The recent assassinations in Daraa prevented people from gathering in front of their homes before the sunset call to prayer during Ramadan (Al Jazeera)

Daraa - 

Residents of Daraa Governorate are accustomed to hearing the sounds of gunfire on a daily basis without paying attention to it or prompting them to search for the reason behind the shooting or who is the perpetrator. The governorate, located in southern Syria, has witnessed intense assassination operations since 2018 after the Syrian regime forces took control of it through a settlement agreement with the opposition sponsored by Russia, and it has now witnessed a state of security chaos.

The Al-Sadd Road neighborhood in the city of Daraa witnessed 4 days ago - while the people were waiting for the sunset call to breakfast - an assassination operation that was considered the largest of its kind targeting one person, in contrast to the operations they were accustomed to in the Daraa area of ​​the city, where at least 15 unknown people who were riding 3 vehicles participated in it. Cars and 4 motorcycles.

The target in this operation is Yasser Khalil Falah, nicknamed Al-Hamash, a former member of the Syrian opposition who left the governorate for Idlib in July 2018 after the settlement agreement that the governorate witnessed, which stipulated the entry of Syrian regime forces into it after the opposition factions handed over their heavy weapons. And the average.

Falah worked in the ranks of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham there, but his presence in Idlib did not last more than one year. He returned to Daraa Governorate and had a presence in many military operations against elements working for ISIS in the region, the most recent of which was the campaign launched against them in the Sadd Road neighborhood in 2017. 2022 and ended with the organization’s members leaving the neighborhood without being eliminated.

An assassination took place in the Al-Sad Road area in the city of Daraa, which led to the killing of 4 people, including a child (Al-Jazeera)

Planned process

The operation that targeted Al-Hamsh this time was not like other operations that people are accustomed to hearing about or seeing sometimes, as many of the operations take place in broad daylight and in areas crowded with people, because the operation did not target only a farmer, but rather it targeted everyone who was in the area. Who may have witnessed the operation.

The operation was accompanied by intense shooting, which led to the killing of a young man and a child alongside the target, and the wounding of two young men and a child with very serious injuries. They are still undergoing treatment in hospitals until this moment.

In his testimony to Al Jazeera Net, M.N., the brother of one of the young men who was injured, said that the operation was large and planned after repeated monitoring by the perpetrators.

He added that his brother had no connection to any previous armed activity and did not have any personal disputes with anyone, except that he was near the site of the incident where he was buying meat from one of the stores in the area.

He confirmed that his brother's injury was very serious, and "he is still in the intensive care room, where he had to receive blood units. We appealed to the people of the city through social media sites and loudspeakers in mosques to go to the hospital to donate blood."

The doctors said that they were satisfied with the blood that was temporarily donated, which means, according to the injured person’s brother, that “we may have to search for new donors later in light of the absence of the effective role of the blood bank in the city of Daraa.”

(M.N) continued in his testimony: “The news of my brother’s injury came moments before the sunset call to prayer, and we quickly headed to Al-Rahma Private Hospital, and we were surprised by the presence of 3 bodies, one of which was a 14-year-old child who was the victim of random shooting because one of the pursuers was near him.”

Fear of gatherings

The feeling of fear among the people has become greater than before that the rate of assassinations will continue to rise. This caused people to move away from many of the customs they were previously accustomed to, the most prominent of which was gathering in front of their homes before the sunset call to prayer during the month of Ramadan.

The movement of commercial markets in Daraa stopped early, as shops closed their doors before sunset, unlike previous days, when the markets remained crowded until late at night.

The assassination operations that the region witnessed during the past years were not limited to military or security personnel only, as they also affected civilians, including children and women, despite the news being circulated by the people indicating that the targets were linked to drug trafficking and promotion or were working in the field of magic and sorcery.

Since the regime forces took control of the city of Daraa in 2018, the city has lacked the presence of protection forces working to put an end to such operations or other violations such as thefts, which was the responsibility of members of the opposition factions.

Despite the efforts made by the notables of the region to form a local force from the people of the region to deploy barriers at night to control matters, protect civilians, and restore some safety to them; It failed.

Since the beginning of this year, successive assassinations in Daraa have resulted in the deaths of 49 people (Al Jazeera)

Projects to restore security

A.M., one of the notables of the city of Daraa, told Al Jazeera Net that the notables had previously worked on many projects aimed at protecting the city, but they failed for several reasons, most notably the refusal of a large portion of young people to participate after returning to their civilian lives, and their main goal is to work to secure Expenses of their families.

While others demanded that sums of money be secured as salaries for a number of young people who would be responsible for protecting the region, the lack of money among the notables prevented them from implementing this project.

He added that the implementation of this project required a large number of young people because the region has many entrances and exits between it and the Daraa Al-Mahatta region, which has not fallen out of the control of the Syrian regime during previous years, and is considered a source of departure for the perpetrators of the assassination operations towards the Daraa Al-Balad region.

He pointed out that these projects were proposed two years after the region entered into the settlement agreement, that is, mid-2021, before the region witnessed a military campaign by the Syrian regime forces, which witnessed a siege and bombing of the region, which constituted a major transformation. After this operation, the security chaos increased day after day, and assassinations became almost daily.

Since the beginning of this year, successive assassination operations in Daraa have resulted in the killing of 49 people and the wounding of dozens, including civilians and children. Last year, at least 270 people were killed in different areas of the governorate, most of which were recorded against unknown persons, because the party behind the operations was not known until now. .

Many armed groups are active in Daraa Governorate, the most prominent of which are those whose members worked in the ranks of the opposition but joined the security branches after it recruited them for it under the pretext of protecting them from arrest after 2018. They were active in military operations and raids targeting opponents.

Source: Al Jazeera