Looting Spreads in Damascus Suburb

Armed groups supported by the regime are accused of facilitating widespread theft

 

By Damascus Bureau reporter

 

(Jaramana, Syria) – Residents of the Damascus suburb of Jaramana claim that pro-Assad militias are looting furniture to sell it for a tidy profit in local markets.

 

They report that these Popular Committees even announce an imminent threat from ISIS or the Free Syrian Army so as to persuade locals to leave their houses.

 

Sima, a 28-year-old communications student, said a Popular Committee activist she knew had boasted openly of ta’afeesh or looting, a newly-coined term derived from the colloquial word for furniture, afsh.

 

“While the residents of Jaramana feared ISIS’s entry into their city, Popular Committee member Amjad had enough time to ride his motorcycle, to which he’d strapped old and worn out mattresses and blankets,” she said.

 

“He was joking and laughing when he saw the fear on my face and the faces of passersby, the terror in the Jaramana residents standing outside their houses as the news spread in the city …Amjad addressed me laughing, ‘come and take a carpet, don’t be scared.’ I smiled at him and went on my way, hardly believing what I just saw and heard.”

 

Sima believes that the rumours of ISIS entering Jaramana were spread on purpose to get people out of their houses to facilitate looting.

 

Mohammad, 29, a restaurant worker, agrees. “In the Janayen neighborhood in Jaramana, two houses were robbed when the news broke out. I know the people who lived there,” he said.

 

A similar phenomenon has also been reported in the Yarmouk camp in Damascus.

 

“[The Popular Committees] spread the news that the Free Syrian Army had come into the camp,” said camp resident Oum Mohammad, 44. “People left their houses fearful for their lives, but nothing happened. We figured out later that the Popular Committees had come into the camp and cleared all the furniture out of the houses. They even took the telephone and electricity cables,” she said.

 

Mountajeb, 33, who works at an internet cafe, recounted how he spent two days in an abandoned house during his military service in an area close to Mlayha in Eastern Ghouta, which the regime recaptured in August.

“I was surprised to find explosives behind the computer, the TV, and the washing machine. They were placed by opposition fighters because they knew what [the looters] were after,” he said.

 

People report ta’afeesh campaigns in every area where the Popular Committees operate, and Jaramana resident Abu Tarek, 54, described the militias as the “new traitors” and “thugs”.

 

“We no longer fear ISIS like we fear them,” he said. “When ISIS comes, we will stand and face them. But these people, they live among us. They are the ones we will be scared of when the conflict ends. They are the ones harming the army’s reputation. The government made a mistake giving them uniforms,” he said.

 

Before the influx of IDPs, Jaramana was largely a Druze and Christian area, and locals say Druze leaders have released a statement condemning the looting and war profiteering.

 

Their proclamation forbids greeting, eating with, marrying, or praying at the funeral of anyone who partakes in looting – the most severe punishment possible among the Druze, since it leads to perpetrators becoming social outcasts.

 

“This is the most we can do as religious leaders to combat these thugs,” said Sheikh Fares Abu Katiba, 80, a Druze leader. “The residents of Jaramana have co-existed peacefully with their neighbours through their history without any problems. The only exceptions are the disputes with nearby farming communities over issues such as the distribution and division of water from the valley.”

 

Residents of Jaramana have ended up purchasing the furniture stolen from Mlayha, with most buyers having been internally displaced themselves.

 

Merchants openly described their goods as the spoils of war and the result of the “complete cleansing of Mlayha” after which houses were left empty and later turned to rubble.

 

Sometimes, people end up buying back their own possessions.

 

“I saw a car full of furniture unloading in Jaramana. I recognised my own furniture: a couch and a kitchen chair. They even took the water pump,” said Abu Issam, 60, who was displaced from Mlayha. “I asked the car owners about the price of the furniture and I paid it. I took my belongings and left without discussion.”

 

“If I had tried to take my furniture from my house in Mlayha across checkpoints, I would have paid many times more than what I did to buy them from the thieves. I am grateful to them. They stole the furniture and transported it to Jaramana for a low price,” he added, laughing.

 

The trade has also led to violence.

 

According to the Jaramana News Network, a man was shot to death in the ta’afeesh market in the city’s Janayen souk after an altercation between stolen furniture sellers and residents.

After an argument as a result of residents’ protests at the sale of the stolen goods, voices were  raised, and shots were fired. The deceased is still unidentified.

 

“This is the shocking truth that ended in a death in the ta’afeesh market,” said Lajeen, 29, an English literature graduate, as she read about the incident on the internet. “He wasn’t killed in front of a bakery waiting for bread to come out. He was shot under the shadow of theft. This is the tragi-comedy that no longer makes us laugh,” she continued. “There is nothing left to do but cry and mourn what is left of this country.”