IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Muhammad al-Hammoud (pseudonym), an IDP residing in al-Dana city, north of Idlib, northwest Syria, was forced to change his place of residence after a gun shop was opened opposite to his apartment.
Al-Hammoud fears for his children of explosions that take place at shops especially after the recurrence of several explosions incidents at gun shops in the area.
Those shops sell all types of weapons including guns, bombs, pistols and bullets in addition to full military equipment, wireless devices and mines.
Selling weapons in private stores and shops is widespread and publically available in Idlib that leads to increasing crimes especially killing incidents, according to activists and local residents.
Additionally, this phenomenon is common on social media websites, through which arm sellers promote their weapons with information about them either on Facebook or Whatsapp groups.
Frequent incidents
As for Nour al-Hasib (pseudonym), an IDP in Deir Hassan camps, north of Idlib, she did not realize that her future will be tied to a bullet that fell down on her tent paralyzing her in late 2020.
The young girl, who was about to graduate, was preparing herself to set university exams before an indiscriminate bullet fell down to hit her spine and causing her to lose consciousness and later to woke up to the news that “destroyed all my dreams to complete my education.”
Now, al-Hasib relies on crutches that will accompany her for the rest of her life.
On January 25, the Salvation Government, a civil wing of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), issued a decision to close all gun shops in Idlib and freeze their licenses.
Following the issuance of the decision, gun traders resorted to move their shops from public markets to residential buildings in order to promote their goods and complete trading and storage processes.
Two days after the decision, wounded were reported in the city of Binnish, east of Idlib, as a result of an explosion that occurred in a gun shop and it was preceded by a similar explosion occurred on January 18 in al-Jala’ Street in central Idlib, where casualties and wounded were reported.
Meanwhile, Ayman al-Mesto (pseudonym), a media activist from the city of Idlib, attributed the outbreak of this phenomenon to the absence of laws and measures taken by the “Salvation Government”.
He believes that the decision to close gun shops in the public markets has worsened the situation since the Government was not serious in this regard rather they issued it in response for public pressure and demands to remove these shops from densely inhabited areas.
In exchange for big amount of money, HTS grants licenses to about 20 gun shops in the city of Idlib with most of them located in markets and inhabited neighborhoods, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
On December 4, 2020, an explosion occurred in front of a gun shop in the city of Ma’arat Misrin in the countryside of Idlib leaving four wounded, according to the Syrian Observatory.
Good profit
While, the eight-year-old IDP Ra’id al-Tanari was sleeping in a tent in Atmeh camp, a bullet, which came from a nearby wedding, hit him causing critical wounds that could have killed him.
“The Salvation Government is unable to settle security chaos in the area, while they can impose taxes and royalties on civilians and share them their livings,” the father of the child told North Press sarcastically.
On May 3, three people including a woman died in an ammunition depot explosion near an IDPs camp in Idlib, the Syrian Observatory reported.
Meanwhile, gun trader Mustafa al-Shebaib (pseudonym), justified his work saying, “I have no other job. I learned this profession and gained experience during the war years and I make good profits.”
The trader pointed out that he buys weapons from militants of armed groups at reasonable prices and promotes them via social media websites for concerned people to buy them.
Al-Shebaib sells various types of weapons such as pistols, medium and heavy machine guns, in addition to bombs, explosive mines and sticky bombs.
“Gun trading witness broad-scale promotion and turnout,” he added.