An exclusive source told North Press that "Firas Ghassan al-Aqyla, correspondent of the state-run SAMA TV channel, aka Firas al-Ahmad, and Mustafa al-Musalma, aka al-Kassem, leader of a local gang were killed when unknown button men attacked their vehicle with an IED in the Shayyah area in the south of Daraa."
The source added, "They were heading along with military forces towards the Syrian-Jordanian border to film a report about the government forces protecting the border and stopping smuggling operations."
He noted that two officers of the Military Security apparatus and a member of the al-Kassem group were killed in the attack. Others sustained injuries and were taken to Damascus hospitals.
The source stressed that members of the al-Kassem group shot at civilians’ houses in the Daraa al-Balad as soon as the IED went
kaboom!.
Al-Kassem is a former leader in the armed opposition factions. He joined the ranks of the Military Security Division in 2018 after the government forces controlled Daraa. He is considered the right hand of the Brigadier General Luay al-Ali, head of the Division in Daraa Governorate.
In July 2018, the opposition armed factions and Syrian the government forces reached a ceasefire agreement mediated by Russia in the opposition-held areas in Daraa. Under the deal, the opposition armed factions agreed to hand over their weapons in exchange for staying in Daraa, and those who opposed the agreement they were sent to Idlib, which is under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...(HTS, formerly al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Front).