Syria Civil War Maps: Batch Eight - Battle of Damascus

Many thanks to FSSP for making this post.

Libyan War Maps 
Syrian Arab Spring Protest Maps - Batch One
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Two - Syrian Air Defenses 
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Three - Twitter and News Update Maps 
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Four - The Soccer Map  
Syria Civil War Maps: Batch Five - Ceasefire Violations
Syria Civil War Maps: Batch Six - Houla   
Syria Civil War Maps: Batch Seven - June 2012    
Syria Civil War Maps: Batch Eight - Battle of Damascus 
Syria Civil War Maps: Batch Nine - September 2012 
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Ten - October 2012 
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Eleven - Propaganda Maps
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Twelve - First Quarter 2013
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Thirteen - Chemical Weapons Attack?
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Fourteen - Israel Strikes Again
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Fifteen - Second Quarter 2013
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Sixteen - The Coming Western Intervention
Syria Civil War Maps Batch Seventeen - Al Qaedastan in Iraq and Syria

Operation Damascus Volcano, the Free Syrian Army's (FSA) offensive against the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), has reached epic proportions.  It seems more and more like this will be the decisive battle of the war, though the final "battles" (ranging from battles to genocidal pre-dawn raids against innocents) will probably last for months to a year to come).

CNN has a Google Earth-driven briefing of the battle



The AP has a news map of key locations in Damascus and along with battle news.

The internet think tank Enduring America created a map claiming to show areas around Damascus which are now controlled by the FSA.


View Syria - 2012 July 19 - EA Worldview in a larger map

Meanwhile a map is being shared on Twitter claiming to show FSA zones (green base and green push pins), SAR held territory (red pushpins), and unknown (yellow)

Click to enlarge

Of an interesting side note pointed out to me is that SAR forces are shelling the Golan village of Jebata al-Khashab.  Jebata is a Golan Druze village.  Golani Druze are/were well known for being extremely pro-Assad.  This is an odd turn of events made even more odd by the fact Jebata is in the United Nations controlled buffer zone between Israeli annexed-Golan and Syria proper.


View Larger Map

SAR's attack is a violation of the United Nations controlled cease fire and may have been an effort to force Israel's hand thus giving SAR a chance to rally Syrians against a common enemy.