Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Year 2, Week 34
Tracking the spread of new security forces and security incidents in post-Assad Syria from July 27 to August 2
Announcements of security deployments mostly in western Syria, with an emphasis on the minority regions. 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 are provided throughout.
This week saw continued security operations targeting the three main challenges facing the new Syrian government: ISIS cells, drug networks, and ex-regime criminals. Simultaneous anti-ISIS operations were carried out in two towns in northern Aleppo while another operation was launched against an ISIS cell in Deir Ez Zor during which security forces detained the cell leader and killed an “official responsible for assassination operations in the area.” The cell had reportedly carried out attacks in the Al-Baghouz and Al-Shaafa areas in the Al-Bukamal District.
Three major narcotics busts were conducted in border areas while lower-level drug traffickers were also arrested in separate operations elsewhere. Meanwhile, at least 12 regime-era criminals were arrested across the country this week, with additional arrests confirmed by the MoI at the end of the week without providing more information.
Low-level violence continued across the country as well. A recently returned Kurdish man was killed in Afrin, the first such case since the mass returned of IDPs this summer. Another man was found dead in rural east Hama, and an Alawi man was murdered in western Hama as a result of a long-standing dispute. Over the weekend, inter-communal water disputes in western Damascus escalated to riots, resulting in clashes with security forces and arrests.