As well as asking for the release of prisoners, residents of southern Syria asked the General Intelligence Directorate to improve the living conditions and access to services writes Alsouria Net.

Bashar al-Assad sent a security delegation to Daraa province in southern Syria, led by the head of the General Intelligence Directorate, Major General Mohamed Mahla, who carried out two visits—the first public, and the second private. The delegation were sent to notify a number of notables from the city that they should totally forget those people who were arrested more than five years ago.

Alsouria Net learned from trusted local sources, who asked not to be named to maintain their safety, about the details of the visit headed by Mahla, who was accompanied by a number of officers from the security branches in the south, most prominently Brigadier General Louay al-Ali, head of the Military Security branch in the southern region, as well as a general from the Russian intelligence, and the regime governor in Daraa, and a number of representatives of regime institutions and the Ba’ath Party.

Mahla began his visit in the city of al-Sanamayn north of Daraa, and then headed to the town of Tafas in the west of the province, where he met with notables from a number of cities and towns, in addition to commanders from the “settlements and reconciliations.”

From local notables, Mahla received 13 requests from residents, most prominently, releasing prisoners held in the prisons of the security branches, disclosing the fate of the missing, and reducing the notifications calling people up for military service in the regime army, as well as other requests that included improving the living conditions for residents and providing them with basic services such as water, electricity, fuel, and other similar necessities.

A source familiar with the details of what occurred during the visit told Alsouria Net that Mahla spoke about efforts to improve the level of services offered to residents in the coming period, but with regards to the prisoners and missing, he told the area residents to forget anyone taken before 2014, and then made promises to try to release those arrested after that and who were still alive. A source quoted Mahla as saying that those arrested before 2014 were in a, “critical state and most of them could be deceased.”

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.