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 four notable security-related events across central and western Syria. Early in the week, two Alawi men were killed and two wounded in three shootings in western Hama. Western Hama remains the most violent area of western Syria, and while also receiving the least INGO support for social cohesion initiatives. Meanwhile, the heightened arrest campaign of regime era officers that began last week continued this week. At least eight operations were announced this week, resulting in the arrest of dozens of regime-era officers including nine senior pilots. Lebanese authorities also arrested the infamous regime criminal Suleiman Assad and extradition talks are reportedly underway.
Two bouts of civil unrest arose late this week. First, in northeast Syria, an Arab local executed a recently-integrated ex-SDF soldier, triggering protests and riots in Kobani. The killing was widely reported in local Arab media as a revenge act for earlier killings committed by the SDF member. On Sunday, the Syrian government announced a significant increase in fuel prices due to the ongoing U.S.-Iran war’s impact on international fuel prices and access. This surge triggered protests in Hasakah and Raqqa in the afternoon, followed by protests across towns in Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, and northern Homs in the evening.