00:00The same parade of flashing lights passes through Raqqa every night.
00:07This former stronghold of the Islamic State group has been under heavy surveillance since the fall of the regime.
00:12This military unit of the Syrian defense forces has been deployed to reinforce the internal security services.
00:18The brigade commander prefers to remain anonymous.
00:21We have a wide network linking all the parts of the city together.
00:26Whatever happens, we intervene.
00:28We do that to prevent what happened on the coast at Sueda.
00:32The violence that has engulfed Syria in recent months has made the authorities in the northeast more wary.
00:39The main objective is to counter the enemy's attempt to sow unrest, to provoke and push the population to revolt against our forces.
00:47Islamic State group cells are in their sights as well as groups affiliated with the transitional government in Damascus.
00:55Both raids and arrests are on the rise.
00:58But some denounce measures that go beyond the fight against terrorism.
01:02Fearing arrests, civil society activists will only speak on condition of anonymity.
01:07The human rights activists who went out to demand the liberation of the city of Raqqa from the hands of the SDF, those who wave flags, those who displayed the image of Ahmad al-Shara, they arrested them all.
01:19The accusations are ready.
01:21You are either an ISIS member or you have collaborated with foreign entities or with the pro-Turkish factions.
01:27Even the relatives of the activists who have led the region are being arrested to silence them.
01:32These abuses, also reported by the Syrian network for human rights, have been denied by the authorities.
01:39The situation has been growing increasingly tense.
01:42In this working class neighbourhood of Raqqa, this Kurdish shopkeeper fears tensions will spill over on his street,
01:48where some of his neighbours celebrated Ahmad al-Shara's rise to power.
01:52We have no problems in this neighbourhood for the moment.
01:57They come here and I welcome them.
01:59But we don't argue and we don't bring up sensitive topics.
02:02However, if anything were to change, we wouldn't be able to stay here, even for a few moments.
02:10The fear of a new episode of violence in the city looms large with no solution in sight.
02:15The province has been temporarily excluded from the general elections and political negotiations with Damascus have stalled.
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