After looting their sheep | Bedouin families displace from Jabal Al-Ammour in eastern Homs

Homs Province – Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: The area Jabal Al-Ammour in the western countryside of Al-Sukhnah city in eastern Homs has experienced displacement of Bedouin families and other residents to Hama and Deir Ezzor deserts, fleeing attacks by gangs affiliated to regime forces and Russian-backed militiamen on the Bedouins’ properties and sheep. Although the Bedouins have had light weapons, they became unable to foil these attacks, as the attackers used advanced weapons.

 

The repeated attacks and thefts impose a threat on the lives of Bedouins and their properties in the Syrian desert, especially with the Russian-Iranian rivalry and each side’s attempts to capture the region.

 

On December 3, SOHR activists said that groups of the Russian-backed “Al-Quds Brigade” militia stole about 1,000 sheep in various areas around the city of Sukhna in the eastern countryside of Homs, owned by the residents of Sukhna and the nomads in the area.

 

Meanwhile, members of the “Al-Quds Brigade” opened fire indiscriminately to terrorize the residents, and targeted with machine guns the shepherds who managed to survive and escape.

 

According to Syrian Observatory sources, these incidents took place within the areas controlled by regime forces and Russian-backed militias, and near a detachment of the Military Intelligence branch in the city of al-Sukhna, which is only a few kilometres away from the site of the incident.

 

The following day, the shepherds tried to recover their belongings and equipment, which remained at the site from which their sheep were stolen. However, a landmine exploded in one of their vehicles, leaving several shepherds injured.

 

It is worth nothing that the Russian-backed Al-Quds Brigade is deployed in the Syrian desert to comb the area and search for ISIS members.