Enab Baladi – Mahjoub al-Hashish
The incidents of assassination in Daraa province, southern Syria, have escalated recently, targeting elements of the internal security forces and media activists.
The most notable of these incidents was the targeting of a security patrol on June 12, following a dispute with a former leader in the Free Syrian Army.
On June 10, an internal security force member was killed in the town of Hite in rural Daraa. This was preceded by the targeting of two members on the road to Masaken Jellin.
Enab Baladi documented 15 assassination attempts and actual assassinations since the beginning of June, with no party claiming responsibility for these assassination operations as of the date of this report.
The assassinations did not only target security forces, as the media activist Abdul Rahman al-Hariri and another person accompanying him were killed on June 10.
Loose weaponry and parties with interests
The pace of assassination operations declined during the first three months after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024, but it quickly returned to target leadership figures, media personalities, and volunteers in the internal security forces.
Lawyer Assem al-Zoubi, residing in Daraa province, attributed the reasons for the return of assassination incidents to the weakness of security forces throughout the province and the presence of groups affiliated with several parties, most notably Iranian militias, considering these to be the primary interest holders in destabilizing the province.
Al-Zoubi told Enab Baladi that there is negligence and laxity in disarming and inadequately activating security centers in the province.
For his part, Sheikh Ahmad Abu Dawlah, one of the dignitaries of rural Daraa, attributed the return of assassination operations to the weakness of the internal security apparatus and its laxity with the residents and its failure to criminalize the carrying of weapons or even to confiscate them from the hands of residents and restrict them solely to the state.
Abu Dawlah told Enab Baladi that some individuals with prior offenses or affiliations with organizations or the regime have become part of the police and army, which requires cleansing the security apparatus of “impurities” and activating its role, noting that it has received popular acceptance and mandate in maintaining security.
A former first lieutenant who defected from the regime’s forces and is currently within the Ministry of Defense stated to Enab Baladi that the assassinations are orchestrated by the “Islamic State” through cells that have recently begun working and have targeted security elements.
The government must activate a special intelligence apparatus to track the Islamic State’s cells and combat them before they reorganize and recruit new members, especially given the declining job opportunities and rising unemployment among the youth, he said.
“No benefit in undermining authority”
Researcher in religious groups Abdul Rahman al-Haj believes that the assassinations in the south have no benefit if the Islamic State wants to undermine the authority of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The researcher suggested in a talk with Enab Baladi that the assassination of former leaders in the Free Syrian Army in Daraa and the assassination of elements in the security apparatus may indicate that they are part of old grievances between factions and fighters, possibly fueled by other parties linked to remnants of the regime, such as the Military Council in As-Suwayda and remnants of the Eighth Brigade in Daraa.
He added that targeting al-Sharaa’s authority and the stability of his rule cannot happen except in centers of power, so the Islamic State group is trying to be active in urban centers concentrated in the capital, major cities, and northeastern Syria.
Hatreds and conflicts
The city of al-Sanamayn alone recorded five assassination operations since the beginning of June due to clashes arising from factional disputes between groups affiliated with the leader Mohsen al-Haimid, who is linked to Military Security, and groups that follow leader Jamal al-Labad, linked to State Security.
As a result of these conflicts, on June 1, leader Maher al-Labad, his child, and an individual named Mohammad Saleem al-Shtaar were killed by masked men believed to be affiliated with the leader Mohsen al-Haimid. This was followed by clashes between the groups loyal to al-Labad and elements affiliated with al-Haimid, resulting in the deaths of two civilians, including a doctor.
In March, the general security forces raided the city of al-Sanamayn and dismantled a military group led by Mohsen al-Haimid, who is accused of conducting assassination operations in the city; however, he managed to escape.
In January, confrontations occurred between local factions that necessitated the intervention of the general security forces, which imposed a truce and began disarming the factions.
What are the solutions?
Lawyer Assem al-Zoubi sees that the solutions lie in implementing a security plan to pursue any groups operating outside the law and holding them accountable, activating the role of the general security forces and granting them real powers, as well as providing the general security forces with personnel from outside the province to eliminate tribal and regional mentalities.
According to al-Zoubi, other solutions include clearly revitalizing the judicial system, which he believes is essential to reducing assassination incidents or at least minimizing them.
Dr. Mohammed al-Ammar, a researcher residing in Daraa, believes that the way out of the cycle of assassination is for the government to open up to the revolutionary incubators and hand over security in each area to its leaders from the local population.
Al-Ammar, a civil society activist, added that the revolution has generated over the past years tribal, factional, or financial disputes that society is still suffering from, which are manifested in sporadic assassination incidents.
Fingerprints of Islamic State and Iran in Daraa’s assassinations Enab Baladi.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Fingerprints of Islamic State and Iran in Daraa’s assassinations )
Also on site :