Saturday 2 July 2016
Baladi News – Damascus (Zain Kayyali)
Field sources from Damascus suburbs said that the forces of the regime and its supporting militias have put thousands of al-Raqqa citizens in detention camps in the middle of the desert, depriving them from the basic life needs.
Media sources told Baladi News that three months ago, Assad’s intelligence started detaining and sending anyone who hails from al-Raqqa governorate to private camps in the desert areas in the outskirts of Damascus. Even families of the international defense militants and the regime army soldiers are still held into these camps and will not be released before meeting all the “security” requirements to enter the capital, Damascus.
Lebanese sources quoted one of the regime official as saying that the regime “is detaining the citizens who have escaped from al-Raqqa in private camps in order to examine their security profiles before allowing them access to Damascus for the purpose of living, treatment, or education.”
The same sources confirmed that Assad’s intelligence established several similar camps including:
“Bermuda”, which is located 60 Kilometers from al-Dumayr city towards the desert close to al-Sein military airport. The camp accommodates more than 200 Syrian civilians from al-Raqqa, most of whom have been detailed for two to three months.
“The driving school camp” in Adra industrial city, which is controlled by the international defense militia and hosts more than five thousands.
Similar camps are found in other governorates, such as Hama, but it is not exactly known how many citizens are held within them or the time of their detention. Meanwhile the Lebanese sources indicated that “middlemen found these people a good goal to practice deception, by offering money in return of taking them out of the camps. The required amount ranges between 100 and 500 thousand Syrian pounds per family.”
The sources pointed out that some of the detainees who had money paid to some brokers, but the brokers disappeared later, meanwhile other powerful people exploited these distressed people in other ways, such as opening kiosks near the detention camps to sell water and other stuffs at high prices.