SUWAYDA, Syria (North Press) – Since February 9, the Syrian southern governorate of Suwayda has been witnessing restrict security measures as Syrian government sent reinforcement on the wake of the protests that have been staged, since early this month, against the government decision to lift the subsidy for thousands of Syrian families.
The government is trying to oppress any peaceful popular movement “militarily,” the 30-year-old Fadi Na’im, a pseudonym for a resident of Suwayda, told North Press.
The military reinforcements included personnel carriers and 4-wheel vehicles with DSHKs, additionally snipers were deployed on the government institution and internet connection was cut, according to local media agencies.
Nowadays, everybody has become familiar with the ‘terrifying’ policy followed by the government in Suwayda that was also applied in other governorates, the 28-year-old Omar Hatem, a resident of Suwayda, disclosed.
On February 11, which marked the date when calls for protests began, the government paralyzed movement in the city and set checkpoints on the entrances to prevent the residents coming from the countryside from reaching the city.
The protest against lifting subsidy for nearly 596,638 families was peaceful, was limited to blocking Suwayda-Damascus Highway, and routes link between eastern countryside and al-Qrayya village in the southern countryside, protesters gathered in front of Ain al-Zaman shrine and al-Karama square in the city center.
However, this did not prevented them to take to the street according to Hatem.
The protestors called for decent life and a democratic civil government, as local media agencies and social media reported.
Most of Suwayda’s residents are eastern Orthodox followers and Unitarian Druze who hail from west Asia; their name is after Muhammad bin Ismail Nashtakin ad-Darazi.
“Are not we minorities? The government is defending us through blocking routes to us with cars loading DSHKs, Hatem’ added.
The government suppression in Suwayda is the last card that proves the false conflict it has been launching for ten years, according to him.
Suppression but maintaining drugs paths
The military build-up brought in to Suwayda “included pro-Iran Shia factions and Hezbollah that arrived in the eastern desert of the city,” the oppositionist and politician Marwan Maddah said.
Suspicious moves by Iran-backed militias were monitored heading from areas east Syria towards the southern area through the desert, according to local media agencies.
“The military scene following the protests indicates that no voice is louder than tyrant’s and nothing is higher than the government military suppression,” Maddah added.
If the government forces use violence, it will be faced with protestors’ anger since the latest protests represented everyone, the politician warned.
“Can the government target the entire mountain (Suwayda)? As it well knows the revolutionary history of Suwayda against invaders,” Maddah noted.
These military reinforcements have been sent to the region because the government and Hezbollah are “the first in producing drugs.”
The southern and southeastern borders are free zone for drugs trading, according to activists who stressed that the government reinforcements aim to protect smuggling paths, especially after Jordan vowed to deal strictly with any smuggle attempts.
Arresting evaders
Over the past years, the government did not curb or intercept the gangs in Suwayda, “they came when we demanded our rights,” the 36-year-old Omar al-Tawil, a pseudonym for resident of Shahba city, said.
“Where those soldiers were when Islamic State Organization (ISIS) entered the city in 2018, and when Yousef Nofal, Majd al-Barbor and others were killed by gangs supported by the government security?” al-Tawil said.
The Syrian writer and oppositionist Hafiz Qarqout refutes the government’s allegations that the reinforcement are to fight terrorism because the government well knows the names of gangs’ member and supports them.
He narrated incidents happened last summer in Shahba city, when three members of al-Tawil family were killed by the gangs’ members.
Al-Tawil family did not receive mourners, but wanted to revenge their sons on the gangs’ members.
When the residents attacked the gangs’ members and pursued them they found C-4 substance that is produced only in military installations in addition to security identity cards in the names of the gang’s member, according to Qarqout.
These reinforcements cannot fight people of the mountain, recruit or capture them on checkpoints, he noted.
“In case this happen, as what happened in era of Sheikh Wahid al-Balos, even the silent people will break their silence,” he said.
In September 2018, al-Balos, the finder of Men of Dignity, was assassinated. He had protected those who rejected to join the compulsory military service.
Russia may mediate to find solutions, “But it will not succeed,” he added.
Security centers in Suwayda were supported with about 150 to 300 members, more checkpoints were deployed.
The people of the mountain are still monitoring, but in case any assault happens “the response will be harsh,” Sheikh Layth al-Balos son of Sheikh Wahid al-Balos said.
The Sheikh called on the mountain’s residents to protest in dignity and to be united.