Daraa, southern Syria- A former Syrian diplomat who defected from President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Nour al-Din al-Labbad, was assassinated on Tuesday in the southern province of Daraa.
A local source told +963 that unidentified gunmen stormed al-Labbad’s home in the city of al-Sanamayn, in northern Daraa, and shot him dead along with his brother, Imad al-Labbad.
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Al-Labbad was a seasoned diplomat who previously served as a minister plenipotentiary in the Syrian Foreign Ministry. Throughout his career, he was stationed at Syrian embassies in Yemen, France, Iraq, Turkey, and Libya. However, he defected in 2013 and later represented the Syrian National Coalition, an opposition group, in France. Local sources stated that he had recently returned from France and was expected to travel back soon.
A Region Plagued by Violence
Labad’s killing is the latest in a series of violent attacks targeting local figures. In mid-February, unidentified gunmen assassinated Mohammed Qasem al-Sharaa, the local chief of Sheikh Saad village, as he was leaving a mosque. On January 23, the police chief of Sheikh Miskin, Mohammed al-Safadi, was also shot dead while traveling on the Izraa-Sheikh Miskin road.
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Earlier this month, clashes between Syrian government security forces and an armed group led by Mohsen al-Hamid, a former military intelligence operative, resulted in the deaths of eight members of the internal security forces affiliated with the Syrian Interior Ministry. The clashes also left six civilians wounded, including a child and a woman, according to military sources.
