Activists distrust government after agreements reached in Syria Daraa
DARAA, Syria (North Press) – After a meeting that took place on Saturday between Syrian opposition and government forces, there was conflicting information about reaching an agreement that ends tension in the town of Tafas, west of Daraa Governorate in southwest Syria.
Syrian government forces and representatives of the residents of Tafas reached a preliminary agreement regarding the tension that Tafas has been witnessing for about 18 days.
On July 28, a previous agreement was reached in a meeting held in Daraa between representatives of Tafas and officers of the government forces.
In the agreement, the representatives agreed to hand over those unwilling to engage in the 2018 settlement agreement to the government forces and let the forces search in specific houses to find those outlawed.
In turn, the deal entailed that all government military personnel must withdraw from the town after finishing the search.
However, the terms of the agreement were not implemented as some of those wanted persons refused to leave, prompting the government to shell the town.
Tafas has been in a state of tension for more than two weeks, after the government forces began bringing in military reinforcements to the vicinity. The forces also shelled the town’s residential neighborhoods and blocked many roads that lead to it.
A local source told North Press that yesterday’s meeting was attended by the head of the government’s Military Security Branch in Daraa, Brigadier General Louay al-Ali, and Tafas representatives including Khaldoun al-Zoubi, the most prominent opposition leader in Tafas, defected Colonel Abu Munther al-Dahni and Muhammad Jadd-Alah al-Zoubi, a former leader in the opposition.
The meeting took place in the office of Louay al-Ali inside the Military Security Branch building in Daraa.
The terms of the agreement included that the government forces will inspect several houses in some neighborhoods in Tafas to ensure that there are no people from outside the city, according to the source.
In addition, the two parties agreed on the entry of the government forces to a cement plant construction in the town, and establishing a temporary military point there.
The agreement also stipulated withdrawing the military reinforcements that the government forces have already sent during 72 hours, the source added.
Activists underestimate the importance of the agreement, in light of insisting the government forces to enter the town.
A second meeting between the two parties is scheduled for Sunday to finalize the agreement.
Since the government forces re-captured Daraa in 2018, the governorate has been living in a state of insecurity, with one or two daily assassinations targeting soldiers and officers of the government forces, not to mention the spread of thefts.
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.