Iran Creating Another ‘Southern Suburb’ Near Damascus

The shrine of Sayyidah Zeinab south of Damascus. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
The shrine of Sayyidah Zeinab south of Damascus. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
TT

Iran Creating Another ‘Southern Suburb’ Near Damascus

The shrine of Sayyidah Zeinab south of Damascus. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
The shrine of Sayyidah Zeinab south of Damascus. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)

Iran is seeking to revive its expansion near the Syrian capital, Damascus, which it has always sought to do and was previously thwarted by Russia. Iran's objective is to create another “southern suburb”, commonly known as Dahieh, like the Hezbollah-dominated one in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

The plan is to expand Iranian influence in the towns of the southern Damascus countryside adjacent to the Sayyidah Zeinab area.

Iran intends to do so by scaling up its purchase of homes and establishing new camps in areas adjacent to the zones of influence of Russia, which is currently preoccupied with its war in Ukraine.

The southeastern countryside of Damascus includes many towns and villages. The most important and largest of them are Babila, Yalda and Beit Sahem. These towns administratively belong to the Damascus countryside governorate and cover an area of about four square kilometers.

The Sayyidah Zeinab area, located about eight kilometers from Damascus, on the highway leading to Damascus International Airport, is the main stronghold of Iranian militias and their proxies in the southern countryside of Damascus.

Iran claims it is defending the Sayyidah Zeinab shrine, which is visited by thousands of Shiite pilgrims from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Before the war erupted in Syria about 12 years ago, most of the population of Babila, Yalda and Beit Sahem were Sunni Muslims.

After Damascus regained control of the area in the summer of 2018, through a reconciliation agreement sponsored by Russia, many local families started returning to the towns.

These families were approached by strangers looking to buy their homes and real estate. Only a few agreed to sell their properties.

Later, it became clear that those buying the houses were the families of fighters from militias affiliated with Iran.

Sources pointed out that many of the Iranian-backed militia fighters who moved into the area are originally from the Shiite towns of al-Foua and Kefraya in Syria’s Idlib countryside.



With Nowhere Else to Hide, Gazans Shelter in Former Prison

24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
TT

With Nowhere Else to Hide, Gazans Shelter in Former Prison

24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)

After weeks of Israeli bombardment left them with nowhere else to go, hundreds of Palestinians have ended up in a former Gaza prison built to hold murderers and thieves.

Yasmeen al-Dardasi said she and her family passed wounded people they were unable to help as they evacuated from a district in the southern city of Khan Younis towards its Central Correction and Rehabilitation Facility.

They spent a day under a tree before moving on to the former prison, where they now live in a prayer room. It offers protection from the blistering sun, but not much else.

Dardasi's husband has a damaged kidney and just one lung, but no mattress or blanket.

"We are not settled here either," said Dardasi, who like many Palestinians fears she will be uprooted once again.

Israel has said it goes out of its way to protect civilians in its war with the Palestinian group Hamas, which runs Gaza and led the attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that sparked the latest conflict.

Palestinians, many of whom have been displaced several times, say nowhere is free of Israeli bombardment, which has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.

An Israeli air strike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in the Al-Mawasi area on July 13, the territory's health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas' elusive military chief Mohammed Deif.

On Thursday, Gaza's health ministry said Israeli military strikes on areas in eastern Khan Younis had killed 14 people.

Entire neighborhoods have been flattened in one of the most densely populated places in the world, where poverty and unemployment have long been widespread.

According to the United Nations, nine in ten people across Gaza are now internally displaced.

Israeli soldiers told Saria Abu Mustafa and her family that they should flee for safety as tanks were on their way, she said. The family had no time to change so they left in their prayer clothes.

After sleeping outside on sandy ground, they too found refuge in the prison, among piles of rubble and gaping holes in buildings from the battles which were fought there. Inmates had been released long before Israel attacked.

"We didn't take anything with us. We came here on foot, with children walking with us," she said, adding that many of the women had five or six children with them and that water was hard to find.

She held her niece, who was born during the conflict, which has killed her father and brothers.

When Hamas-led gunmen burst into southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7 they killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the air and ground offensive Israel launched in response, Palestinian health officials say.

Hana Al-Sayed Abu Mustafa arrived at the prison after being displaced six times.

If Egyptian, US and Qatari mediators fail to secure a ceasefire they have long said is close, she and other Palestinians may be on the move once again. "Where should we go? All the places that we go to are dangerous," she said.