The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Regime’s intelligence blackmails citizens, seizes more property and money in Ghouta, and refuses amounts reached $12000 USD

Rif Dimashq Province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: violations and abusive practices continue to be committed by the regime forces and their security services in the Eastern Ghouta, despite the lie of “reconciliation” it witnessed, where mentioned area of the great human reservoir its property has become violated, the security branches are racing to fill their tanks of citizens’ funds and possessions, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was informed by reliable sources that the intelligence of the regime forces carried out in the past few weeks raid operations and systematic arrests in towns and cities of the Eastern Ghouta, where the raids and arrests were concentrated on homes of civilian and relief personalities who sued to work in service and administrative institutions and other institutions that opposed to the regime, and reliable sources confirmed that the Air Intelligence of the regime forces summoned former people of opinion and some of other people of known families in the Eastern Ghouta in addition to detainees during their raids, and they intimidated them by claiming that there were security reports against them, and blackmailed them to pay large amounts which reached about 12000 USD per person in order to destroy the security report by the head of the branch.

And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 2nd of April 2019 that residents and people in the areas which witnessed “reconciliations and settlements”, are still paying the price of not accepting to be displaced and move to the Syrian north, where the harassment and abuse continue to be carried out against them by regime’s intelligence and security services, such as arrests and abuses against them all over the areas that witnessed reconciliations of Ghouta, Qalamoun, the Syrian south, and central Syria, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored that the Air Intelligence in the Eastern Qalamoun area, arrested a whole family consists of a mother and her 4 daughters on charges of “making a phone call to Idlib”, and sources informed the Syrian Observatory that regime’s intelligence has lists of names on their checkpoints for anyone who makes “communications with the Syrian north,” in particular, the citizen women, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 1st of April 2019 that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was informed by reliable sources that the National Security Agency responsible for settlements of the regime forces, prevented about 150 people from the towns of Ein Khadra, Ain al-Fijah, and Bsima in Wadi Barada in Rif Dimashq; from returning to their home although they have made previous settlements, and most of them have volunteered in the forces of the 4th Division and the Republican Guards, where the sources confirmed that elders of Wadi Barada and the officials of the settlement and reconciliation have notified the aforementioned people with the decision of prevention, and that they need to check with the security branches in the capital, because there are different cases against them, and in the same context, intersected sources confirmed that the military checkpoints of the regime forces around these towns did not allow their families to return and inspect their homes; except with security approval issued by the notorious Branch of Filastin, and after obtaining the security clearance -if it was ever granted- they are allowed to visit their houses for a period of no more than 5 hours, and they are not allowed to move between neighborhoods at the time of the visit, it worth mentioning that the area was controlled by the regime forces in late January 2017 after violent clashes ended by the regime forces controlling them and displacing those who refused to stay in it and settle their situations.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 29th of March 2019 that “Damascus is our dream” a word that is told to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on a daily basis from residents in the Eastern Ghouta, who carried out reconciliation and settlements during regime’s control of it about a year ago, where going to Damascus has become a dream for many people , and the reason is restricting the movement of citizens with security approvals which are given after a lot of suffering, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them, whose checkpoints are scattered in the vicinity of the Eastern Ghouta and short distance separates them from Damascus, these checkpoints deprive thousands of citizens who live there from going to the capital, they also prevent hundreds of people in Damascus from returning to their homes in Ghouta, where the regime forces imposed security approvals in order to move between both sides, and these security approvals are issued by the Internal security branch “Khatib “, which directly follows the General Intelligence Division, where the citizens are suffering to obtain the approvals, like the daily gathering in front of al-Khatib branch for residents of Damascus; and in front of the outposts of cities of the Eastern Ghouta, waiting to apply for and approval for movement, where the Syrian Observatory learned that only about 200 approvals are issued for those wishing to move between both sides, and that happens after paying bribes in the outposts, not to mention the royalties paid on the checkpoints during moving from the Eastern Ghouta towards Damascus, where the checkpoints -especially in the vicinity of Douma next to al-Assad suburb- are doing intense scrutiny, blackmail the citizens, and threaten young people with arrest if they do not pay at least 15000 Syrian pounds, where the regime forces and their security branches are trying to prevent people from moving from the Eastern Ghouta towards the capital, claiming that it is to “maintain its security and to clamp down more on them.”

The Syrian Observatory published on the 20th of March 2019 that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned from intersected sources that the regime forces arrested on one of their checkpoints on the outskirts of the capital; a number of women and children as they were heading towards the Syrian north, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them who are positioned in a checkpoint on outskirts Damascus arrested about 20 women and several children with them, while they were heading towards al-Bab city in the northern countryside of Aleppo, to go to their families and their displaced husbands, and took them to the Syrian intelligence branch in al-Khatib in the capital, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 16th of March 2019 that reliable sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory that the Russian police with the regime forces began a new operation in several areas of the Eastern Ghouta, the aim of which is to search for weapons buried in the area by the factions, before their departure under an agreement to the Syrian north, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory: the Russian police and the regime forces started through drilling workshops, equipment, and sophisticated devices to search for buried weapons in Jesrin agricultural land of al-Mohammedia town at the entrance of the middle sector from the southern side of Eastern Ghouta, and the areas of al-Nashabiyah, Marj al-Sultan, and al-Aftries within al-Marj sector in the Ghouta, with the help of former faction fighters who carried out “reconciliation and settlement”, where the searches have been taking place for several days on a daily basis, and the Syrian Observatory published on the 12th of March 2019 that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights received information that the regime forces carried out yesterday a massive raid and arrest operation in several areas in the Eastern Ghouta, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory: a column of tens of vehicles with a lot of members of the regime forces entered the towns of Saqba and KafrBatna in the Eastern Ghouta, where they closed some roads in both towns and carried out a large-scale raids operation and arrested 9 people, and they were taken to an unknown destination, and no information about the reasons of the arrest until now, and the Syrian Observatory published yesterday that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the other face of the chaos in regime forces’-controlled areas, where the Syrian Observatory learned from intersected sources from Douma city in the Eastern Ghouta, that checkpoints the Air Force Intelligence and the regime forces which are deployed in the city and its surroundings, are conducting thefts and systematic looting in homes and warehouses in Douma, whose families have been displaced to the Syrian north, and intersected sources confirmed that the checkpoints at midnight of every day are firing sporadically at the neighborhood which will be stolen, where the members steal shops, cars, and houses, despite the people seeing these thefts, but the security situation of the residents and their settlements and reconciliation force them to remain silent in this situation, fearing arrest by those to who they will complain, and after stealing the property these members sell them in markets of other areas in the vicinity of the capital, while the Syrian Observatory published on the 3rd of March 2019 that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that the regime’s intelligence arrested in the past few days and in batches, 18 persons of those who were former members of the “Civil Defense” during the factions’ control over the Eastern Ghouta, where the 18 persons were arrested by the Air Force Intelligence in Saqba, Harasta and Zamalka in the Eastern Ghouta, without information about the reasons for these arrests, although they chose the settlements and reconciliations after the regime forces imposed their control over the area, and the Syrian Observatory published yesterday, Saturday, that like all the areas that the regime forces re-controlled by military operations with the support of their allies or through “reconciliations and settlements”; the cities, towns, and villages of the northern countryside of Homs are witnessing security operations by regime’s intelligence and security branches, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored in the past few days an increase in the security operations in most of the northern countryside of Homs, in which “reconciliations and settlements” took place, after which tens of people were arrested, and the largest number of arrest took place in al-Rastan city, also the Syrian Observatory documented that regime’s intelligence arrested more than 60 person mid Last week, most of them were in al-Rastan city and most of them were under the age of eighteen, and these arrests were accompanied by the spread of paper clippings in al-Rastan at al-Omari mosque, some of them read: “The Islamic Movement of Ahrar al-Sham, al-Maghawir forces, Abu Bakr al Siddiq Regiment.. behind the enemy lines”, and the Syrian Observatory published yesterday that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that the security branches continue their operations in the Eastern Ghouta, where regime’s intelligence carried out raids and arrested people in Kafr Batna town, after which they arrested at least 12 people including former fighters of factions who carried out “reconciliation and settlements”, and other people who used to work in the relief during the faction’s control of the Eastern Ghouta, but no information at the moment about the reasons for the arrest, and the Syrian Observatory published on the 20th of February 2019 that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored during the past few days a massive fortification by the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them for their checkpoints in the Eastern Ghouta with dirt barricades and concrete blocks, reliable sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that the checkpoints in the Eastern Ghouta and its surroundings, especially those located in the area between the capital and Eastern Ghouta had witnessed last week double fortification with dirt barricades and concrete blocks, after changing the checkpoint, where the regime forces replaced members of the “Republican Guards” with members from the branches of Air Intelligence and Military Security, to conduct more scrutiny inspections on the people who are getting out and entering the area, also -as local sources said- to tighten the security grip on the area especially with the bad reputation of both branches among the citizens, and their treatment, arrests, and torture

Where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 17th of February 2019 that a young man from Harasta city, was killed under torture inside the security detention centers of the regime forces after he was arrested at one of the checkpoints at the outskirts of the capital Damascus before 15 days, it is noteworthy that the young man had carried out a “reconciliation and a settlement” in Harasta city in the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus, during the return of the regime’s control over the area there, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 14th of February 2019, that the regime forces killed a 17-year-old boy as he was passing a checkpoint west of Rif Dimashq, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory: the regime forces who are positioned in Mamlouk checkpoint on the outskirts of Zakyah town west of Rif Dimashq; opened fire directly at a young man as he was passing in a car near the checkpoint, where the sources confirmed that the car could not stop on the checkpoint so the checkpoint’s members shoot the car, killing a young man in the car, which sparked tension and discontent among the people because of these continuous behaviors that lead to casualties every time, while this tension among members of the regime forces comes after continuous operations in Daraa countryside and Rif Dimashq of writings on the walls, attacking checkpoints by unknown gunmen, and tearing pictures of the Syrian regime’s head, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 6th of February 2019 that the Syrian Observatory monitored in the recent days tearing the image of Syrian regime President, Bashar al-Assad in the square of Qudsaya area on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, accompanied by writing phrases against the Syrian regime on walls in the town, like: “the people want to overthrow the regime, Leave, Freedom Forever,” “followed by continues tension in the town searching for the perpetrators to detain them, also the phrases were removed from the walls on which they were written, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 22nd of December 2018 that several local sources in the south of Rif Dimashq confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that Yalda town -which witnessed the displacement of its fighters and residents who rejected the agreement of the “Reconciliation with the regime”- has been witnessing tension for about 48 hours, accompanied with security tightening in the town, where several locals confirmed that unknown gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a security detachment of the regime forces on Yalda town south of Rif Dimashq, but no information about casualties, this was followed by closing the streets leading to the security detachment using concrete checkpoints by the regime forces, where this comes days of unknown people teared the picture of the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, which was hanging on the health center in the town, followed by arrests and raids in the town searching for the perpetrators.