Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Week 7

Tracking the spread of new security forces and security incidents in post-Assad Syria, January 20 - 26

Announcements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. Content is categorized as deployment, crime, statement, arrest, operation. This weekly update is intended to provide base level data for more holistic research into the rebuilding of the security and governance structures of post-Assad Syria. Direct links to primary sources provided throughout.

• Aleppo

• Damascus

• Coast

• Homs

• Hama

This week saw the largest security campaign against ex-regime elements to date. Between January 21 and January 26, local units of the General Security Department and the Directorate of Military Operations (DMO) conducted raids across more than 15 villages in northwest Homs. The targeted communities were primarily Alawite, with a few Sunni and Shia villages as well. While most villages reported no or minimal violations during the raids, three towns reported particularly violent conduct by security forces. Four men were killed in the Shia town of Ghor Gharbiyeh and around 30 detained on the first day of the operation. Then, between January 23 and January 24 security forces raided the Alawite town of Fahel where they killed at least 15 men, all of whom had previously served in the army, including seven generals.

It is unclear under what circumstances the men were killed. Similarly, security forces raiding the Murshidi/Alawite village of Maryamin reportedly destroyed Murshidi pictures in peoples houses and shouted sectarian slurs at locals. More generally, there were credible reports in at least some villages of security forces detaining men simply based on their (Alawite) religion, and then releasing them several days later after investigating them. The attacks sparked massive outrage resulting in a visit from the Governor of Homs to both villages on January 24. A follow-up meeting was held in Homs City between the governor’s office and local activists and village leaders to discuss the issue of violations, and subsequent meetings have been planned inside the villages.

The experience in northwest Homs stands in stark contrast to that of Latakia and Tartous, where security campaigns have resulted in very few serious violations, and certainly nothing on this scale, despite continued attacks by regime insurgent cells in the countryside. The stark contrast in experiences suggest that local factors are at play - local opposition fighters recruited into local forces in Homs using their new power to take revenge on the communities they had fought for so many years.