FILE IMAGE: Sputnik/ Iliya Pitalev.
On July 22, the Syrian Military Intelligence Directorate (MID) conducted a security operation in the town of al-Yadudah in the western countryside of Daraa.
A heavily-armed force of the MID stormed al-Yadudah in the early morning to arrest a number of wanted militants including former members of al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front which is now known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)
Two of the wanted militants were Obeida al-Diri and Iyad Jaara, who were both field commanders of al-Nusra Front before the 2018 Russian-brokered reconciliation agreement which saw all of Daraa return under the control of the Damascus government.
The wanted militants resisted arrest and clashed with MID officers. The clashes in al-Yadudah went on for hours. Several militants were reportedly wounded and taken into custody, including al-Diri.
The security operation in al-Yadudah came just a day after an attack near Gharaz prison that claimed the lives of three Syrian policemen. The prison is located only a few kilometers to the east of town. No group has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack yet.
HTS may be still operating in Daraa, just like ISIS. The terrorist group, which currently rules the northwestern region of Greater Idlib, was accused in the past of attempting to destabilize the situation in the southern governorate by launching an insurgency there against government forces as well as former rebels. The group may have been behind some of the recent attacks in Daraa.
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