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Clashes, Military Reinforcements, and Alertness: What’s Going on in Yalda, Damascus Countryside?

Clashes between the intelligence services and drug smugglers occurred in Yalda, according to Sawt al-Asima.
Clashes, Military Reinforcements, and Alertness: What's Going on in Yalda, Damascus Countryside?
Clashes, Military Reinforcements, and Alertness: What’s Going on in Yalda, Damascus Countryside?

On Friday morning, regime intelligence sent security reinforcements to the town of Yalda, south of the capital Damascus, after clashes between patrols of the Criminal Security Branch and a drug trafficking network in the area. 

On Thursday evening, patrols of the Criminal Security Branch raided several houses in the town of Yalda, looking for wanted people on charges of promoting and trafficking narcotics. 

Sawt al-Asima correspondent said criminal security patrols targeted several homes of wanted people in different neighborhoods of the town, before attempting to storm the headquarters of the drug trafficking network.  

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The reporter added that some members of the drug network are volunteers in the ranks of a local militia belonging to the Fourth Division in the area. This indicates that they resisted patrols during the storming of the headquarters. 

The correspondent confirmed that clashes took place between patrol members and volunteers of the Fourth Division militia in the area, after which criminal security patrols outside the area withdrew. 

A Sawt al-Asima correspondent explained that the military security branch sent reinforcements of its members to the town of Yalda south of the capital, following the clashes. 

Military security patrols set up several temporary checkpoints in the vicinity of the area, and another at the entrance to Beirut Street in the town, the reporter said, imposing a security tightening. 

The second incident of its kind  

Similar clashes took place on December 8th, 2021, on the outskirts of the Yarmouk refugee camp south of the capital Damascus. 

The clashes took place during a raid carried out by anti-government patrols, in which they targeted a  warehouse belonging to the trafficking network in the al-Orouba neighborhood, which separates Yarmouk camp and Yalda.

 

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.

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