Rebuilding Security in New Syria: Late January to Late February

Tracking the spread of new security forces and security incidents in post-Assad Syria

My weekly security updates were interrupted by three-weeks of field research I conducted from late January through late February. This entry provides a partial look at security events during that time, but is not comprehensive due to my inability to track everything while in the country. The major events are recorded, however, particularly the border operations in the Qusayr region beginning on February 6, and the final negotiations and prisoner releases in late January following the clashes in western Homs. It is worth noting the the mid-January violations in Fahel resulted in a new policy in the coast where security forces ceased raiding homes for weapons, instead asking each village mukhtar to gather and deliver the weapons themselves.

• Aleppo

• Damascus

• Coast

• Homs

• Hama