Daraa province in southern Syria has witnessed 25 assassination attempts since the start of October, all of them recorded as being committed by “unknown assailants.”
On Sunday, Alsouria Net obtained statistics from the Martyrs Documentation Office in Daraa that said the number of assassinations since the start of the month reached 25, with some being killed and others being wounded.
According to the statistics, over the last seven days, Daraa and its countryside saw nine assassinations, all of which led to the targeted person’s death. The victims belonged to various segments, whether military, civilian or Assad’s forces.
A source from Daraa told Alsouria Net that Nassar al-Shalabi, from Atman, had been assassinated and that his body had been found in Nassib. Before this incident, Aws Kamel al-Bateeh had been killed in the town of Saida in the eastern Daraa countryside.
The most recent assassination in the province was the killing of Qusay al-Halqi, the brother of former Assad regime Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi, in the city of Jassim in the northwestern Daraa countryside.
Halqi’s killing was preceded by the killing of two members of Assad’s forces on the Jassim-Ankhal road after they were struck by an explosive device.
Since the start of August, no group has claimed responsibility for the assassinations in Daraa or for the attacks that have targeted regime and Russian forces, all of which have been recorded as “unknown assailants.”
The regime has not commented on the security chaos seen in Daraa province, which witnessed the most prominent “settlement” agreements about 15 months earlier, in accordance with which rebel groups withdrew from all areas that they had controlled in Daraa and its eastern and western countryside to the benefit of the Russian and regime forces.
After the settlements in Daraa, the areas in the province were divided into two sections: The first under Russian dominance, represented on the ground by the Fifth Corps, deployed in the city of Basra and some villages in the eastern Daraa countryside, and led by Ahmed al-Awda.
The other section is dominated by regime security branches and its military forces such as the Military Security Branch and the Fourth Division (that is, outside Russian military calculations) whose military dominance is concentrated in the villages of the western and northern Daraa countryside.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
