The behavior of the Assad regime’s forces and security services in Dara’a is causing growing dissent as residents of the province on Tuesday declared civil disobedience in protest to the regime’s forced recruitment of people in the province. Recent weeks have seen the re-emergence of anti-regime graffiti on the walls in various parts of the province.
Local activists said that 15 vehicles carrying draft dodgers and army deserters roamed the streets of Dara’a city on Tuesday, with those onboard shooting in the air to send a message to the regime and its security agencies and express their refusal to join the Assad forces’ ranks.
The activists said that the move came in response to the regime’s failure to fulfil its promises of discharging the army defectors and extend the grace period they were given for another six months.
Meanwhile, arbitrary arrests continued in the province as Assad’s military security detained 17 people near Dara’a city over the past two days.
The Syrian Coalition earlier said that the Assad regime’s repressive actions against the people of Dara’a rise are more than enough to spark off a new uprising against its rule. It stressed that the people who at last enjoyed the taste of freedom will not succumb again to tyranny no matter how hard the Assad regime forces tried to re-impose their authority in the province.
The Assad regime has recently intensified arbitrary arrests against civilians in Dara’a province under various charges following a string of assassinations and explosions by unknown groups causing casualties among regime forces.
In recent weeks, Dara’a has witnessed the scrawling of new anti-regime on the walls defying the Assad regime and threatening its presence in the province. The revolutionary movement has intensified since last month despite the Assad regime’s tightened grip on the province.
A new video was published on social media showing the flag of the Syrian Revolution raised on the minaret of a mosque in the town of al-Karak al-Sharqi. Such moves will likely threaten the Assad regime’s grip on the areas that fell to its forces following brutal military campaigns in the past few months. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
