Khataiyi Foreign Ministry Spox
Ali Faghira was one of the few Khataiyi government officials who didn't leave for Qatar after the start of the civil war and insisted he remained to show the country's strength in such a difficult time and he spoke with the foreign minister and President Khairallah almost daily and with the recent changes in government structure it was essential to broadcast to the world recent events and the increase in international involvement in the conflict between Khataiy and Syria that goes back the 1970s,
"We are in talks with various nations and our defenses in the south are holding firm, the knights of our nation are mobilized and all praise is due to Allah the Syrians and the Party of Satan as well as the Iranian mercenaries are failing to do anything that amounts to anything significant and I ask President Bashar to send more troops for we only pleasure in sending them to Hell. At first we didn't wish for much in regard to international strikes in Syria in fears it would complicate things but it seems while we know our limits Bashar knows none because he is a low life. The no fly zone imposed by Mervay is a bitter sweet decision but makes our self-defense much more difficult as now it is harder to target Party of Satan gangsters and Bashar's mercenaries, and we applaud the action taken against Bashar's regime."
Southern Khataiy, near the front lines
Pro-Government Imam encouraging more to join the National Guard
Explosions could be heard from outside the village's administrative center even though no direct combat was occurring, the newly formed national guard was made up of all the paramilitaries that swore allegiance to the government that were originally formed to act as an auxiliary to the army but with the mass invasion and more international attention on Khataiy the decision was made to formally unite the paramilitaries under the banner of the "National Guard", the guard was open to anyone willing to fight for the government from locals to sympathetic foreign fighters, however that was not broadly advertised for obvious reasons. In the village most of the national guard fighters present were tribesmen which had a long history of coordinating with the government, as Syrian Special Forces and Hezbollah fighters inched closer and closer the concept of people's war needed to be instilled more than ever in a fashion similar to how Khataiy's current government seized power in the first place.
As in the first civil war in Khataiy a combination of Nationalist, Tribal and Islamist fighters joined together to overthrow the Liberal Democratic government that was supported by Turkey, France and Syria. The coalition of fighters received direct support from the Soviet Union not on ideological grounds but rather simply to just undermine the west and concepts like guerilla warfare, asymmetric warfare and people's war were ideas taught to the Khataiyi rebels based on successful examples from Vietnam, China and Korea, a strong emphasis on propaganda and rhetoric was also encouraged in line with examples from Saddam era Iraq which the rebels based their ideology on and sought support from.
And today these same elements come together in arms and rhetoric to repel a longtime burden and enemy, a mix of nationalist and Islamic propaganda and rhetoric was used by the Khataiyi government to incite the flames of war in the hearts and minds of the people. Dead soldiers and militiamen were referred to as martyrs while references to the war were called "Jihad", the "Second Revolution" or the "Arab-Iranian war" in a fashion similar to the Arab-Israeli war. Several media outlets close to or run by the government even called this "Omar's Battle of Yarmouk" postage stamps and posters on billboards and images online also disseminated this concept of "Omar's Battle of Yarmouk" which itself was inspired from "Saddam's Battle of Qadisiyia" during the Iran-Iraq war.
In Mosques nationwide the war was the main subject of the sermons talking about the duty of national defense and fighting the Shias heathens and the Persian Zoroastrian dogs while Khairallah was referred to as the "Emir of Khataiy" in Mosques while outside he was referred to as the President.
"My brothers, this war is an obligation upon you." Said the Imam to the people of the village, and he continued, "How can you be sitting here while we are under direct invasion? We did not ask for this invasion, we have all seen what Bashar does to his own people! We have all weept for the people of Iraq and Syria because of the tyranny imposed on them by the Iranian Safavids and now that they consolidated their power there they are finishing off their last enemy, US! We are the only ones left who opposed them, Khairallah was harsh on them because he vowed to never let them be strong and he vowed vengeance for the martyr Saddam Hussein, he swore to Allah on the holy Quran to never allow them to make it to Jerusalem or Mecca and to defend the Arabs from them, they removed Saddam, they slaughtered the Syrians, they built a fortress in Lebanon and they invaded Yemen and now they're taking on Khairallah the final brick in the wall between us and them. When Khairallah is done what is to stop them from invading Mecca? I swear to Allah, if they are victorious they will occupy your houses, and they rape your women and call it Mutah (temporary marriage akin to prostitution), don't believe their Taqiya about unity and liberation, if you are real men with an ounce of righteousness you would extend your hands this very instant in allegiance and take a weapon be it a Kalashnikov or a knife and join us in our sacred struggle!"
Soon after several men stood up extending their right hands and gathered and the Imam read off an oath of allegiance that they all repeated after him, "We pledge allegiance to Khataiy and its people, We pledge to hear and obey in times of ease and hardship, in times of pleasure and displeasure, with selflessness, We pledge not to dispute the authority of our leaders unless we see blatant disbelief that we have proof from Allah. Allah is a witness over what we've said." Soon after everyone exited the building and the new National Guard fighters either carried guns they owned or were handed guns captured from enemy forces or left over from deceased pro-government fighters, they weren't given anything else aside from guns and were instructed to load up the vehicles with the other fighters and were transferred to the front lines, the atmosphere was similar to Stalingrad or Berlin in 1945 with every capable person fighting from men to women to even children with the youngest being documented as 14.
Various parts of Syria
Syrian air defenses reacting to the air strikes
As the airstrikes hit Assad's positions his Russian supplied S-300s fired into the skies leaving traces of smoke and following the jets and bombers hitting the crucial positions. The SAMs fired from multiple locations including kilometers away from the actual areas targeted for good measure, while the bombs from the airstrikes hit the Syrian positions that were unable to protect themselves the ground shook and the thunderous sounds of the explosions raddled the area.
