SECURITY FORCES IN SYRIA ARREST LATAKIA RESIDENTS FOLLOWING SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS

Wed 02 August 2023:

The Syrian regime security services have launched a campaign of arrests against residents of the western city of Latakia who criticised the deteriorating living conditions and the government on social media, local media outlets reported.

The North Press Agency said the regime’s military security service arrested four people, including a 60-year-old man, for criticising the government and calling for a sit-in in protest of power outages.

According to the site, the “political security branch” arrested Firas Ghanem and referred him to trial on charges of “undermining the state’s prestige and the nation’s psyche” as a result of a Facebook post he shared.

“A question to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, if I may…..If the Russian or Iranian authorities had killed a child, would you issue a statement condemning them… In my opinion, it is better if you express reservations,” Ghanem wrote in his post.

The site said the Syrian security forces also stormed the house of a female media activist and arrested her after she appeared in a live broadcast on Facebook calling for a protest against the deteriorating living conditions.

Politicians, artists and military officials loyal to Bashar Al-Assad have recently joined criticism of the regime’s handling of the deteriorating living conditions; a move which was considered a “taboo” previously.

Areas governed by the Syrian regime are witnessing major living crises, including the scarcity of electricity, water, fuel and bread and the collapse of the Syrian lira, in addition to rising unemployment and poverty.