Baath Party exonerates Syrian government from displacing people of Quneitra
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Saturday, Secretary of the Baath Party branch in Quneitra governorate, Khalid Abaza, said, the Syria state has not displaced anyone from Umm Batnah town, and what has happened is based on negotiations between the residents and the “Russian friend.”
“The Russian friend interfered saying that those do not want to hand themselves over, prefer to head to northern country,” Abaza told the pro-government al-Watan newspaper.
“Each terrorist present in the government-held areas will be killed by a military operation or has to hand himself over; there is no other option,” he added.
“We never asked anyone to leave nor did we allow anyone to leave,” he noted.
Abaza indicated that “there are people who returned from Turkey through smuggling to enter Jordan and then headed to Syria. They are dangerous leaders; as they form the sleeper cells and work to activate them.”
On May 20, government forces deported nearly 100 wanted individuals from the village of Umm Batnah in the countryside of Quneitra, southwest Syria, to Syria’s north under Russian auspices.
At the beginning of May, tension began in the town of Umm Batnah after an armed attack on a military post of government forces at Tel Krom Jaba, after which the government forces bombed the town with five mortar shells. Since then, the town has been witnessing a state of tension and displacement after government forces brought in military reinforcements that settled on the outskirts of the town.
The displacement process is the first of its kind in the settlement regions, and most of the deportees are former members of opposition groups.