Tension returns between Syria’s Suwayda, Daraa
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Following the incident of shooting a guard of a well in the town of al- Qrayya by shepherds from Busra al-Harir, north of Daraa, southern Syria, tension re-erupted between Suwayda and the eastern countryside of Daraa.
The shepherds fired at the guard of the well in al-Qaryya after he prevented them from grazing their sheep in the town.
The guard Janah al-Safadi was wounded and then hospitalized, as the ambulance car had a traffic accident wounding the medical team and escorts.
“A tense situation had arisen in the area, and the residents of al-Qaryya gathered at the Guesthouse of Sultan Basha al-Atrash to discuss the impacts of this attack,” Rayan al-Jabal, a pseudonym for a politician from Suwayda, said.
“Groups of the Men of Dignity and some armed groups arrived to express their solidarity with al-Qaryya and denounce what happened,” al-Jabal added.
This escalation, “followed the incident of February 28, when armed men, who were riding a bike, kidnapped the two young men Nash’at Harb and Jihad Elwan from the village of Ara, and took them to Daraa,” according to him.
“The trader Watheq al-Shofi, known by the residents of Daraa and Suwayda, was kidnapped with Ramah Shalghin, who was released after the kidnappers realized, he has been military member,” al-Jabal noted.
He pointed out that the families of the abductees accused the Bedouin clans led by Jamal al-Bala’s of the abduction.
On March 1, a meeting was held in the city of Bosra with the participation of a delegation from Suwayda including Lu’ay al-Atrash, the Emir of Ara, Imad al-Aqabani, the Security Relations Coordinator for the Russian forces in the southern region, and Sheikh Abu Tha’er Awad al-Miqdad from Bosra.
The meeting concluded reaching an agreement to “ban shepherds from entering to al-Qaryya and intensify the guardianship by the Fifth Corps near the borders between the two regions,” according to al-Jabal.
Rayan al-Jabal concluded that the Lebanese Hezbollah has been the most affected by the reconciliation reached in 2020 between Daraa and Suwayda, trying its best to impede it then.
In 2020, a tension between Suwayda and Daraa escalated when Russian-backed Eighth Brigade headed by Ahmad al-Awda seized parts of al-Qrayya.