Looting, the culture of arm bearers on the Syrian soil
The looting continues within Syrian territory, and with every new control by a military party, the looting comes as the first phenomenon that dominates over the property that were controlled, where the looting culture is worsening among the arms bearers, and the justifications follow the lootings to relieve the resentment of civilians from this matter, which has become the first this to be witnessed in the controlled cities, towns, or villages, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has monitored lootings of the property that remained in the towns of al-Fu’ah and Kafriya, whose people were evacuated to Aleppo province by a Russian – Turkish agreement, which was carried out and finished yesterday Friday, the 20th of July 2018, where the vehicles, tractors, private cars and house property were looted by members of Islamic factions; and were transferred to other areas in Idlib Province, while the Syrian Observatory monitored the death of 6 fighters as a result of mine explosions in al-Fu’ah and Kafriya which used to be inhabited by Shiite citizens, and they were evacuated according to a Russian – Turkish agreement and transferred to shelter centers in Aleppo.
The phenomenon of looting in al-Fu’ah and Kafriya by the factions, was not the first one during the previous period, also it wasn’t carried out by the factions in Idlib only, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in the past weeks as the displaced people continue to return to their towns, villages, and houses in Daraa province, the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them continue to loot and rob property of the people so much; that they looted the bad stuff before the good stuff, and the “Homeland Army” is still devouring Daraa as if it has turned into a locust that devour everything in its way.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored a vast looting of property of citizens carried out in all the villages and towns located in the eastern countryside of Daraa, while cameras of the regime’s media and its loyal media monitor what they call the “Championships of the National Army and tours of Suhail al-Hasan”, these cameras do not monitor the looting that took place in front of everybody, especially the Russian Forces, which set themselves as guarantor of the “security and stability” in the areas of agreements in the countryside of Daraa.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned from local sources that the regime forces looted most of the homes of the eastern, southeastern and western countryside of Daraa, where they steal household appliances, furniture, blankets, cars, and cattle, and the people complained to the Syrian Observatory for the Rights that the regime forces reached a point where the people were bargaining over their own property, where some civilians who begged to leave their property were given the option of choosing between looting their cars or their cattle, also some people were looted when they were inside their own houses, which caused discontent and resentment of people in Daraa province of these actions; and of the Russians’ turn of the blind eye for the ruthless locusts which have not had any mercy on Horan or its people under the pretext of returning Horan to the “bosom of the Motherland”.
This was preceded by another looting and stealing months ago in Afrin area, which are still taking place until now, where several reliable sources confirmed to the SOHR that most of the factions and military forces took part in it. The looting was carried out by few fighters of the factions. They looted food, cars, and agriculture vehicles, and electronic devices, electricity generators, public and private properties in the city since the control over the city of Afrin on the 18th of March 2018. citizens confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that these forces tend to continue their thefts and looting to everything they would find in the citizens’ houses and public institutions and facilities, and the citizens asserted that their mobile phones, cars, tractors, motorbikes and electronic sets and equipment were looted, and reliable sources said that their houses were looted of all their contents of equipment, machineries and supplies, and the citizens also asserted that the humanitarian aid was organizationally distributed in front of the media in the cameras, while behind the cameras and in the scattered and remote villages in Afrin countryside, these humanitarian aid was sold at high prices to merchants and shop owners, who also tended to sell them for the citizens at double prices of those which the foodstuff was purchased at, and the forces of the “Olive Branch” Operation are continuing to interrupt electricity and water to the most of Afrin areas, these lootings have reached a point where the arrested people and the seized house, farms, and shops were traded by without anyone to prevent that from happening, not even the Turkish Forces which exist as a major force in the area.