A charged and fast-moving atmosphere is taking hold across Syria in the days leading up to the first anniversary of the liberation of Damascus from Bashar al-Assad’s rule on December 8, a moment that coincides with Christmas and New Year festivities.
Announcements marking the liberation fill the streets, urging Syrians to unite in rebuilding the country beside Christmas decorations.
The atmosphere comes amid tight security, with a heavy deployment of Interior Ministry units and patrols to guard against possible attacks on public gatherings, alongside intensified operations targeting arms and drug traffickers in the provinces and border regions.
In addition to central celebrations called for by official and popular bodies in major city squares, which include activities from December 5 to 8 under the slogan “Let us complete the story”, the Ministry of Religious Endowments invited all mosques to hold dawn prayers next Monday, December 8, with “victory chants” to begin half an hour before the call to prayer.
Sources said all government agencies are on high alert, especially the Interior Ministry, adding that there are concerns that extremist groups, including ISIS or others, could attempt attacks on crowds.
The sources said the Interior Ministry faces a major test one year after the fall of the regime, noting that it has sought to make significant improvements to internal security performance and to safeguard “victory” celebrations despite the challenges ahead.
The sources said external and internal parties are still attempting to disrupt the transitional phase. They also noted increased movement of returning expatriates, visitors, and Arab and foreign journalists, which has raised security alert levels.
Within less than 24 hours, Syrian authorities announced the dismantling of two drug trafficking networks in Damascus and Aleppo, the thwarting of an arms shipment destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the launch of a campaign to pursue arms and drug traffickers in Deir al Zor.
The Internal Security Directorate in Yabroud in the Qalamoun area in rural Damascus said it foiled an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of war mines to Lebanon, seizing the entire shipment, arresting four suspects and killing a fifth during clashes with patrol units.
Khaled Abbas Taktouk, the head of Yabroud security, said the operation followed precise intelligence work and continuous surveillance that identified the suspects and tracked them to the smuggling point in the al Jabbah area north of rural Damascus near the Lebanese border.
He said specialized units carried out a tightly planned raid that resulted in the seizure of 1,250 war mines equipped with detonators that were prepared for transfer to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Security assessments in border regions that were once under Iranian and Hezbollah influence indicate that weapons caches remain hidden in undisclosed locations and that some of these arms have been taken by local residents who are now selling them secretly.
Smuggling operations are uncovered periodically. Some of the seized weapons were looted from former regime military bases during the chaos that followed the fall of the regime, while others belong to Iranian and Hezbollah militias and are being retrieved through smugglers.
In Aleppo, the Anti Narcotics Branch said on Wednesday it had dismantled a drug trafficking and distribution network, arresting the ringleader and four members.
The state news agency SANA quoted a police source as saying officers seized about 31,000 Captagon pills, around 500 grams of crystal meth and quantities of the same substance in liquid form.
Hours earlier, the Anti Narcotics Branch in Damascus announced it had dismantled another network operating in the capital, arresting its ringleader and nine members, and seizing large quantities of drugs including nearly 500,000 Captagon pills, 1,000 grams of methamphetamine, 12 kilograms of hashish and 3,000 grams of heroin, in addition to various weapons.
In eastern rural Deir al Zor, internal security forces on Wednesday carried out an operation targeting arms traffickers in the village of al-Kishma, which is part of the town of Subaykhan near the Iraqi border, according to the local al Asharah Media Office.
Two people were also arrested after throwing a hand grenade at the courthouse building in the city of al-Mayadeen.
