Swaida-NPA
A situation of tense among the people of Swaida
(south of Syria), due to the deterioration of the security situation in their city.
The political and military parts, composed of
the governorate’s residents, have tried to neutralize their area from the
bloody conflicts, that have taken place in the country over the past eight
years.
However, a kind of suspected security-related actions and its social
laws have emerged recently in the city.
Hiyam is a teacher in Swaida city, said in an
interview made by North Press: “Days ago, I was walking with my mother in
the city, two young men on a motorcycle, snatched my mother’s purse from her
hand. That made me feel scared, the feeling of which I have never felt it
before in Swaida since we live in a community that is similar to a family. I
was shocked by the accident.”
Hiyam’s mother condition is not the only
case, it turned to be a “phenomenon”.
“Similar accidents have been made by
young people recently,” said Hiyam.
She fears the spread of this phenomenon:
“Despite filing a complaint to the police station, yet, I am not
optimistic that the committers would be arrested, as the officers told me.”
Omar.M (his name is not mentioned at his
request ), came from Damascus countryside to Swaida, with his family, since
2012. He said, “I was feeling safe in Swaida, in terms of moving and having
relations with people, I opened a market
and had many relations, but, for about two years ago, things started to change,
in terms of kidnappings for ransom or carjacking.”
“I could not use my own car after the sunset,
and I hired someone to stay in the shop, because I was too afraid to have an accident, of any kind. It is strange
enough that the gangs accused of kidnapping and robbery are known among
the people, and their whereabouts are well known, yet, the responsible
authorities do not do enough to stop such actions.” According to Omar.
Ryan Ma’arouf, a journalist, and the admin of
a website interested in local matters in the governorate said, regarding the
phenomenon of kidnapping, which has been repeated lately, “Most of the
kidnappings of the last year, were greed of ransom. We have/127/civilian names,
who were kidnapped by gangs, some
unknown, but most of their members are known to the local community and
security authorities.”
“Kidnappings had a negative impact on
the city’s economy, in general, although most of the civilians kidnapped inside
Swaida were from other cities, the spread of this phenomenon, made many Syrians
not willing to set up economic projects,” Ryan said.
According to the documentation made by Syrian
journalist Ryan Ma’arouf, “the Kidnapping
gangs“ target
the “arrivals” to Swaida. Furthermore, he pointed out that the people who were
running agricultural, commercial or industrial projects within swaida, , “Have left
the city, for fear of kidnappings, which harmed the governorate’s economy in
the context of the unstable conditions in Syria. The security forces are not
doing enough to prevent or limit the spread of this phenomenon, plus, dealing
in a negative way with the kidnapping phenomenon, and no measures have been
taken to control it.”
He also draws attention to “the
violations that have taken place in front of the checkpoints without any firm
intervention, and despite the fact that most of the families of the kidnapped
have provided security reports to the authorities, and even if the kidnappers
were known most of the times, all the authorities do is locating their
place, as if they say to the people (do it yourself) .”
The Syrian journalist suspect that some (gangs) are related to officers of Syria’s military
intelligence, while others are related to local factions.”
The security forces refused to make official
statements, regarding the seriousness of the spread of this phenomenon, when
North Press reporter tried to know
their views. Nevertheless, reliable sources of the governorate’s police, who
requested not to be identified, said that ” directives given to us preventing
any confrontation with the wanted, to avoid armed clashes, especially that most
of the gangs and wanted ones have weapons.”
The source said that “the competent
authorities have been monitoring the accidents in the city recently, the
investigations of many are complete, and
there are involved people of whom we are waiting for the order of arresting
them.”
According to some information,
“those who are registered as criminal offenses, are no more than 147
persons, including 18 persons registered as a threat to the security of the city’s”.
The deterioration of security in Swaida is
unlikely to be solved in the coming days, “because it is linked to many
factors, such as bad economic situation, the spread of poverty and the high
unemployment rate. As well as some other factors.