Assassinations Continue In Syria's Daraa With No Accountability

Security chaos continue in the province of Daraa (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
Security chaos continue in the province of Daraa (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
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Assassinations Continue In Syria's Daraa With No Accountability

Security chaos continue in the province of Daraa (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
Security chaos continue in the province of Daraa (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)

Since early 2022, the province of Daraa in southern Syria has witnessed 117 different types of attacks that left 97 people dead, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced in a report on Thursday.

It said violence and insecurity chaos has dramatically escalated in the province, where 45 attacks, murders and incidents of security instability were reported in different places in Daraa only in March, leaving 39 deaths.

The last of these attacks took place in the northern countryside of Daraa, at midnight on Wednesday, when gunmen fired at the house of a person in the town of Mahajah, north of Daraa, seriously wounding his wife and son, who were transferred to the hospital.

Last Wednesday, a little boy and his baby brother died while their sister sustained cuts all over her body, after unknown gunmen had stormed their house in Al-Harrak town in the eastern countryside of Daraa and stabbed the three with sharp tools.

The attack was part of an armed robbery, as the mother of the three victims had received a remittance from her husband who lives abroad, the Observatory said.

Also this week, a 12 year-old child was accidently injured by members of the State Security, while he was with other children in Al-Maslakh area in Al-Hara city in Daraa countryside.

The Observatory said the rate of security incidents increased dramatically in the city of Daraa despite the so-called settlements and reconciliations conducted by the Damascus government in the city in 2018.

“Since early 2022, the number of attacks in the Daraa province has risen to 117, which left 97 people dead,” the London-based watchdog reported.

It said the victims involved 55 civilians, including a woman and two children, 32 regime military personnel and collaborators with security services, five individuals with settled-status, an ex-ISIS member, three unidentified people and a Russian-backed militiaman.



Tetteh Urges All Libyans to Engage in Political Process

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, Hanna Tetteh and her Deputy for Political Affairs, meet a delegation of civil society organizations from the southern region (UNSMIL)
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, Hanna Tetteh and her Deputy for Political Affairs, meet a delegation of civil society organizations from the southern region (UNSMIL)
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Tetteh Urges All Libyans to Engage in Political Process

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, Hanna Tetteh and her Deputy for Political Affairs, meet a delegation of civil society organizations from the southern region (UNSMIL)
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, Hanna Tetteh and her Deputy for Political Affairs, meet a delegation of civil society organizations from the southern region (UNSMIL)

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Libya, Hanna Tetteh has stressed the need for all Libyans to actively participate in the political process and play a role in shaping Libya’s future.

Tetteh’s comments came shortly before her briefing to the Security Council on the situation in the North African country.

On Tuesday, the UN Special Representative and her Deputy for Political Affairs, Stephanie Koury, briefed a delegation of 28 representatives of civil society organizations from the southern region, including mayors and municipality members, on the outcomes of the Advisory Committee and the country-wide consultations led by the UN mission regarding the political process, as well as the recent meeting of the International Follow-up Committee in Berlin.

The participants told Tetteh that the ongoing institutional divisions between the east and west are negatively impacting the south.

They expressed a strong desire to see national elections through which all Libyans can choose their leaders and establish unified national institutions.

The southern delegation stressed the importance of ensuring that all cultural components have the opportunity to participate equally as citizens in the governance of the country.

Tetteh then held a meeting with the mayors of Misrata, Tarhouna, Khoms, Zliten, and Qasr al-Akhyar to discuss the options put forward by the Advisory Committee, as well as the ongoing challenges faced by municipalities across Libya.

UNSMIL stated the mayors conveyed their support for the work of the Advisory Committee and submitted a petition to Tetteh expressing their support for inclusive dialogue involving elected municipal councils and an end to the protracted transitional phases in Libya.

The mayors also stressed the need for effective administrative decentralization, and the allocation of resources to the municipalities to support adequate service delivery, and noted that the municipalities were currently underfunded.

They also voiced concerns over irresponsible public spending, which they warned poses a threat to the Libyan state, and called for the adoption of clear criteria for allocations of development funds.

They noted the importance of strengthening decentralization as a means to provide critical support for the Libyan people.

In a related development, the Chairman of the High National Elections Commission (HNEC), Emad Al-Sayeh, met Monday in Tripoli with British Ambassador to Libya Martin Longden to discuss ways the UK can support Libya’s electoral process.

Longden reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to providing technical and advisory support to the HNEC, aimed at strengthening its readiness and ensuring elections are held with integrity and transparency.

Meanwhile, Libya's interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah chaired an expanded meeting on Monday to follow up on the latest developments in the implementation of the “Emmar Tripoli” (Tripoli Re/Development) program, launched by the his government, with the aim of improving infrastructure and enhancing the aesthetic and urban character of the capital.

During the meeting, Dbeibah stressed the need to overcome obstacles and accelerate the pace of work according to the approved timetables, stressing the importance of daily field follow-up to achieve the set goals.