Over last 24 hours, unknown people tore up a picture of Bashar al-Assad in Qudsaya’s town square, in the Damascus countryside, as well as daubing the city’s walls with anti-regime slogans.
Damascus Voice’s corespondent said that a large picture of Assad set up in the town square was torn up and sprayed with white paint. Unknown people also wrote anti-Assad slogans in several districts, most prominent, “The people want the downfall of the regime,” “Leave,” and “Freedom forever,” as well as other slogans.
The network’s correspondent confirmed that there were major security tensions in the city after these incidents and the Political Security patrols—the branch responsible for security in the area— were put on alert, in addition to the mobilization of the popular committee in the city, which are part of the 101st Brigade in the Republican Guard, who searched for the perpetrators and removed the slogans from the city’s walls.
Damascus Voice’s correspondent documented the deployment of a number of patrols in Qudsaya’s main square and other districts, as well as continuous Political Security patrols, without any arrests or raids.
A Damascus Voice source said that major tensions occurred among Political Security officers and popular committee officials, as the committees are blamed for what happened, especially given that they have been repeated in recent months.
According to the network’s source, Political Security officers have been given strict orders to arrest any person suspected of being involved in the writings on the wall and tearing images of Assad, and they have asked the reconciliation committees not to intervene if someone is arrested, given their inability to find a solution to this issue.
Qudsaya in the Damascus countryside saw a similar incident occur in mid-2018 when two young men from the town wrote slogans calling for the downfall of the regime on the walls of the municipal council, a telephone exchange and some government schools.
At the end of 2016, the Syrian regime took control of Qudsaya and al-Hemma, after a final agreement to expel more than 3,000 people including civilians and fighters who refused to settle with the regime.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
