Who's to blame for ongoing assassinations in Syria's Daraa province?
Assassinations of opposition and government officials and loyalists alike are proliferating in Syria’s southern province of Daraa, with the rival parties trading blame as to who is responsible for the spike in killings.
Daily assassinations in Daraa in southern Syria have recently increased in an unprecedented way, targeting leaders and members of militias affiliated with the Syrian government forces, drug smugglers and traffickers, government employees, gunmen and opposition civilians. This has been going on for the past four years despite the settlement agreement between the Syrian government and the opposition under Russian mediation in July 2018.
According to a report by the Daraa Martyrs Documentation Office, a local human rights organization that documents violations in Daraa, 508 assassinations and assassination attempts took place in Daraa province, killing 329 people, in 2021.
In 2020, 409 assassinations and assassination attempts were recorded, which led to 269 deaths and 102 wounded, according to the office.
Al-Monitor met with Abu Mahmoud al-Horani, spokesperson for the Horan Free League, a media organization that documents violations and reports current events in Daraa, which took stock of the situation in July.
