Military Security, Daraa

The Military Security Branch is located on the international road between the Officers’ Club and the Airport neighbourhood. It was moved here from an older location with only one residential floor that had been taken over since 1970 to this new building that was established in 1983 following the Hama Massacre.

Like all military branches, this branch is characterised by excessive brutality in dealing with detainees. In fact, none of the residents in Daraa dare to even come near the branch and ask about the whereabouts of their loved ones lest they be cursed, expelled or even beaten. Similar to all other four branches of Daraa, this branch is also located at the entrance to the city, which enables it to dominate an important area in the city.

Based on the testimonies of detainees who have already spoken to us about the extremity and severity of torture, which is practised by the branch executives under daily instigation from the branch officers, we learnt that detainees are tortured while they are stark naked, stripped of all their clothes. Since the people of Daraa come from a background that is similar in nature to tribal life, they are known to have a special sense of pride and dignity that the investigation team seeks to crush and humiliate deliberately through excessive torture and inserting broken glass bottles into the anal orifice. As a result of such practices, a huge number of former detainees were maimed and handicapped.

All commissioned and non-commissioned officers at this branch belong to the Alawite sect, well except for few members from the rural areas who have been brainwashed and filled with hate and spite so as to perform brutal practices against the city’s residents who are dragged to this branch for the most trivial reasons. This branch controls the main resources of the city where no single vehicle loaded with flour, gas or fuel may run without its supervision and control.