The Syrian security services released several of Khalid ibn al-Walid Army-affiliated militants, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State Organization\/IS that is also known by the Arabic acronym Daesh in the Yarmouk Basin area, Daraa province, between January and August 2019. Syrians for Truth and Justice\/STJ, for its part, documented the names of 20 released militants and security personnel, among whom are combat engineers and others\u00a0 responsible for former assassinations, who are famed for committing ghastly violations of the civilians\u2019 rights, residing in the Yarmouk Basin, Syria\u2019s south, during IS\u00a0 control of the area in the past few years.<\/p>\n
According to the testimonies, STJ managed to obtain, both IS militants and security personnel were let out based on a release order issued by Syrian government-affiliated security services. Local activists, however, reported the release of more than 50 militants in Syria\u2019s south, who have been detained by these security services after the Syrian government[1]<\/a> took over their areas of control in western Daraa, for the Yarmouk Basin, held by the IS-affiliated Khalid ibn al-Walid Army since late 2014, was the last of southern Syria’s strongholds to be regained by the Syrian regular forces in August 2018.<\/p>\n Activists and civilians based in Syria\u2019s south said that the release of several former IS militants is likely done to meet the Syrian government\u2019s premeditated intention to tighten its grip on Daraa province, through pushing the former IS militants to conducting attacks for the benefit of the Syrian government, which are to help it rid of its opponents by claiming the presence of sleeper cells in the province, for several civilians based in the western parts of Daraa stressed that the Syrian government has lately set up numerous checkpoints and summoned massive military reinforcements and tanks into the surroundings of Dael, Ibtta, Tafas and Shaikh Sa\u2019ad towns, in addition to the city of Nawa.<\/p>\n \n On the same note, a significant part of the Yarmouk Basin\u2019s population is seriously concerned over the decisions providing for the release of IS\/ Khalid ibn al-Walid Army militants, especially the residents who have been subjected to gross violations by IS and who, during the interview, expressed extreme fear of these fighters\u2019 return to their areas.<\/p>\n \n Affiliation to IS, STJ\u2019s field researcher said, has become one of the most common charges that any person in Syria\u2019s south can be easily accused of, especially because those facing the charges of cooperating with IS are getting released with no bother.<\/p>\n In a former report, STJ had shed a light on several of the practices and violations committed by the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid Army against civilians in the Yarmouk Basin during its reign in the past few years[2]<\/a>. It also published another report, documenting the death of several civilians in the explosion of mines left by the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid Army in the Yarmouk Basin following the Syrian regular forces\u2019 control of the area.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n \n In May 2016, the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army was founded in Syria\u2019s south, particularly in the Yarmouk Basin\u2014western Daraa, on the border triangle with Jordan and the occupied Golan \u2014 comprising a military coalition of Salafist Islamic groups, with its nucleus being the Liwa Shuhadaa al-Yarmouk\/ Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, deployed in the area of the Yarmouk River valley, near the Jordanian borders. The Army was formed through the integration of three of the most prominent armed groups in the Yarmouk Basin area, which are:<\/p>\n \n Starting in late 2014, the Brigade embarked on violent clashes with the al-Nusra Front\/al-Qaeda while the armed groups of the Southern Front, affiliated with the Syrian armed opposition, preserved a neutral position of the military action. The case was thus until the Harakat al-Muthanna al-Islamiyah\/Islamic al-Muthanna Movement declared its unison with the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade in March 2016, when it fought beside the latter, and they together took over the town of Tasil, western rural Daraa, kicking all the troops of the opposition armed groups out of it.<\/p>\n \n \n \n It was a bloody fight that the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army embarked on against the armed groups of the Southern Front\/armed opposition in the area since 2014 up to August 2018, when IS was repelled after several of the armed opposition groups joined forces, a body that came to be called the allied forces, with the Syrian regular forces in July 2018, seeking to combat and put an end to IS in the area.<\/p>\n \n Since 2014, the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army\/IS in Syria\u2019s south has committed several war crimes and breaches of human rights against the locals, leaving the people behind with too many pains to deal with in the towns where it operated in western Daraa, such as al-Shajrah, Jamlah, Ain Thakar, al-Qusayer, Adwan, Tasil, Nafa\u2019ah, Sahem el-Golan, Jaleen, Muzayraa, Shabraq, Bait Arah, Kuiyeh and Maria. During its reign, which lasted for years, the number of people held captive by IS amounted to 25 thousand civilians, whom it prevented from leaving their areas extending over 240 square kilometers. For years, these people were forced to endure all forms of suffering caused by the Khalid ibn al-Walid\/IS\u2019 practices in the Yarmouk Basin.<\/p>\n \n Almost no family was spared the practices of IS, which varied between execution, beheading, cutting hands, stoning, lashing and confiscation of properties, not to mention the enforcement of the IS\u2019 general regulations, including the restrictions imposed on men and women\u2019s dress code, for shaving was prevented, beards and mustaches[5]<\/a> were to be kept as Sunnah dictates. Men, in addition to this, were to keep their pants[6]<\/a> short to a certain extent while banned from smoking, among many other practices covered by the IS-approved regulations.<\/p>\n In August 2018, the Syrian regular forces took over the Yarmouk Basin area, from where the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid Army withdrew\u00a0 quickly, a few days into the offensive, which the Syrian regular forces and the forces, affiliated with opposition armed groups \u2014which concluded a settlement deal with the Syrian government and came to be known as the allied forces \u2014 have embarked on against the area backed by the Russian Air Force. The IS declared surrender, losing its enclave, and succumbed to an undisclosed deal with the Syrian government. In addition to this, about 430 militants, personnel of the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid Army, out of the no less than 1200 militants which make the total number of the IS fighters, along with their families, were to be transported to the eastern rural parts of Suwaida and the desert in eastern rural Homs, according to a settlement deal, in return for the release of the remaining abductees, held captive by the IS in rural Suwaida \u2014 36 men, 20 women and 16 child abductees[7]<\/a>. About 350 other militants, however, sought the area\u2019s villages and its valleys as a hiding place while the rest escaped to Syria\u2019s north, Idlib in particular after they blended with the fighters who refused the settlement deal.<\/p>\n \n In the aftermath of its control of the Yarmouk Basin, the Syrian government worked on returning all the military barracks into the area, neighboring the occupied Golan. The Syrian Arab Army\/SAA-affiliated 4th Division, consisting of former militants of the opposition armed groups, managed to impose order through erecting checkpoints in the full range of the area.<\/p>\n \n Between January and August 2019, dozens of the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid Army, both militants and security personnel, were released, for local activists have estimated the number of the fighters let out with more than 50 militants and security personnel. The residents of the Yarmouk Basin area were taken aback by the return of the fighters who have been arrested earlier on. The released, for their part, did not give any details on what they had gone through nor the reason for what they have lived. The parents of a number of the arrested fighters mentioned that their sons are to be released soon after they are transferred to the Adra Central Prison by the Air Force Intelligence Service.<\/p>\n \n Speaking about the population, a significant number of the Yarmouk Basin\u2019s residents are yet afraid to speak their mind concerning the release of former militants of the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid Army. The local activists, on their turn, believe that this fear has a natural source to it and that it is only legitimate, for the terror created by the Army and its association with the Syrian government being scandalized are sufficient to make the people cautious about voicing their opinion. Under the pseudonym Mohammad H., a local activist justified this state of fear with the following:<\/p>\n \u201cIt became evident to the people, who were placed under the mercy of IS in western Daraa, that the release orders providing for letting out fighters of the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army, detained by the [Syrian] government-affiliated security services, make a relationship between the Army and these services more likely. Accordingly, the concern of recruiting them once again, especially after many princes and sharia scholars, as well as their affiliation with the Syrian security forces were overtly exposed following the Army\u2019s control of the Yarmouk Basin area. Of these persons are ‘Ibrahim Youness’, dubbed ‘Abu Khattab’, who was one of IS security personnel while working for the regime\u2019s security services, ‘Assad al-Na\u2019asan’, another security personnel, who worked for both IS and the regime-affiliated military security service, and ‘Marwan Mohammad Abdulfatah Zain el-Abdeen’, known as ‘Abu al-Muthanna’, who functioned as al-Hissbah[8]<\/a> Prince while working for the regime at the same time, in addition to ‘Abdullah Faraj’, from al-Qunaitra, who has been working for the Syrian intelligence services since he pledged allegiance to the IS in 2016. These and others, commanders and sharia scholars, are famed for their crimes.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n STJ managed to document the names of several former militants and security personnel of the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid Army, who have been released by the Syrian government since the beginning of 2019 up to August. This information have been cross-referenced by several local sources in Daraa province such as Tajamou Ahrar Houran\/Assembly of Houran Liberals, in addition to the testimonies of residents in the Yarmouk Basin, who managed to identify the released fighters. The sources said that the majority of these militants joined the ranks of the IS in mid-2015 and have all committed ghastly violations of the civilians\u2019 rights; they also added that the Syrian regular forces, upon controlling the Yarmouk Basin, have given a blind eye to many militants and did not even arrest them, who are now in the Yarmouk Basin and al-Qunaitra.<\/p>\n \n The following is a list of the names of the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid Army-affiliated militants and security personnel, who have been released:<\/p>\n \n Based on the meetings and interviews conducted by STJ\u2019s field researcher with civilians from several areas in Daraa, as to fathom their opinion concerning the release of former militants and security personnel of the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid Army, the researcher sensed an increasing concern among the people of Syria\u2019s south, who fear the recycling of the IS by the Syrian government and revitalizing it again, creating an allegation to initiate a military and security campaign in Daraa\u2019s areas, over which the government is trying to have full control. In the past few months, the province has been bearing witness to terrifying number of assassinations, which, according to the researcher, have reached their peak in August 2019, for the assassinations, which targeted reconciliation mediators, troops of the Syrian regular forces, officers, directors of municipalities, in addition to persons considered as agents for Iran and Hezbollah in Syria\u2019s south, have taken a toll on about 29 persons; the perpetrators\u2019 identity is, however, unknown yet.<\/p>\n In Daraa province, the Syrian government has so far failed to establish full control under the settlement deal[9]<\/a>, and light weapons are yet carried up by the opposition\u2019s armed groups in areas such as Tafas, Daraa al-Balad, Tal Shihab, Nawa and As-Sanamayn, where pro-regime locals have, in the past few months, started calling for an urgent military and security campaign so that the Syrian government have ultimate power over the area and withdraw arms from it, limiting their ownership to the Syrian regular forces.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n \n Activists and civilians, in the areas subjected to the settlement deal, considered that the release of several IS militants highlights the ill intention that the Syrian government withholds for the area, seeking to tighten its grip on the Daraa province through triggering former IS militants to execute attacks in the interest of the Syrian government, which will help the latter eliminate its opponents on the claims of having IS sleeper cells in the province. In western Daraa, civilians have pointed out that the Syrian government has lately set up several checkpoints and summoned massive military reinforcements and tanks into the surroundings of Dael, Ibtta, Tafas and Shaikh Sa\u2019ad towns, in addition to the city of Nawa.<\/p>\n \n What aggravated the civilians\u2019 concerns the most was the news released by media outlets on July 27, 2019, reporting that the IS has adopted an attack on a checkpoint of the Syrian regular forces on the road between Melihit al-Atash town and the city of al-Hrak, north-eastern Daraa, causing the death of six soldiers, among whom the militant called Abu Malik al-Anssari blew himself up via an explosive belt.[11]<\/a><\/p>\n \n STJ interviewed three victims in the Yarmouk Basin area, who suffered violations by the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid Army\u2019s militants, during its reign, who all expressed worries about the release order of these militants and their return to the area. STJ preferred not to disclose the true identity of the witnesses for security reasons.<\/p>\n Faeqa M., a 45 years old mother of a number of children and a resident of the Yarmouk Basin, west of Daraa, lost her husband after militants of the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army arrested him while he herded his cattle in an area considered a frontline with the Southern Front, affiliated with the Syrian armed opposition. The arrest was, then, backed by a death sentence, for her husband was accused of Redah\/apostasy, which is a charge targeting all those who deal or cooperate with the militants of the armed opposition or the Syrian regular forces. She recounted to STJ the following:<\/p>\n \u201cThe sentence against my husband was passed in no time. He was executed by a firing squad. I tried to save him; I sought them in an attempt to gain their sympathy, hoping that they might show him some mercy and release him. But, alas, they assured me that my husband was dealing with apostates. They stressed the idea by showing me a chat between my husband and a relative of his, who joined an armed group under the Free Army. The chat, included my husband saying: \u2018I am herding my sheep; none of them is here,\u2019 with an indication to IS militants. This brief chat was his crime and based on which they sentenced him to death. What worsened my tragedy was the mutilation of my little child\u2019s leg in the explosion of a landmine left by the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid Army while he was herding the cattle in late 2017.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n In the interview, Faeqa expressed deep fear over the release of the militants of the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid Army from the detention facilities of the Syrian security services. She said:<\/p>\n \u201cI wish that they never return. I have lost everything; my husband; my cattle and my car. They have even confiscated two pieces of gold which I kept. When I demanded that I get my husband\u2019s belongings back, the Sharia prince told me that their ownership belongs to the Islamic State now. They have robbed us of everything; I pray to God that they never return to our areas.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n Mahmoud F., a resident of the Nawa city and one of the people who survived the practices of the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid\u2019s militants, as he was arrested while on a visit to a relative in the Tasil village late 2017 to be released at a later date. He told STJ the following:<\/p>\n \u201cThey arrested me because I had not committed myself to the demanded length of the pants; they also found a pack of smokes in my pocket. During the investigation, I was so scared of them that I admitted working for a relief organization. I wish I never said that, for they detained me for three months and subjected me to istitaba\/repentance-seeking lessons. To be released, I also paid a fine of 25 thousand Syrian pounds and even had to pledge to refrain from working for relief and other organizations, which they referred to as the blasphemous entities.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n Mahmoud also expressed his opinion concerning the release of several of the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid Army militants in Syria\u2019s south, saying:<\/p>\n \u201cIf the IS is to come out once again, I shall call everyone to leave the country. They show no one mercy, and their goal has clarified. That is to create an allegation for the Syrian government to storm Daraa and subjugate it to its ultimate hegemony.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n Hamid B., a 22 years old eyewitness and a resident of the Hayt town, west of Daraa, has lost one of his relatives during the clashes between the IS and the opposition\u2019s armed groups. He narrated to STJ what happened back then:<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the factions of the Free Army united with the government forces to combat IS in the Yarmouk Basin in July 2018, I bore witness to one of the incidents which serve as a proof for the extent of IS\u2019 affiliation with the Syrian Intelligence services. Militants from the Hayt town managed to hold captive a sharia prince called \u2018Abu al-Hareth\u2019. He was arrested while trying to sneak out of the Yarmouk Basin with civilians after it was cordoned. One of the militants could identify him and immediately put his rifle to the IS militant\u2019s head. \u2018Abu al-Hareth\u2019, then, asked the militants to allow him to speak with the military operation\u2019s officer, affiliated with the regime. When they refused, he literally told them: \u2018I am on your side. I am an intelligence officer.\u2019\u00a0 He also showed them a security document confirming what he said. The information he unfolded failed to mitigate the militants\u2019 anger, so he tried to lure them with money, offering them about $30 thousand in return for his release. The militants, however, took the money and killed him. What I am trying to say is that our fears have grown limitless of the reformation of the IS in the area once again.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n It is important to mention that STJ\u2019s field researcher could not verify Hamid\u2019s testimony by matching it with that of another independent source.<\/p>\n \n ———————————————————————–<\/p>\n [1]<\/a>In July 2018, the Syrian regular forces took over Daraa province, under a settlement deal between them and the Syrian opposition\u2019s armed groups. The deal was implemented in two stages under the auspice of the Russian Military Police. The first stage covered the northern rural parts of the province and the Lajat; the second stage, nonetheless, aimed at its remaining parts and the Yarmouk Basin, which the Syrian regular forces controlled in early August 2018.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> \u201cISIS Imposes Siege on Al-Hayt Town in Order to Capture it Following Expanding its Control on the Western Daraa Countryside,\u201d STJ. October 22, 2017. Last visited: September 6, 2019. https:\/\/stj-sy.org\/en\/279\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> \u201cLandmines Kill Many and Threaten the Lives of Thousands in Hawd al-Yarmouk Area, Daraa,\u201d STJ. December 12, 2018. Last visited: September 6, 2019. https:\/\/stj-sy.org\/en\/1074\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> For further information, refer to the following link: https:\/\/ara.reuters.com\/article\/topNews\/idARACAE9B2FH520130510<\/a>.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> The mustache is to be trimmed, and the beard is to be kept long.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> All men were forced to shorten the length of their pants so that the rim of the pants does not get in touch with anything that would affect its cleanness.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> \u201cAnother Agreement Concludes to Move ISIS Elements to the North Countryside of al-Sweida in Exchange for the Release of the Kidnapped\u201d, STJ. August 3, 2018. Last visited: September 7, 2019. https:\/\/stj-sy.org\/en\/657\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Al-Hissbah is a governing service under which the rulings of Sharia are enforced.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Administratively speaking, the Syrian government is in control of the full range of Daraa\u2019s areas; nonetheless, there are a few areas in Daraa that are yet out of the government\u2019s security and military dominion, where Syrian regular forces-affiliated troops and security personnel are banned from entering several towns\u2014 Muzayrib, west of Daraa, for instance.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> On August 17, 2019, the locals of the As-Sanamayn city went on the streets, demanding that security presence be reinforced and the Syrian government have full control over the city and the province. On the protest, they expressed their rejection of the actions aimed at sabotage and the assassinations that targeted people from the city. They also stressed the necessity of withdrawing the illegal weapons and limiting carrying up arms to the army and the security forces.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> \u201cIS Adopts Suicide Attack on Syrian Regime Post in Daraa\u201d, Arta FM. July 28, 2019. Last visited: September 8, 2019.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.artafm.com\/news\/17381<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Introduction: The Syrian security services released several of Khalid ibn al-Walid Army-affiliated militants, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State Organization\/IS that is also known by the Arabic acronym Daesh…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[149,52,66,155,464],"class_list":["post-5519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investigative-reports","tag-Daraa","tag-Islamic-State---ISIS","tag-Khaled-Bin-Alwaleed-army","tag-Quneitra","tag-southern-front","post_format-post-format-link"],"yoast_head":"\n1. Briefing on Khalid ibn al-Walid Army:<\/h4>\n
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2. Serious Violations Committed against the Yarmouk Basins\u2019 Residents:<\/h4>\n
3. Dozens of the IS\/Khalid ibn al-Walid Army-affiliated Militants Released:<\/h4>\n
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4. Ill Intentions Feared:<\/h4>\n
5. Yarmouk Basin\u2019s Residents Gravely Concerned:<\/h4>\n