Long has been the myth of the mighty security/intelligence forces (or mukhabarat) in Syria, that people dare not say the names of those security apparatus in public or even in phone conversations. There are 13 different security apparatus in Syria each dealing with different aspects of everyday life of the people. The most notorious of those is the Air force intelligence which works domestically as well as overseas. A security clearance is required for virtually everything anyone wants to do, whether it was to get married, start a business, travel, eat, breath... no I'm just kidding, you don't need a clearance for that.
After what has happened in the past couple of weeks from what some may call a revolution -whereas I like to call it anti-government demonstrations- the government has decided to loosen up a bit by removing security clearance procedures for many of the activities.
But honestly, this post is not about the reducing of procedures by these security/intelligence forces. Its about the following (it is related to the security/intelligence in Syria though).
Anonymous, is a person I know who works two jobs, in the morning he goes to the Governorate of Damascus where he works in the Directorate of waterways. His second job is working at the place I work in. A couple of days ago, when there was apparently a football game taking place at the Abbasiyeen stadium, workers at the Directorate of waterways were called for an emergency. They all gathered at the Directorate, each was given a baton and were then sent to the stadium to make sure that if some people, all of a sudden, decided to protest, there would be security present to beat them up and disperse them. According to Anonymous, he said nothing happened that night and they were all sent home.
This according to anonymous has been happening regularly. Two days ago when there was a call for a demonstration in the Abbasiyeen Square, government employees were also sent to face the protesters. Anonymous told his employer that he will not go and opted to go on an inspection round to Al Assi river. He said he would never beat a fellow Syrian, and would rather be hit himself instead if put in that position.
This shows how thin the security forces have been running recently. Given that their power is mostly centralized in Damascus it seems they have been poorly distributed across the country. According to another person I have talked to, he tells me that his brother in-law who works for one of the mukhabarat branches, has been in Dera'a for weeks and that last time they talked he was heading to one of the cities in the North, could be Banyas or Homs, he tells me they still haven't heard anything from him.
This also makes it clearer what and why, what is known as "people's committees" have been created in some cities in Syria like Lattakia, Banyas, Dera'a, Homs and other areas where protests exploded in recent weeks.
And this also slightly ridicules the notion being put forth by the ever so failing Syrian media (namely the Syrian T.V. and the Al Doniya TV station) which attempted to ridicule and deny the videos of security forces beating up civilians with the most absurd and farcical of excuses. Like for example, in their attempts of delegitimizing the video where armed security forces had men from the village of Al Baida on the floor with their hands cuffed behind their backs while the security men were stomping on their heads; Al Doniya suggested that one of the security forces looked too young to be part of the security forces given that anyone wanting to join the security/intelligence must be 18 or over, hence deeming the video fabricated.
It was not until recently that the media has been slightly taking a different narrative. They nearly stopped using outlandish excuses for the failure of security forces in dealing with what has been happening, and they tuned down their attack on those that have been protesting for their rights as citizens in a country ruled by the law and by institutions rather than individuals as most claim. Furthermore, with the above in mind, it does very much seem that the security/intelligence apparatus in this country is not as mighty as one may think, it is still however not a good idea to be caught by them, you will most definitely not have a good time where ever they may take you to.
With yesterdays directions given by Bashar Al Assad, it will be interesting to see how things will unravel in the coming week and not weeks. I'll leave me impression on yesterdays 'Lecture' by the president to the new government for another post.
After what has happened in the past couple of weeks from what some may call a revolution -whereas I like to call it anti-government demonstrations- the government has decided to loosen up a bit by removing security clearance procedures for many of the activities.
But honestly, this post is not about the reducing of procedures by these security/intelligence forces. Its about the following (it is related to the security/intelligence in Syria though).
Anonymous, is a person I know who works two jobs, in the morning he goes to the Governorate of Damascus where he works in the Directorate of waterways. His second job is working at the place I work in. A couple of days ago, when there was apparently a football game taking place at the Abbasiyeen stadium, workers at the Directorate of waterways were called for an emergency. They all gathered at the Directorate, each was given a baton and were then sent to the stadium to make sure that if some people, all of a sudden, decided to protest, there would be security present to beat them up and disperse them. According to Anonymous, he said nothing happened that night and they were all sent home.
This according to anonymous has been happening regularly. Two days ago when there was a call for a demonstration in the Abbasiyeen Square, government employees were also sent to face the protesters. Anonymous told his employer that he will not go and opted to go on an inspection round to Al Assi river. He said he would never beat a fellow Syrian, and would rather be hit himself instead if put in that position.
This shows how thin the security forces have been running recently. Given that their power is mostly centralized in Damascus it seems they have been poorly distributed across the country. According to another person I have talked to, he tells me that his brother in-law who works for one of the mukhabarat branches, has been in Dera'a for weeks and that last time they talked he was heading to one of the cities in the North, could be Banyas or Homs, he tells me they still haven't heard anything from him.
This also makes it clearer what and why, what is known as "people's committees" have been created in some cities in Syria like Lattakia, Banyas, Dera'a, Homs and other areas where protests exploded in recent weeks.
And this also slightly ridicules the notion being put forth by the ever so failing Syrian media (namely the Syrian T.V. and the Al Doniya TV station) which attempted to ridicule and deny the videos of security forces beating up civilians with the most absurd and farcical of excuses. Like for example, in their attempts of delegitimizing the video where armed security forces had men from the village of Al Baida on the floor with their hands cuffed behind their backs while the security men were stomping on their heads; Al Doniya suggested that one of the security forces looked too young to be part of the security forces given that anyone wanting to join the security/intelligence must be 18 or over, hence deeming the video fabricated.
It was not until recently that the media has been slightly taking a different narrative. They nearly stopped using outlandish excuses for the failure of security forces in dealing with what has been happening, and they tuned down their attack on those that have been protesting for their rights as citizens in a country ruled by the law and by institutions rather than individuals as most claim. Furthermore, with the above in mind, it does very much seem that the security/intelligence apparatus in this country is not as mighty as one may think, it is still however not a good idea to be caught by them, you will most definitely not have a good time where ever they may take you to.
With yesterdays directions given by Bashar Al Assad, it will be interesting to see how things will unravel in the coming week and not weeks. I'll leave me impression on yesterdays 'Lecture' by the president to the new government for another post.
