Recent developments across Syria
May 20, 2021
Regime-controlled areas
-Syrian Observatory activists have reported seeing three buses entering Um Batna town in the meddle countryside of al-Quneitra countryside in preparations for evacuating nearly 30 suspicious individuals with their families to north Syria region. This development comes after an agreement between the military security branch and the Russians on one hand, and the Central Commission in Hawaran and some of the area’s dignitaries on the other. It is expected that the buses, which have just left Um Batna, will head to al-Bab area in the north-eastern countryside of Aleppo.
-SOHR sources have reported that a member of “al-Ghayth Forces” of the 4th Division was stabbed to death following a dispute with several young men in the eastern neighbourhood of Muadamiyat al-Sham city a few days ago. According to SOHR sources the 4th Division member brandished weapon at several young men from that neighbourhood following a personal disagreement which evolved to a fight between the two sides, in which the young men stabbed the member with sharp tools. After this incident, the city experienced a state of security alertness, amid confirmed reports of the arrest of three young men by regime security services.
-Reliable sources in al-Maydeen city in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, have told the Syrian Observatory that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have turned the mosque in al-Tamou neighbourhood into a military headquarters. It is worth noting that IRGC had turned this mosque into a “hosayniya”, a congregation hall for Twelver Shia Muslim commemoration ceremonies, for their proxy militiamen, where the Shiite Azan was used and Shiite ritual was practiced, as SOHR revealed at that time. According to SOHR sources, the Iranian-backed militias forewent the mosque and turned it into a military headquarters after they had accomplished the construction of new mosque and “hosayniya” in the same neighbourhood by the Iranian organization of “Jehad al-Benaa”.
-SOHR activists have reported that unknown individuals blotched a poster of the Syrian regime’s president “Bashar Al-Assad” with paint in al-Suwaidaa city. It is worth noting that such posters have been fixed throughout regime-held areas as a part of the campaign for the incoming presidential election in Syria.
-Unidentified gunmen shot dead a young civilian in front of his house in the city of Jasim, north of Daraa. It is worth noting that the young man had struck settlement deals with regime forces, after he was a fighter of Khaled bin al-Walid faction that pledged allegiance to ISIS.
-SOHR sources have reported that unidentified gunmen shot dead a civilian n Daraa al-Balad. It is worth noting that the dead was a member of the opposition factions before he struck reconciliation deals with regime forces in 2018.
Aleppo
-SOHR activists in Afrin canton in the north-western countryside of Aleppo have reported that the Turkish-backed brigade of “Samarqand” have seized large spaces of orchards containing thousands of olive trees in Kafr Safrah village in Jendires district in Afrin countryside. It is worth noting that these orchards belong to nearly 50 civilians from the village, some of who have been displaced from the village during “Olive Branch” operation, while the others preferred to stay in they areas, and the orchards of these people have been seized und the pretext of “dealing with the Autonomous Administration”. Moreover, the civil councils in Afrin city and its villages have notified the residents living in regime-controlled areas and areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration, via their relatives, that all authorization documents regarding their properties will be canceled, with the exception of authorization documents issued by people living outside Syria.
SDF-held areas
-SOHR activists have reported seeing Russian and Turkish forces running a new joint patrol in al-Hasakah countryside. A patrol of four Russian vehicles and four other Turkish set off from Sherik crossing on the Syria-Turkey border in the western countryside of al-Darbasiyyah and toured the villages of Dalik, Funaytarah, Qarmaniyyah, al-Janoubiyyah, Tel Kaddish, Ghanamiyyah, Karbatli, Jadidah, Tel Tayri, Baba Mahmu, Tel Karmah, Khaskah, Madourah and Khanki in the countryside of al-Darbasiyyah and Amuda, before the patrol returned to the starting point. It is worth noting that the patrol was escorted by two Russian helicopters.
-SOHR sources have reported that Syria Democratic Forces stormed areas in al-Shuhayl town in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor where they arrested six people for “belonging to ISIS”. This development came after attacks and an ambush in the town in the past few hours, which left casualties among “Deir Ezzor Military Council Forces” and other military SDF-backed groups arrived recently in the region.
“De-escalation zone”
-Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activists have reported that HTS security service arrested a member of “Hurras al-Din” organization, yesterday, from the city of Jisr al-Shughour in the western countryside of Idlib, as part of al-Julani’s promotional campaign of countering terrorism.
-A large fire broke out in Adam camp in the village of Khirbet al-Joz in the west of Idlib, near the Syria-Turkey border, where the fire devoured more than 20 tents displacing their residents. According to local sources, the fire was caused by a short circuit in a battery inside one of the tents.