Prominent military figures were targeted by the assassination during a period of 10 days amid clear incompetence in identifying the perpetrators in Dumeir where resistance has captured the city in northern Damascus countryside recently.
In this regard, Saad al-Haj, director of media office in the Usud al-Sharqiya Army said that the incidents of assassination reemerged in strange and unknown circumstances targeting either prominent leaders or known people affiliated with the Syrian resistance where masked men set up ambushes on some secondary roads, using motorcycles, and then fire directly at the resistance elements.
The Haj in an exclusive statement to Zaman al-Wasl added that unknown persons killed Shibli Khalifa last week, after about a week after of killing Khaled Mahmoud Ahabba, leader of the Commandos of the Magaweer al-Sahraa brigade, although there are many affiliated factions of the resistance in al-Dumeir which all have security offices.
Al-Haj accused the regime and its agents of responsibility for the assassinations. He pointed out that the regime is currently seeking to destabilize the cities and towns of the eastern region of Qalamoun through assassinations and kidnapping in addition to bombing resistance locations in Petra region and Abu Qaws mountain. He also pointed out that the regime began exerting great pressure on the people of the region to force them to sign a reconciliation agreement with it, which included the entry of its forces and elements in preparation for their redeployment in the eastern cities of Qalamoon.
The Usud al-Sharqiya faction is one of the most Syrian Resistance factions that have fought fierce battles over the past two years against ISIS in various parts of the Eastern Qalamoon and the Syrian Badiya. Al-Haj excluded the possibility of ISIS being behind the assassination due to the distance of ISIS locations and the weakness of its elements who are still in secret in the region on the one hand, and lack the courage to carry out this crime on the other hand.
On the other hand, this assassination incident is not unique to the city of Dumeir, locals say that it is likely to have ISIS followers who are still closely linked to the leadership of the ISIS in the city despite the ISIS withdrawal from al-Dumeir late April last year.
But Ismail Thiab, one of the resistance elements in the city, believes that the incidents of assassination are part of personal revolutions or deep hatreds among some of the people in al-Dumeir especially those who previously fought in the ranks of ISIS. They declared their dissent and renounced fighting under the pressure of the resistance factions.
ISIS carried out after the withdrawal from al-Dumeir several attempts at targeting resistance leaders and elements and used the IEDs planted by sleeping cells on the sides of the roads, or by placing adhesive blocks at the bottom of vehicles , Which led to the deaths of dozens of civilians and military conscience.
Al-Dumeir is considered one of the most important cities of the Eastern Qalamoon. It is controlled by factions of the Syrian Resistance, the most prominent of which are the Army of Islam and the Martyr Ahmed al-'Abdu. They are surrounded by the regime's forces from all sides.
