At dawn of Saturday on July 11, 2018, elements of the Air Force Intelligence Branch carried out arrest campaign in Dael city located in the middle countryside of Daraa and arrested 26 young men. It should be mentioned that Dael was the first cities and towns to be controlled by Syrian regular forces after the signature of the settlement agreement with the Syrian forces and with Russian guarantees on June 30, 2018. The agreement provided in its most significant items to none arrest of the city's residents.
On August 12, 2018, STJ conducted an interview with one of the residents via the Internet and he said in his testimony:
"Around 5 o'clock at dawn on Saturday, Syrian security forces from Abo Kaser Military Checkpoint, affiliated with the Air Force Intelligence and located on Dael-Khirbet Ghazaleh road, carried out arrest campaigns throughout the city in which they arrested civilians and militaries/ previous fighters with the armed opposition factions. The forces, about 70 elements, conducted the arrest campaign on the pretext of searching for elements of the Islamic State (ISIS)."
The forces arrested 26 persons and sent them to the police station within the city and transferred them later to anonymous place, the source added.
"Some of the detainees were identified as Mesh'al al-Mesri, Mohammed al-Izzat al-Hariri, Bilal Jihad Abu Zed, Aboudeh Bader Abu Zed, Majd Abu Zed, Abu Azab Abu Jesh, two unidentified sons of Maher Ahmad Arsheed al-Mesri, two unidentified young men of al-Harir Family, and two unidentified young men, one of them from al-Sheikh Maskin city and the other from Ataman town but they had been living in Deal long years ago." The source said.
The source confirmed to STJ that the detainees were not loyal nor fighters of the organization that calls itself the Islamic States, also known as ISIS.
The panic state that the residents of Dael are currently living is the same state that they were experiencing in 2011, when the Syrian security apparatus were breaking into cities and carrying out arrest campaigns with no prior knowledge or clear charges. However, the different thing in 2018 is the participation of previous commanders of the armed opposition[1] with the regular forces, the source concluded.
STJ had published a report concerning the arrest of many youths in al-Lajat area located in Daraa countryside in violation of the Surrender Agreement concluded with the opposition factions on two stages. One of the items of the agreement was non-entry of Syrian regular forces into villages prior the Russian military police and without conducting settlements, in addition to non-exposure to any of the residents, according to the field researcher of STJ in Daraa[2].
[1] The Reserve Forces (al-Quwat al-Radifa) are members of the opposition factions who conducted "settlement/reconciliation" with the Syrian regular forces under an agreement between both sides to end the hostilities in Daraa province. It contains hundreds of elements from "Liwaa Ahrar Tafas, Mu'taz Billah Army, Jaysh al-Ababil, Alwiyat Qasioun, Jaysh al-Thawra, the Headquarter Operation of "Watasimo", al-Harrah Military Council, Tasil Military Council, Swords of Truth Room, Liwa Ahrar Qita, Manifest Victory Operations room, and other factions from the east area of the province." The source mentioned in this particular report the names of some commanders who participated in storming Dael and they are Faeq Jamous, Osama al-Asmi, Abu Basil Abu Zed, Mashhour Kanakri.
[2] For more information, please read "Daraa Province- Syrian Regular Forces Arrest Youths In Contrary to the Agreement Concluded", Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ), August 3, 2018, (last visit August 13, 2018). https://www.stj-sy.org/en/view/659.