The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

The Syrian regime’s intelligence seizes houses in Harasta city in Rif Dimashq and settles regime’s members in them

Rif Dimashq Province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: residents in the Eastern Ghouta in Rif Dimashq are  still in a state of instability since the regime forces entered it and fully controlled it, where the security services have divided the Ghouta into sectors and each sector has become under the influence of an officer from the responsible branch, after that the robberies and theft of property began and continued until this day, where Harasta city is controlled by the Air Intelligence branch located on the outskirts of the city, while the branches of al-Khatib and the Political Security share parts of the city, and the General Najib Kareemo” takes power over Harasta area and the surrounding areas which includes Harasta city and the towns of Mesraba and Madyara, also the patrols of political security forces intensified their takeover of homes of activists and oppositionists in Harasta city, and they were granted to members of the Political Security who in turn brought their families from several Syrian areas, mostly from the provinces of Tartus and Latakia. Local sources from within the Eastern Ghouta confirmed to the Syrian Observatory that regime’s intelligence has seized about 70 houses owned by wanted faction leaders and activists in the medical and media field; who are oppositionists displaced from the city to the Syrian north, also the local sources from within the city confirmed that the settlement and confiscation were against houses near the international highway in Jesrin area and in the vicinity of the vehicle Department.

The confiscation is supervised by a General from the Political Security Branch and a General from the Air Intelligence Branch, where the confiscation took place against homes of civilians who are related to people wanted by the regime, whether they were sons, brothers, or leaders in opposition factions, despite the presence of a decision about confiscating property of wanted people only, which provoked outrage of the residents; who opposed regime’s takeover of their property and homes, where a verbal altercation took place between them and between members of political security, ended by arresting 5 women and 2 men who opposed the confiscation in the past days, and the regime did not only stole property, but the General in charge of the confiscation threatened homeowners not to approach or ask the settled members for their looted homes.

The Syrian Observatory published on the 6th of September 2019 that the regime’s military security forces in the recent days, intensified the procedures of executing the resolutions of confiscating property of opposition figures in the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus, local sources inside the Eastern Ghouta informed the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that the confiscated properties belong to commanders in the opposition factions, prominent figures in the opposition, activists, media activists, revolutionists, people operating in the medical and relief field and volunteers in the civil defense, some of whom remained inside the Eastern Ghouta and have had their situations settled and others preferred to leave to the Syrian North after the regime and its allies regained control of the Eastern Ghouta in March 2018, and in the details obtained by the SOHR; the number of confiscated real estates in Kafr Batna alone exceeded 100 real estates, including warehouses full of goods and commercial stuffs in addition to buildings and large constructions invested by revolutionary parties to be in service during their presence in the Eastern Ghouta, and these buildings belong to people who were outside the Eastern Ghouta and they have no ties with institutions opposed to the Syrian regime, and in Saqba city, the property confiscation targeted more than 120 real estates, also workshops for manufacturing furniture, warehouses, metalworking lathes and buildings used as private schools, have been confiscated, and members of the military security orally told the citizens that these houses will be allocated later to families of the regime forces’ members who were killed at the fronts of the Eastern Ghouta in the past years, and in Al-Otaybah town in Al-Marj area, the municipality sealed off tens of houses belong to people displaced to the Syrian North with red wax, and the officials of the municipality took relatives of the owners of these houses with them during the implementation of sealing to inspect the houses and to make them pledge not to approach these houses, and in connection to this, patrols affiliated to the military security forced people who live in some houses in the areas of Hamouriyyah, Jisrayn, Arbin, Zamalka, Ein Tarma, Al-Nashabiyah, Al-Mulayha, Deir Al-Asafir and Harsta, to leave them under the pretext of being owned by members belong to opposition factions and Jabhat al-Nusra, and they also sealed these houses with red wax threatening to bring everyone tries to approaching them under security prosecution, the military security exploited these resolutions and collected royalties from some of the real estates’ owners who live in the Eastern Ghouta, ranged between 500 thousand SYL and 4 million SYL, according to the value of the real estate, in return for delaying the execution of the confiscation resolutions, it is noteworthy that the confiscation resolution have been executed against some of those who paid royalties and lost what they paid, and since 2017, resolutions issued by the Terrorism Cases Court of the Ministry of Justice have been leaked, where these resolutions were addressed to Ministry of Finance to freeze the movable and immovable property of the names included in these confiscation resolution.

And the Syrian Observatory published on the 29th of July 2019, that the regime’s security services have seized the houses of tens of displaced people from the south of Damascus during the recent week, and they informed their inhabitants that they have to evacuate them in order to be turn into property of the regime, local sources told the Syrian Observatory that patrols of the political security branch of the security services, have been making security survey of the houses in the towns of the south of Damascus since the beginning of last week, and that they seize the houses that belong to members of the opposition factions or citizens displaced to the Syrian North after they refused the settlement deals with the regime forces, where the local sources confirmed that the number of seized houses reached 16, owned by persons some of whom are from the families of Yalda, Babbila and Beit Saham in the south of Damascus, where the security services informed the inhabitants of these houses that they have to evacuate the house before the 1st of August 2019, without taking any furniture belong to the house’s owners.

And the SOHR published on the 17th of July 2019, that regime’s security branches have confiscated homes of tens of displaced people in the Eastern Ghouta since the beginning of last month, and closed most of them completely after expelling its residents and stealing their furniture, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory: patrols of the military security branch of the regime forces raided more than 70 houses in various towns in the Eastern Ghouta, which are owned by members of the opposition factions and other civilians who were displaced to the Syrian north, and local sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory that security patrols expelled about 15 families from their homes in Saqba town after warnings them to evacuate in just one week, and imposed control on them after confiscating all their contents, while military security ordered about 20 houses to be evacuated in Hazza town and 10 others in Kafr Batna town, and several houses of displaced people in the towns of Beit Sawa, Ain Tarma, and Hamouriyah during the same operation.