones against Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon and that could pose major problems for everyone. I’ll do some emailing to find out.

DENIED: Just got an email back from Joshua Landis from Syria Comment, who is inside Damascus.

Dear Robert,
Someone has a rich imagination. All is normal here as far as I can tell. Sunny spring day and everyone is bustling about happily. The military attach???? at the US embassy just emailed me about what he should wear to dinner tonight – casual or formal? Didn’t suggest bullet proof vest, so I assume all is normal.

Best to you from Damascus.
Joshua

Great to know. I guess we can all calm down a bit, and chalk it up to rumor for now.

DOUBLE DENIAL: Sasa from The Syrian News Wire emails me this:

Hi Robert,
You just made my heart miss a few hundred beats. Everything quiet here, nothing from anyone I’ve spoken to in the last few minutes. And it would be hard to cover up anyway, with the number of foreign journalists here at the moment. Who on Earth fed you such a gorgeous nightmare?
S.

Nothing to see here, folks. Or there, for that matter. He also has a little info about the LFP which is worth noting:

Ohhhhh. Thanks for the info Robert! Word of warning. Take anything that comes out of LFP with a bucket full of salt. They are the post-Phalange group (the Israeli army’s proxy in Lebanon during the Civil War). Unfortuantely, as much as I support the Lebanese Opposition movement inside Lebanon, the outsiders (like LFP and other American based organisations) have a very different agenda to the real, nationalist independent opposition (like Walid Jumblatt – he’s even called for a dialogue with Hizbollah and close relationship with Syria, even keeping some troops in if there’s no political interference).

LFP UPDATE: They have updated their website with a very, very dumb cover up for their very, very dumb information. Read on:

Information is hard to get out of Syria, therefore the Press will have a hard time following the dynamics inside the Syrian Regime.

When the massacre of Hama happened in 1982, it took almost 2 to 3 weeks to get the news out that something ugly was happening in this town.

President Bashar el Assad left Damascus due to internal political turmoil 4 days ago and went to the city of Aleppo and Western Syria. In the last 24 hours, demonstrations of support in favor of President Assad were held in Western Syria in Tartous and the surrounding cities and towns.

Unhappy with Assad’s surrender of Lebanon due to pressure from the United States, having lost enormous sums of money by leaving Lebanon, an internal conflict erupted within the upper echelon of the Syrian military and political hierarchy against Assad’s behavior versus Washington.

The killings haven’t started yet, but the Syrian Army and its political structure are deeply divided against each other, politically and on the ground. Intense political disturbances in Damascus are inflaming many after the Kanaan movement consolidated Damascus under his control.

Assad left Damascus in a hurry. The tension started one week ago. He left behind in Damascus his brother in law General Assef Shawkat of the military Intelligence to strike a compromise not kill each other with the “dissidents” of Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan and his group. Receiving Intelligence from Damascus, most of the military units and barracks rallied to Ghazi Kanaan there. The situation evolved dangerously when the Syrian Air Force bombarded 3 positions within Syria. Two positions were attacked around Damascus at 3 AM the night before and 1 position was bombarded west of Homs .

What is unusual is that these demonstrations for support for the President were not held in the Capital Damascus where they usually happen politically. They happened in Western Syria as a message of support against what recently happened in Damascus, as indications coming from Syria are showing that Bashar el Assad is preparing a “forced” return to the Capital.

President Assad is rallying support in Western Syria as the Capital Damascus slipped from his hand.

Syria is on the brink as this “abnormal” situation might explode any moment.

We will provide you additional information as soon as we receive it.

Of course Assad’s position is bad right now. Everyone already knows that. It isn’t news. Whoever is running this site is making up a clearly evident situation to be more than it is. The facts, as he reports them, do not stack up one bit.

UPDATE: I can’t believe the World Tribune actually published this stuff. It even admits that there was no confirmation of the reports, especially given the backpedaling done by the LFP noted just above this.

Responses here.