News of the death of Director of Air Defense Department in Maliha, in Damascus Countryside, Major General Hussein Yacoub was announced on Sunday.
The Islamic Front announced the death of the Major General and said he died as a result of his injuries during participation in the battles on the outskirts of Maliha.
The Air Defense Department building is one of the main centers for Assad forces in Eastern Ghouta, targeting cities and neighboring villages with heavy weapons.
Activists suggested that Isaac had been assassinated following the escalation of a dispute between him and a number of officers. Other activists said that Major General, Jamil Hassan, the chief of Air Force Intelligence might be behind the assassination, especially because of the trust and reputation he enjoyed at the Republican Palace, which qualified him to assume an important position as part of a restructuring of the forces by Bahar Assad.
Sources told All4Syria that Isaac, of Circassian origin, was the only candidate to hold a senior post in the presidential palace after the death of Major General Mohammed Khair Osman, the Director of Finance Office in the Republican Palace, who was also Circassian. The source said that the former president Hafez Assad and his son Bashar have always tried to keep a major Circassian officer at the Palace as part of their policy of sectarian balance.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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