The Assad regime’s security services on Thursday launched an arrests campaign against dozens of young men in the villages of Lajat area northeast of Daraa. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the military that the Assad regime has launched against rebel-held areas in southern Syria since mid-June.
Local activists said that members of the Air Force Intelligence and militants of al-Nimr forces, which are commanded by officer Suhayl al-Hassan, raided several villages in Lajat area, including the towns of Sour, Asim, Buwair and Ruwaysat. They arrested more than 25 youngsters without clarifying the reason for the arrests.
Local sources pointed out that Assad’s forces stole gold, jewelry and cell phones from the houses they raided.
The arbitrary arrests campaign came after the Assad regime forces and their allies fully recaptured Dara’a province following a bloody military campaign in the south. Assad forces and their allies launched brutal bombing campaign in the area, targeting mainly civilian homes and vital infrastructure. Residents of the area were forced to agree to so-called reconciliations deals as a result.
The Syrian Coalition described these deals as war crimes and crimes against humanity as they were reached under the force of arms and through bombings and killings. It held the international community fully responsible given its silence and failure to enforce international resolutions on Syria.
The Coalition warned of the grim fate facing Syrian civilians who are likely to become victims of reprisal by the Assad regime, stressing the need to protect them and stand up to Russia in Syria. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
