Written By Mouaz Moustafa
The Syrian city of Daraa is the birthplace of the revolution, as it is where the peaceful Syrian uprising began in March 2011. This pacific Syrian movement was met with brutal violence by the Assad Regime, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah in a strong wave of attacks and a ruthless siege in 2011 that claimed the lives of over 300 people in ten days. Despite an international agreement during the Astana talks of 2017 that established Daraa as a military de-escalation zone, in June 2018, the Assad Regime launched a military campaign with the objective of putting an end to a seven-year rebel rule and restoring territorial control over Daraa. Without any other alternative, in view of the strong military campaign against them and the lack of US and international support, the people of Daraa signed a reconciliation agreement with the Assad regime in mid 2018 as a chance to avert a disastrous military confrontation, restore peace, and expel foreign militias that had gained presence in the area.
Since the revolution, the residents of Daraa have gone through a brutal siege in 2011, a military campaign by the Regime to regain control of the area, a national reconciliation agreement that ended rebel rule, broken promises by Russia and the regime, and an astounding death toll and displacement of the people of Daraa through it all.
This report presents a chronological order of events that has led to a second siege on the neighborhood of Daraa al-Balad that started on June 24, 2021 and extended for 77 days until September 9, in which 50,000 people were locked within a small area and completely deprived of food, water, medical care, electricity, and the Internet and were constantly threatened. The siege ended in regime and Iranian control of this both symbolic and strategic area.