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At least five people were killed on Thursday in clashes between local militants and residents of a town in the Damascus countryside, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a Britain-based monitoring group with a vast network of sources on the ground.
The SOHR said the violence erupted after a group of militants affiliated with the Fourth Division of the Syrian army, an elite brigade led by President Bashar al-Assad’s brother Maher al-Assad, killed a man in the town of Zakia while attempting to arrest him on Wednesday evening.
According to the opposition-affiliated news website Sawt al-Asima (Damascus Voice), Nazeer Shaaban, a 37-year-old resident of Zakia, was shot multiple times in the chest by Jamal Noureddine, a member of the Fourth Division-affiliated group.
The killing reportedly came after Shaaban found out that Noureddine and Muawiya Tohme, the leader of the local militia, had intentionally bombed a shop that maintained water well equipment in the town earlier this month because of a dispute with its owners.
During Thursday’s clashes, the locals set fire to the houses of some members of the militia in Zakia, according to the SOHR. Four people were also injured in the fighting.
According to local reports, tension has been brewing in the town since residents began raising anti-regime banners last week, coinciding with the protests in the southern province of Suwayda. The Syrian army sent reinforcements around Zakia in response to the recent moves.
Even as Arab countries begin to open up to Assad 12 years after the devastating war began, unrest is occurring in government territory. Suwayda has seen growing protests against the regime since mid-August, which initially began in response to the rise of fuel prices. Similar protests took place in neighboring provinces, including Daraa, as well as in Aleppo in the north.
Meanwhile, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been engaged in violent battles with local Arab tribes in northeast Syria. The clashes first broke out on Monday, one day after the SDF arrested the head and several members of the Deir ez-Zor military council, whom it accuses of multiple crimes and violations. Since then, at least 40 fighters from both sides and 15 civilians have been killed, according to local sources.
