A former commander in the Free Syrian Army, Iyad Jaara, was killed on Sunday by unknown gunfire west of Daraa, amidst a rising trend of assassinations in the governorate. Ahrar Houran reported that Jaara was targeted by unidentified assailants on the road to the village of Nahj west of Daraa.
In 2021, Jaara’s wife was killed, and he, along with six other family members, was injured in an explosion caused by a detonated device in his home in Tafas, west of Daraa. This incident was a failed assassination attempt.
Confidential sources revealed that Jaara, originally from Tal Shihab, west of Daraa, held a prominent position in the Syrian opposition’s Revolutionary Army before the regime forces regained control of Daraa in 2018. Sources also mentioned that Jaara had received death threats from the head of the military security branch of the Syrian regime forces in Daraa, Louay al-Ali, a few days before his assassination.
Jaara survived an assassination attempt in December 2021 when he was shot in Tafas, resulting in injuries that led to his hospitalization. He was among six individuals whose deprature was demanded by the security services of the Syrian regime and the Fourth Division during an attempt to storm the western region in early 2021. However, the condition was later cancelled during negotiations with central committees in the Western region, despite accusations of working for ISIS.
Former FSA leader Mahmoud al-Bardan Abu Murshid accused Jaara in a video broadcast in February 2022 of carrying out assassinations in the western countryside of Daraa with cells affiliated with ISIS, led by Abu Tariq al-Subaihi, Jaara’s sons, and others.
