The issue of the missing people from the town of Qarfa in the mid-countryside of Daraa has resurfaced following video confessions from a former member of the popular committees, which were under the orders of Major General Rustom al-Ghazali. These confessions revealed horrific massacres of civilians, including children and women, in the town between 2013 and 2015.
The latest confessions came from Khaldoun Ibrahim al-Kayed al-Ghazali, a former member of the popular committees, who hails from Qarfa. He was kidnapped by unknown gunmen on June 26 while at the popular market in the town of Khirbet Ghazaleh, east of Daraa.
Ghazali had previously worked for the Political Security Branch in Daraa, then served as a guard at one of the popular committees’ headquarters, and participated in looting campaigns during the Assad regime’s control of Khirbet Ghazala and Namer.
Ghazali is the brother of Ismail al-Ghazali, the leader of the popular committees in Qarfa and a former director of the Daraa endowments, who was killed by an improvised explosive device near the city of Izraa in 2015.
On June 30, residents found Khaldoun Ghazali’s body on the Damascus-Daraa highway, four days after his abduction. His dangerous confessions, broadcast on social media, revealed the existence of mass graves in Qarfa committed by the popular committees between 2013 and 2015.
Dangerous confessions reveal horrific massacres
According to the alarming confessions made by the committee member Khaldoun before his death, it was revealed that the popular committees had arrested numerous residents of Qarfa, tortured them, and burned them in the house of Hussein Saleh al-Murar al-Ghazali. Hussein, along with his wife and child, were killed, confirming the deaths to the victims’ families after about 10 years of waiting.
The committee members blew up the house after burning everyone inside with gasoline and gas brought by Ismail Ghazali, who was the head of the committees at that time.
Among the dead were criminal judge Talib Hussein Dneifat and his son, Judge Hossam Dniefat, who were burned to death inside the house by committee members.
The confessions confirmed that the arrest warrants were issued directly by Major General Rustom Abdul Taleb Ghazali and executed by Ismail Ghazali and Muhammad al-Shamali.
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.
