Syrian army soldiers patrol in government-controlled Aleppo’s al-Khalidiyah area on June 28, 2016. ©AFP
At the late hours of January 12, a unit of the Syrian Military Intelligence carried out a security operation in the town of Ayn Firkha in the countryside of the southern governorate of al-Quneitra.
Two suspects, Khalid Diab and Ali Diab, were arrested during the operation. Some Syrian opposition activists claimed that Syrian agents killed a civilian also. However, the pro-opposition Orient TV said that the agents shoot and injured a third suspect.
Such operations are usually carried out against members of terrorist groups, like ISIS and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), or against local operatives of the Israeli intelligence. Prior to its liberation earlier this year, Ayn Firkha and many other towns in southern Syria were full of radicals and Israeli spies, according to pro-government sources.
Last month, the Syrian intelligence made a significant achievement when it managed to hunt down prominent al-Qaeda commander Ayad al-Tubasi while he was plotting to launch an insurgency in southern Syria. The infamous terrorist was a brother-in-law of slain al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The Syrian intelligence efforts achieved an acceptable level of security in southern Syria. However, local observers argue that more should be done, especially when it comes to cooperation with the locals.
