The Syrian regime forces stormed the town of Rankos in the western Qalamoun area of Rif Dimashq, with tanks, killing nine young people– none of them beyond the age of 20.

According to information received by Enab Baladi from local sources, the regime forces launched a dawn raid on Wednesday, 15 January, in the Gharb neighborhood in Rankos, after notifying them of the presence of a wanted person, in a house.

A local source from the town, spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons with Enab Baladi, said that the regime forces raided the house and started shooting directly, killing all those inside.

The source added that the majority of those young people were not wanted by the Syrian regime forces.

“Rankos” Facebook page, for its part, pointed out that some of the young men, who were killed in the raid, had been volunteers in the National Defence Forces, fighting alongside the regime.

After that, mosques in the town declared a curfew in the town today until further notice.

Rankos is a Syrian town and summer resort in the province’s Damascus countryside (Rif Dimashq) located in Mount Qalamoun near the Lebanese border, 45 km from the Capital Damascus, with a total area of 22.277 km ². The town is famous for the cultivation of fruit trees such as apples, cherries, and pears.

Rankos is one of the first areas in Qalamoun where demonstrations and protests against the Syrian regime took place in 2011 and it was subjected to several military campaigns by the regime and its militias, which killed hundreds of people.

The opposition factions established control of Rankos in 2011. Backed by the Lebanese militia “Hezbollah,” the Syrian regime forces launched military campaigns in which it assumed complete control of the town in June 2014, after fierce battles in the Rankos Plain.