Baladi News – (Rima Mohammed)
Over the last two years, the pace of assassination witnessed a remarkable increase in Syria. These assassinations targeted the most prominent military leaders and social figures in the first place, in addition to media workers.
All assassinations are attributed to penetrations, which characterized the Syrian war and was started by the Syrian regime.
Such penetrations are one method for acquiring information and executing security operations. Such operations are often very effective and damaging, because they target very important goals, including prominent personalities and military figures as well as vital facilities, in safe areas.
Ahrar al-Sham
Ahrar al-Sham movement, the most prominent group in the north of Syria, has had the biggest share of assassinations. The gravest assassination against this movement took place in September 2014, causing the death of 40 of its military leaders in the detonation of the “Zero” headquarter.
Recently, the group suffered from some assassination attempts, some of which were successful, including targeting the general manufacturing chief as well as his deputy, killing doctor and leader Omar al-Hajji, administrator of “Al-Reeh Al-Morsala” hospital, and attempting to kill leader Abu Mohammed Yahya in Idlib countryside, head of reinforcement division.
Earlier, unknown assailants tried to kill leader Abu Jaber Binnish, who assumed the leadership of “al-Hussein” brigade after assassinating the movement “chief of staff”, Islam Abu Hussein last April.
Most of these operations use bombs planted on the sides of roads taken by the targeted persons.
Security Negligence
In a private interview with Baladi-News, the military spokesperson of the movement, Abu Yousef al-Muhajir, attributed the increasing assassinations to security negligence, indicating that, “there is lack of coordination among the factions, because we are military groups that mainly concentrates on battles in Aleppo and the coast.”
Al-Muhajir confessed that there is a “security gap” that must be bridged, indicating that the movement is in the process of “setting a number of mechanisms to avoid losing more leaders, including the activation of checkpoints and the deployment of mobile patrols in the liberated areas.”
The speaker added that “the regime, the Islamic State, and international intelligence systems are responsible for such assassination, particularly after the movement showed great strength in thwarting the Russian and Iranian plots in Aleppo,”
He also denied that the movement is penetrated from within, blaming outsiders of tracking the leaders’ movements, indicating that “the revolution as a whole is targeted, but Ahrar al-Sham is a more important goal than other factions because it is the biggest and the most widely spread across Syria, so assassinating the leaders would facilitate dismantling it.”
The speaker concluded by saying that, “the repeated assassinations are evidence of failure, and they would not have any impact on the people’s base of the movement.”
Confrontation Plan
Analysts agree that it is virtually impossible to avoid penetrations on the Syrian land, due to the extensive players on the Syrian land as well as their advanced technical and financial capabilities.
However, several sources and field commanders agree that there are basic principles that serve to reduce the bad consequences of such penetrations. These principles include:
1- The forbiddance of the regime communication networks of all kinds and the monitoring of radio equipment, particularly the encrypted ones.
2- The limitation of satellite internet devices to public usage in centers designed for this purpose.
3- The prohibition and withdrawal of al thuraya devices from civilians.
4- The surveillance of people suspected of being recruited by several external parties.
5- The treatment of all people on equal basis and the avoidance of inclination to relatives.
6- The fight against drugs trafficking and the seizure of banned commodity.
7- The monitoring of cargoes and cars coming from the regime-held areas.
8- The achievement of counter security breaches against hostile devices and the detection of networks involved in assassinations.
9- The execution of resolute punishments against those convicted with communications with enemies.
It is noteworthy that assassinations were attempted against Ahrar al-Sham and other factions, as well as media workers, such as “Hadi Al Abdullah” and “Khaled al Issa”,which caused serious concern of liquidating the revolution’s figures.