On Saturday, residents of the city of al-Tell in the western Damascus countryside mourned the death of Ali Khalid al-Ali, a member of the city’s settlements and who was a volunteer in the Fourth Division ranks. His body has not yet been delivered to his family, according to Sowt al-Asima’s correspondent.
The correspondent added that two days ago, the city’s residents mourned Adi Abdel Nasser Salih from the city, who was a volunteer in the Fifth Corps, killed on the western Aleppo countryside fronts.
Sowt al-Asima’s correspondent reported that Salih’s family lost contact with his brother, Amer Salih, who is a volunteer in the Fifth Corps, while his group’s command confirmed he disappeared during the ongoing fighting.
Residents of the towns south of Damascus over the last week mourned five of their children who had been subject to settlements and had joined militia ranks. They included a resident of the town of Yalda, two from Babbila, and two from Beit Sahem, all of them killed in the western Aleppo countryside.
A local source told Sowt al-Asima that more than 100 families from the towns south of Damascus had lost contact with their children who had been sent to the fronts in northern Syria after they had been in touch with them daily. The source said that the commands of their groups refused to clarify why they could no longer make contact.
Fourth Division command at the end of January issued orders to transfer a new group of settlement fighters in southern Damascus to the fronts in western Aleppo and Idleb, including a group composed of more than 150 settlement fighters in the towns of Yalda, Babbila and Beit Sahem, including former opposition fighters.
The Fourth Division at the start of the year sent groups of 50 settlement fighters from south of Damascus, including units from the Fourth Division and others from the Tiger Forces, to the fronts in the Aleppo and Idleb countrysides.
The Sowt al-Asima team has documented the deaths of more than 200 settlement fighters volunteering in Syrian regime militia ranks from the eastern and western Damascus countryside on the fronts in northern Syria since the start of 2019.
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.
