Local groups in Syria’s Suwayda cut Damascus-Suwayda road
SUWAYDA, Syria (North Press) – On Wednesday, two allied armed groups in the northern countryside of Syria’s Suwayda cut the road leading to Damascus and seized several cars of the Druze Men of Dignity Movement in al-Mazra’a town, in the western countryside of Suwayda.
The Raji Falhout group stationed in Atil town and Hamid groups stationed in the town of Qanawat in the northern countryside of Suwayda are allied groups backed by the government military security in Suwayda.
The Men of Dignity Movement was established by Druze Sheikh Wahid al-Balous after a battle between al-Nusra Front and a group of Druze defenders in Deir Dama, which later came to be known as the “al-Karama (Dignity) Battle.” An independent self-defense militia, the Men of Dignity Movement rejects the regime practice of conscription and forcing Druze Syrians to serve outside of their home regions.
Nassib Muhsen (a pseudonym), a notable in the northern countryside of Suwayda, told North Press, “both groups have cut the road leading to Damascus using mobile checkpoints and burning tires in response to the Men of Dignity’s seizure of a previously looted car, owned by a citizen of Daraa, from the groups.”
“Both groups seized dozens of cars of the Men of Dignity, which was established by Wahid al-Balous, in exchange for the return of the car that was seized by the latter,” he added.
“The looted car that Men of Dignity returned to its owner was stolen a month ago near a military checkpoint in the western countryside of Suwayda,” he referred.
The Suwayda-Damascus road and the one linking Suwayda and the western countryside of Suwayda to the northern part are still cut off until the time of this report by local groups amid a state of security tension, with no intervention from the government security apparatus in Suwayda.