By Mo’ayed al-Ashqar
DARAA, Syria (North Press) – Lately, the Syrian government forces have opted for a new approach in targeting their opponents in Daraa, southern Syria.
The government forces targeted a number of houses, whose owners used to be part of military groups of the opposition, in the western countryside of Daraa by using drones without causing any casualties so far. However, the attacks caused great damage to the houses.
In July 2018, the opposition armed factions and Syrian the government forces reached a ceasefire agreement mediated by Russia in the opposition-held areas in Daraa. Under the deal, the opposition armed factions agreed to hand over their weapons in exchange for staying in Daraa, and those who opposed the agreement they were sent to Idlib, which is under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front).
Samir Abu Nuqta, 35, a pseudonym for a member of the opposition whose house was targeted, told North Press that a month ago, late at night, a drone targeted his house in the city of Tafas in the western countryside of Daraa.
The attack resulted in major damages to the house, but without causing any injuries, despite the presence of more than 12 people inside the house, most of them were children.
Abu Nuqta pointed out that heavy explosion means that the materials used are highly explosives as it caused great damage despite the fact that the amount used in the drone is very little.
What scares him is that there might be other attacks on the house. He worked on restoring his house, and was forced to go to another residence with his wife and children, while his mother refused to leave the house.
“The drones hover in the sky of Tafas almost every day. I heard the sounds over my house days before attack, but I didn’t think there would be an attack despite the occurrence of three attacks on houses in the city prior to the attack on my house,” Abu Nuqta pointed out.
He considered this is “a new phase of targeting opposition instead of assassinations that everyone knows are carried out by unknown individuals using guns.”
An exclusive source told North Press that the stadium in Daraa has been an operation room and training center on drones for government forces by Iranian militias since 2011.
An electrician explained to North Press that two months ago, he entered the stadium with a workshops to fix an electric cable and noticed “the presence of three Iranian military figures accompanied by an interpreter. They were training government soldiers how to use drones.”
He said he did not expect drones to “carry explosive materials and be used to target houses. I thought they were reconnaissance drones,” the source said.
After news began to spread about drone attacks on houses of opposition, “I was sure then that those were the same ones that government soldiers were training on,” the electrician noted.
Abdulqader al-Zoubani, 42, a pseudonym for a former opposition member in the town of al-Yadouda in the west of Daraa, told North Press that drone attacks “have become a concern for many people who were previously in the ranks of the opposition.”
Drones fly almost on a daily basis in the sky of al-Yadouda. On Aug. 1, they targeted a house inhabited by Amjad al-Zaal, a militant in a local group and from al-Yarmouk Basin area in the west of Daraa, according to al-Zoubani.
The attack did not cause any injuries, but it led to the spread of fear among the town’s residents about future operations against houses of opposition members, al-Zoubani pointed out.
He explained that the objective of using drones is “to eliminate opposition figures in the western countryside of Daraa by targeting their homes after monitoring them for several days.”
He also pointed out that many people in al-Yadouda changed their residences to avoid targeting, and some left to other towns.