SUWAYDA, Syria (North Press) – Even as the Middle East is experiencing a monumental shift in foreign policies and talks about reconciliation with the Syrian government after 12 years of war, the situation in the Suwayda Governorate, in Syria’s south, remains volatile. Locals say it is being destabilized and placed under the control of gangs on purpose.
Sheikh Suleiman Abdulbaqi, leader of the Ahrar Jabal al-Arab movement in Suwayda, told North Press that the military influence in Suwayda has decreased Raji Falhut, a local gang leader, and his followers were “neutralized”.
In late July 2022, the gang of Raji Falhut, which affiliated with the military intelligence branch of the government forces, was eliminated by a popular uprising against their presence in Suwayda.
Abulbaqi explains that the role of destabilizing the region has “moved to the government’s security intelligence through malicious reports, sowing sedition and toxicity in the community, worsening conditions in Suwayda through agents, and facilitating the operations of drug gangs.”
He also noted that they are working to reveal groups such as “National Defense, members of Baath party Brigades [a volunteer militia made up of Syrian Baath party members], in addition to figures or groups pretending to be serving the people while dealing undercover with the [Syrian] regime.”
Gang dominate
The columnist Hafez Qarqut believes that “resorting to gangs is the only way for the regime to control central areas and the Suwayda Governorate completely.”
He stressed that “it has no other way, the regime creates security chaos through gangs since it has no economic powers and is weak in terms of security, not only in Suwayda, but all of Syria.”
In light of the instability in Suwyada, represented by security unrest, poverty, and systematic displacement, the continuation of the current situation serves all parties of the conflict in Syria.
Qarqut told North Press that “the regime benefits from security unrest through affiliated gangs. It depends on security leverages to destabilize the region by using the gangs to show that it is the protector. The locals resort to the regime one way or another – to pursue killers or to protect them against robbery and abduction.”
The gangs present in Suwayda “are recruited by the regime, such as Baath party graduates and the Revolutionary Youth, through which the regime tries to break the social fabric and the cultural and moral mentality of the population,” Qarqut added.
“The regime seeks to marginalize the social and cultural life and to create a substitute class consisting of some officials or members of the People’s Assembly,” he stressed.
Regional connections
The writer said that “the domination of some gangs are regionally connected to players like Hezbollah or the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).”
“Some gangs have become stronger than the regime, which is proof that the state is collapsing internally. The gangs present in the Suwayda desert have obtained millions of dollars, and the regime is now dependent on them,” he added.
The biggest challenge in Suwayda, from Qarqut’s perspective, lies in “the interferences of Iran and Hezbollah in a very malicious way, and their impact on Lebanon and Iraq, particularly amid the huge amount of profit made from smuggling operations and the narcotics trade.”
According to Qarqut, “the regime is one of the multiple parties manipulating the security in Suwayda.”