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The commander of a pro-government force was assassinated in the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on June 30, marking the second such attack in less than a week.
Muhammad Mahmoud Suleiman, who commanded a small armed group affiliated with the Syrian Arab Army’s elite 4th Armored Division, was reportedly shot and killed by unidentified militants near his home in the town of Alhuseineah, some 20 kilometers to the northwest of Damascus.
Three days earlier, on June 27, Muhammad Faisal al-Taqi, who also had ties to the 4th Armored Division, was killed when an explosive device blew up his pickup truck in the town of Jdaydet Artooz in Damascus’ southwestern outskirts
No side has so far claimed responsibility for either of the assassinations. Terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham remain the main suspects.
Last month, two police officers were killed and four others were wounded in a bombing at a police station in Damascus’s highly-secured Barzeh neighborhood. Back then, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack via its official news agency, Amaq.
The recent attacks appear to be an attempt to destabilize Damascus in response to the recent rapprochement between Syria and the Arab world as well as its ongoing normalization talks with Turkey.
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