People and residents of al-Suwaidaa reveal to SOHR details of the death coming from the east
As the death coming from the east ends in the villages of the first line in the countryside of al-Suwaidaa, the details of this death started to unravel which came as a winter cloud in a hot summer, and it reflected on the souls of the people igniting the fire of anti-war, also the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has been working since the first hour of the attack to search for its reasons and how this attack happened with such horror, in this time of uncertainty and speculations.
Interested sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that the “Islamic State” attack on the first inhabited villages, adjacent to the eastern and northeastern countryside of al-Suwaidaa carried out with the utmost skill, and the entry and withdrawal process were planned, and in the details reported to the Syrian Observatory and were verified; the attack took place on motorcycles at dawn of Wednesday, the 25th of July 2018, where the populated villages were approached just hours before the attack, and members of the organization stayed in locations near the villages not to draw the attention in the event of an attack from the Desert at once, and then at around 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday, the members proceeded in form of simultaneous groups into the villages, in which the houses to be raided were specified earlier by selecting accessible and unfenced houses, and the houses connected directly with the desert were preferred, then members of the organization entered the houses by knocking on the doors and when it is opened they directly stab the person in front of the member and kill that person, and then entering the houses stabbing and killing the family members and leaving some of them as witnesses to tell the atrocity of the scene and spreading terror among the rest of people of the province, also members of the organization parked the motorcycle at the points they can withdraw from, if they were attacked, clashed with, or some party attempted to surround them, and the locals confirmed that the killings took place against women, men, young men and children.
Reliable sources added to the Syrian Observatory that about 15 members of the organization were killed by the people who were able to defend themselves, but regime’s intelligence had withdrawn the bodies instantly, and the locals said that the reason was that regime’s intelligence groups took the weapons from the members who were in the border villages with the “Islamic State” organization’s controlled areas, as well as transferring NDF Forces and gunmen of people’s committees forces to participate in regime’s military operations in Daraa, and the locals accused the regime and Russians of taking these steps in recent weeks in preparation for the surprise attack by the organization, which killed and injured hundreds in the countryside of al-Suwaidaa, where the violent attack of ISIS came days after Russian general visited al-Suwaidaa province and demanded that young men must be taken to the compulsory conscription service at the forces of the regime, and disbanding al-Karama groups in al-Suwaidaa and treating them as “terrorist organization”, in addition to the Russians’ attempt to take the side of al-Aqel Sheikhs of the Druze sect, and to fully include them under the direct Russian guardianship, the locals also linked these events to the facilitation of the entry and exit of ISIS members to and from the countryside of al-Suwaidaa, and to facilitate their supply of food, ammunition, and fuel through checkpoints of NDF members and people’s committees that were receiving bribes for delivering food, supplies, and fuel to the Desert of al-Suwaidaa, while the residents confirmed that there had been electrical cuts in these villages which were attacked by ISIS on the day of the attack, which created widespread public resentment, especially that the regime forces procrastinated in sending reinforcements and delayed them, although the reinforcement had reached as a “panic response by the locals” from the people of al-Suwaidaa countryside and Quneitra countryside, and some of them had arrived from Hodr town in the far countryside of Al-Quneitra hours before the arrival of the regime members and NDF to take part in the fighting, and the people accused regime’s army of being occupied with looting Quneitra and Daraa and did not care for the fate of civilians and villages connected with the east and northeast desert of al-Suwaidaa.
These details of the deadliest and most violent attack ever in al-Suwaidaa countryside coincided with the rise in death toll of casualties, where it rose to 255, the number of people who were killed in attacks by the “Islamic State” Organization on the city and its eastern and north-eastern countryside on Wednesday, the 25th of July 2018, they are 142 citizens including 38 women and children, and 113 gunmen most of them are of the people of the countryside of Al-Suwaidaa province, who took up arms to rebel the violent and surprising attack of the “Islamic State” organization.
And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also monitored that the number of casualties of the “Islamic State” organization has increased to 63 members who were killed in this violent attack on Al-Suwaidaa countryside and Al-Suwaidaa city, including 7 suicide bombers who blew themselves up in the city and in its countryside, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published yesterday that it monitored that Pro-regime gunmen have hanged up a member of the organization, local sources said that he was detained during the arrival of his body in a hospital in Al-Suwaidaa city, where he was executed and his body was hanged up in the city, amid a crowd of tens of citizens in the area, on the other hand, the Syrian Observatory monitored that the Pro-regime gunmen managed to advance again and take the control of the entire villages and positions which they lost in this attack, also a state of tension is prevailing Al-Suwaidaa city and the villages connected to its desert, for fear of renewing the attack by the organization.