In Syria's Daraa, wave of kidnappings, killings threatens fragile balance
Residents of Daraa city are living in fear in light of increased assassinations and kidnappings often blamed on former rebels who reconciled with the government.
The three bodies were bloodied from apparent gunshot wounds and found dumped unceremoniously near a traffic circle. They belonged, residents would discover, to three young men from a former rebel-held neighborhood of Daraa city in southwestern Syria, where they had lived until their alleged kidnapping in early January.
Then, just four days later, another body appeared.
Mohammad Abazeid was a young taxi driver and former rebel fighter, found maimed and lifeless on the street, nearly a week after his alleged kidnapping.
Hundreds of men attended his funeral on Jan. 14, which morphed into an impromptu anti-government protest march through the city’s southern reaches.
