A patrol of Russian police operating in southern Syria was humiliated after entering a town in al-Suida province, amid popular opposition to the presence of foreign forces, including Russians, in the area, which is suffering from security chaos and is under Assad regime control and allies.

Local media networks, including the news network Suwayde 24, reported yesterday that residents of al-Qaraya, al-Qara's town, south of the province of al-Sawida, expelled a joint patrol of Russian forces and the Syrian military militia from the town, not before abducting members of the militia after the patrol refused to leave the town.

The Syrian news network further noted that the joint patrol force entered the town after clashes and security chaos that had taken place the day before, following an attack by farmers during the olive harvest by gunmen.

"Against this background, the soldiers of the joint patrol of the Russian forces and the military security militia tried to enter the town on the pretext that they wanted to examine the situation as a result of the clashes, but a group of residents confronted them and expelled them, along with the Russian soldiers who accompanied them."

One of the participants in the clash told the local network: "We reject any intervention, whether it is by Russia, Iran or others." 

A Russian police patrol was previously expelled from the town of al-Qaraya last August, when people prevented the Russian patrol, which numbered four cars, from entering the town, and asked them to leave, due to local opposition to the presence of Russians and their allies from the Assad militia.

Al-Suwaida province is suffering from security chaos manifested in kidnappings, killings and armed robbery, so the province has become one major crime scene of Assad and Iranian militias, as an act of revenge on the positions of a-Suwaida district officials. 

Russia plays a negative role in the province in its attempts to bypass the residents of al-Suwaida province in initiatives that benefit its ally, the Assad regime, by recruiting young people to local militias or mercenaries sent out of the country, and ignoring militia crimes claiming they are a neutral party.