Armed men stormed the home of a former diplomat in southern Syria on Wednesday, shooting him and his brother dead, according to reports.
Noureddine al-Labbad had returned to Syria from France two weeks earlier where he represented the opposition body the Syrian National Coalition (SNC).
Alleged video footage of the incident showed masked men entering his compound in Al-Sanamein, Daraa province, before fleeing the scene after shooting the two men.
Activists have accused remnants of the former regime of being behind the killings, which follows a spate of attacks on security forces in Daraa provinces this year.
Last week, former regime remnants launched large-scale attacks on security forces in the Syrian coast region, resulting in the killing of hundreds of civilians in reprisal killings by pro-government forces.
Al-Sanamein had seen another killing earlier this year blamed on former regime remnants, with thousands of security forces moved to the Daraa town to root out insurgents.
Following Wednesday’s shooting, security forces declared a curfew in the town after cars were set alight and grenades were set off following the attack, an AFP journalist said.
Daraa has been a hotbed of assassinations and bombings since Bashar Al-Assad’s forces fully took over the southern province in 2021.
Opposition factions then joined regime forces, with the security situation quickly descending into banditry, particularly due to the manufacture and trade of the drug captagon.
Labbad served as a diplomat during the former Syrian regime before defecting and joining the opposition in 2013.
He had obtained a PhD in French Literature and an MA in International Relations from the University of Paris.
Labbad worked at the Syrian embassies in Sana’a, Paris, Baghdad, Ankara, Benghazi, and Tripoli and was a Minister Plenipotentiary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to the SNC.
