Government forces battle with ex-members of opposition in Syria’s Daraa
DARAA, Syria (North Press) – On Friday, government forces raided a number of houses in the village of al-Yadudah in the western countryside of Daraa, south Syria.
A military group, consisting of nine cars and armored vehicles, led by Brigadier General Lo’ay al-Ali, head of the Military Security Branch, and Mustafa al-Masalma, nicknamed al-Kassem, arrived this morning in the town, local sources told North Press.
The government forces raided several houses in the town and clashed with a number of local gunmen, including Obeida al-Diri and Iyad Ja’ara, who are former leaders of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly Jabhat al-Nusra).
Al-Diri was seriously wounded, and a number of civilians were wounded too. They were all transferred to the National Hospital in the town of Tafas.
The fate of al-Diri is still unknown.
The government forces set fire to a house, belonging to a Syrian refugee family in Jordan, after raiding it on the pretext that Ja’ara and al-Diri lived in the same house.
Since the government forces re-captured Daraa in 2018, the governorate has been living in a state of security chaos, as it witnesses murders and thefts on a daily basis, despite the government’s intensive presence in its towns and villages.
In 2021, Daraa Governorate went through an 80-day-seige. After that, a number of Daraa’s notables and government forces, with mediation of Russian officers, reached a ceasefire agreement on September 5, 2021, including handing over weapons and deploying governmental security posts in the towns of the governorate.
Four former militants of Syrian opposition armed factions were shot dead on Monday by Obeida al-Diri, in the western countryside of Daraa, southern Syria.