SOHR: An “armed uprising” in As-Suwayda brings “Military Intelligence” in Syria to the fore
In the past hours, the Syrian province of As-Suwayda, in the south of the country, witnessed an “armed uprising”, as described by observers and activists. “The largest of its kind” confrontations erupted between local factions on the one hand and groups accused of affiliation with the “Military Intelligence Division” of the Syrian regime, from On the other hand.
The confrontations, which continued until Wednesday morning, resulted in the control of the “Right of Dignity Movement” and “Liwa al-Jabal” of the headquarters of the “Fajr Forces Group”, led by the so-called “Raji al-Falhout”, who is accused, in turn, by activists in the province and leaders of local factions, In connection with the aforementioned “intelligence” division.
The repercussions of the story date back to last Saturday, after the “Al-Falhout Group” kidnapped people from the town of Shahba in the northern countryside of Sweida, which was met with counter-operations that targeted officers in the Syrian regime forces.
The aforementioned events developed into cutting off the international road between Damascus and As-Suwayda for days, until the two sides reached an agreement to release the prisoners from both sides, according to Rayan Maarouf, managing editor of the local “Suwayda 24 Network”.
Maarouf continues to Al-Hurra: “The agreement did not last long, as the group affiliated with the Military Intelligence Division vetoed it on Monday, which eventually resulted in an armed uprising, led mainly by the Men of Dignity Movement, and local fighters from different regions of the province.”
The “Rijal al-Karama” is considered one of the most prominent local groups that enjoy a large popular base in the Druze-dominated As-Suwayda.
A press comment from the movement’s media office to Al-Hurra stated that “the men of dignity stormed all the headquarters of the Al-Fajr Forces group, and killed all Raji Falhout’s members, while capturing the rest of the department.”
The media office added: “A few members of the group managed to escape, while another section surrendered to the Rijal al-Karama movement and the Mountain Brigade.”
The movement accused the “Fajr Forces Group” of being linked to the “Military Intelligence Division,” and the press comment stated that “the group’s members clearly carry military security cards, and they are adopted by Major General Kifah Melhem.”
He also stated that “the group practices kidnapping, robbery and drug smuggling, with presses for the manufacture of Captagon and raw materials”, which were discovered after their headquarters in Attil village were raided.
No comment was issued by the “Fajr Forces” until the hour of preparing this report.
The same applies to the Syrian regime, which had announced a few days ago the appointment of a new governor of As-Suwayda, Bassam Mamdouj Parsik.
“Intelligence to the fore”
Talking about the “Military Security Branch” and the groups associated with it, and its hesitation in As-Suwayda now, is not new. Rather, this goes back to the early years of the events of the Syrian revolution, and at that time it was headed by Brigadier General Wafiq Nasser.
In 2019, the duties of a branch were entrusted to Brigadier General Louay Al-Ali, and he remained there until the beginning of last year, after the tension that occurred following the verbal insult he addressed to the head of the Sheikh Aql of the Unitarian Druze sect, Hikmat Al-Hijri, during a phone call from the latter requesting the release of one of the detainees from Sweida people.
According to the Syrian journalist, Rayan Maarouf is currently leading the security branch, Brigadier Ayman Muhammad.
He says: “The Military Security branch in As-Suwayda for years, specifically since 2015, has been attracting local armed groups, working to recruit them, regularize their situations, and give their members weapons and temporary cards, although many of these groups are involved in kidnappings, killings and violations.”
According to Maarouf: “The branch is trying to implement its agenda through these groups and gangs. The regime is dealing smoothly with the Suwayda governorate, since the beginning of the revolution in Syria, and with the growth of the strength of the local factions in 2015, the regime has become in need of local armed groups operating under its directives, so the military security had a prominent role. “.
On the other hand, the Syrian regime rarely makes comments about the internal “security chaos” that As-Suwayda is witnessing.
His position was also absent from the popular demonstrations that the governorate witnessed sporadically during the recent period, as the protesters denounced the poor living conditions and rejected the authority of the security militias.
Political activist Hamza Al-Mukhtar told Al-Hurra that “the Al-Fajr Forces group led by Raji Falhout officially announces that it is affiliated with the Military Intelligence Division.”
Al-Mukhtar added: “The conflict that is taking place at the present time is against purely security groups that dominate the necks of the people of As-Suwayda,” as he put it, and that they are “trying little by little to raise the ceiling to reach a point they aspire to, by taking the governorate’s youth to compulsory service.”
“The Syrian regime has worked in the past years to strengthen Raji Falhout and his group, in order to set up security barriers in any area in As-Suwayda. This person had contact with the people of Shahba and Mazraa and the people of the village of Khazema, and he staged a battle against the Liwa Party and the anti-terrorist force, and tried to impose his control in one way or another.”
The political activist continues: “The battle was an uprising against the injustice suffered by the people of As-Suwayda, and at the same time there is popular frustration over the poor living and security situation. What happened was a harsh reaction of the people of As-Suwayda against the military security and its operators.”
What after the confrontations?
According to the “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights”, the death toll from both sides of the confrontations in As-Suwayda rose, Thursday morning, to 13 dead and more than 30 wounded.
The dead were: 9 from the “Raji al-Falhout” group, and 4 from the attacking local gunmen in the towns of Salim and Attil. The observatory added that “the death toll is likely to rise, as there are wounded, some of whom are in critical conditions.”
Local networks in As-Suwayda published video recordings that showed “intensive shooting and a gathering of hundreds of citizens at the Al-Mashnaqa roundabout, rejoicing at the local groups’ ability to eliminate the Dawn Forces.”
There were conflicting reports about the fate of the group’s leader, while journalist Rayan Maarouf indicated that “his fate is still unknown until now.”
In turn, the media office of the “Men of Dignity Movement” said in its comment to the “Al-Hurra” website that “the popular uprising continues to purify the entire As-Suwayda of kidnapping gangs affiliated with the security branches.”
He added, “It is these gangs that have tarnished the reputation of As-Suwayda, over the past years of events.”
As-Suwayda is counted on the areas controlled by the Syrian regime, but it is characterized by a “special situation”, compared to the rest of the Syrian governorates.
Over the past years, it had witnessed a series of popular protests, while living in conditions of lawlessness, which activists in the province considered “deliberate.”
According to the Syrian writer and political activist, Hafez Karkoot, what happened in As-Suwayda since Tuesday is that “the people are fed up with the cutting of the gangs that belong to the security branches of the roads.”
He told Al-Hurra: “The Syrian regime is aware of how to stifle the province. These gangs are controlling people’s diaries, so what happened is a popular uprising, especially since those who participated in the attack were not only the local factions, but there was what is known locally as panics.”
“The storming of the headquarters of the Fajr Forces is not only a message to the Assad regime but also to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which pumps money through Hezbollah to agents in the south, in order to fragment society.”
Karkoot considered that there is a link between the group that was attacked with Iran and its allies in southern Syria, noting: “The uprising will limit kidnapping and counter-kidnapping and the spread of drugs as well, until the Syrian regime searches for other gangs.”
The military forces in As-Suwayda Governorate are divided between factions and local formations, some of which have the same “pure opposition” and the other is neutral, while the third section has definitive loyalty to the Assad regime and its security branches.
All of these formations overlap their spheres of influence, and in recent years they have sometimes clashed with each other, while sometimes uniting on one front, mainly against the threats of ISIS from the eastern front.
Source: middleeast-24