Thread by @MazenGharibah

#Syria's intelligence officers are threatening doctors and interfering with #COVID19 policies. the official news agency (SANA) published what it seems to be a threatening infograph asking people to "inform" the authorities about any suspected cases: "Inform..don't hesitate".

#Syria-ns know what "informing the authorities" actually mean: interrogation & detention. Ppl are now more concerned than ever. They consider the virus to be a "taboo" or a "national threat", pushing them not to seek medical attention. They're afraid of the security consequences

#Syria-n authorities are treating #COVID19 as a direct threat to their existence. Several people told me that they'd rather hide their symptoms so they won't be "punished".

Let's not forget that in a televised interview, #Syria’s minister of health explained their #COVID19 strategy by saying: ‘I want to assure all Syrians amid this coronavirus outbreak that the Syrian Arab Army has cleansed all germs that exist on Syrian soil” ...

... The minster was referring to al-Assad's horrific speech in 2011, when he called the opponents of his regime by ‘germs’ that need to be ‘cleansed’. This is how the #Syria-n regime deals with the current pandemic: denial, opaqueness and intimidation.