The Syrian regime has run rampant in areas it has seized from opposition factions, looting civilian property by virtue of their “superiority” because they possess weapons.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated on Saturday that looting was prevalent in two towns in the Idlib countryside after its residents were displaced by a Russian-Turkish agreement.
Similar violations were committed in the southern Daraa province.
The Britain-based Observatory said: “Looting has become part of regime culture as its members have grown high on their possession of arms.”
It monitored looting of property that remained in the towns of al-Fuah and Kafriya, whose people were evacuated to Aleppo province by a Russian-Turkish agreement, which was completed on Friday.
Vehicles, tractors, private cars and house possessions were pillaged by members of Islamic factions and transferred to other areas in Idlib province.
The monitor also reported the death of six fighters from a mine explosion in al-Fuah and Kafriya, which used to be inhabited by pro-regime and pro-Iran citizens. They were evacuated according to the Russian–Turkish agreement to shelter centers in Aleppo.
The looting has not been limited to Idlib, said the monitor.
Even as the unrest in Daraa died down and the people returned to their homes, they still have to contend with regime looting. Its members and affiliated militias continue to loot and pillage the people’s property.
The Observatory monitored vast looting in all villages and towns in the eastern Daraa countryside. The regime media has, meanwhile, obviously turned a blind eye to the violations, instead reporting on the “heroics of the national army.”
Russian forces, which have set themselves as guarantors of “security and stability” in these regions, have also turned a blind eye to the crimes.
The Observatory learned from local sources that the regime forces pillaged most of the homes of the eastern, southeastern and western countryside of Daraa. They stole household appliances, furniture, blankets, cars and cattle.
People complained to the monitor that they were being made to bargain over their own property. Others were being made to choose between their cars or their cattle. Some looting even took place when people were actually in their own homes.
