Daraa, southwestern Syria — A senior official overseeing Syria’s southern border with Jordan has died from gunshot wounds sustained during an armed incident in the eastern countryside of Daraa, a region long marred by post-conflict instability and rival armed groups.
Bilal al-Droubi, a former rebel commander turned senior officer in the General Security Directorate under Syria’s transitional interior ministry, succumbed to his injuries on Saturday, two days after being shot in the town of Busra al-Sham, according to a Syrian security source.
The attackers are believed to be members of the Eighth Brigade, a Russian-backed former rebel formation led by Ahmad al-Awda. The group operates semi-autonomously in Daraa province, despite the collapse of the Assad regime last December and a new transitional administration taking shape.
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Al-Droubi had refused to integrate into the Eighth Brigade following the controversial reconciliation deals brokered by Russia in 2018, which saw several former rebel factions co-opted into pro-government militias after Damascus retook control of the south.
Following the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad in December, the transitional government appointed al-Droubi to oversee border security along the southern frontier, a key crossing zone for both trade and smuggling routes between Syria and Jordan.
The General Security Directorate, which now answers to the transitional Ministry of Interior, reached an agreement on Friday with the Eighth Brigade to withdraw both light and heavy weapons from Busra al-Sham, the group’s main stronghold.
As part of the deal, suspects involved in the attack on al-Droubi are to be handed over to transitional authorities. A security official said the agreement aimed to prevent further escalation in a province that has seen a string of tit-for-tat assassinations and security operations.
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The security directorate has also launched a broader campaign across several towns and villages in eastern Daraa, including Saida, al-Jiza, Mseifra, Maaraba, and al-Mataaiya, targeting suspected members of the Fifth Corps, another paramilitary group operating in southern Syria.
Local sources reported that several Fifth Corps fighters have been detained, and some commanders surrendered their weapons voluntarily following calls broadcast over loudspeakers in villages urging armed groups to disarm.
