(Zaman Al Wasl)- Residents of the Syrian capital have been living under constant fear of violent robberies and theft. They fear thieves can enter their houses anytime due to continued electricity outage.
According to the “Syrian Days” pro-regime website, instances of violent theft have become common in the city despite the city’s particularities in terms of population number and demographic distribution.
In an interview with judge Ahmad al-Sayed, the Attorney General of Damascus, he said, “In 2016 the Damascus courthouse registered around 321 cases of violent theft in all its forms and all these cases were investigated by judges.”
The Attorney General explained the high level of crimes saying, “It is natural due to the war and the current situation that the country is experiencing that these cases increase, but the internal security forces are dealing with them the moment a complaint is made. Perpetrators are caught soon after and transferred to the judiciary for investigation.”
Several questions were not posed to Attorney General in the interview includes who actual controls the capital, where are the security apparatuses, what is the role of the checkpoints distributed between neighborhoods and Damascene houses, and who are these people who can move around at night without fear or repercussion.
The only answer is the regime Shabiha, thugs, the security gangs, and militias who terrify Damascus’ residents in their houses and places of work. The thieves are definitely among the segments of state which is supposed to protect residents. They are responsible for the looting in pro-regime and opposition neighborhoods after the rebels left them. For instance, objects from houses in Adra al-Amaliya have been confiscated by these groups and openly sold in al-Somariyet in Damascus or in their villages in the so called Sunni markets.
The thefts in Damascus are happening in a more brutal manner in Damascus countryside after the regime and its militias gained control of large parts of the western countryside. The crimes are not limited to theft but extend to kidnapping, killing, extortion, and demanding ransom especially from well-off persons and traders.
Many areas witnessed cases of killing for revenge and robberies after the regime armed its supporters and giving them free reign to act violently on the basis the money of traitorous opposition can be confiscated with impunity and they can be killed without recourse. Other than the systematic rape practiced in the National Defense strongholds and the intelligence apparatus basements.
This is the situation of the safe capital which has become an intelligence reserve and its population hostages of the regime. The Abu Fadel al-Abbas and Hezbollah militias control the old city and have turned it into a large Husseinyah by threatening its residents with displacement, becoming Shiite or death.
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