Government militia lose last headquarters in Syria’s Suwayda to locals
SUWAYDA, Syria (North Press) – Local armed factions in Suwayda, southwestern Syria, led by the Men of Dignity took control of the last headquarters of an armed group affiliated with the Syrian government’s Military Intelligence in the city.
The Men of Dignity is a self-defense militia established after the outbreak of the Syrian war to defend the Suwayda area. Described as a terror organization by Russia, it took an initial position against the Syrian government in the early days of the war but did not engage in any armed conflict with government forces.
A local source told North Press: “Local factions and the Men of Dignity stormed the headquarters of the [military intelligence] Raji Falhout militia, near the town of Atil in north of Suwayda, after encircling it all night. They also arrested a group of its members.”
On Tuesday, a-Falhout militia kidnapped three university students, from the city of Shahba while they were passing a checkpoint on the Shahba-Suwayda road, against the backdrop of tensions in the northern countryside of Suwayda. This sparked outrage in the governorate. After that, the Men of Dignity and other local factions raided and took control of the intelligence group headquarters in the town of Slim, north of Suwayda.
Following that, the factions headed towards the group’s last headquarter in Atil, to take it down and release the kidnapped.
“The kidnapped held at the headquarters were released, including Jad al-Taweel, Jamal al-Taweel, Hisham al-Khatib and others whom the Falhout group had detained earlier,” the source added.
There were conflicting reports about the fate of Falhout, a leader in the Military Intelligence, whether he was captured or escaped from his house before it got besieged at dawn on Wednesday.
The Men of Dignity published pictures on its official Facebook page, saying that it had “found large quantities of drug pills and equipment for manufacturing Captagon inside the Falhout headquarters in Atil.”
The death toll from the clashes between the local factions and intelligence group in Atil and Slim reached 17, and 35 others were wounded.
Suwayda is still witnessing a state of alert following the elimination of the armed group, amid complete absence of the government’s security service.