Abu Deraa is also rumoured to have masterminded the kidnapping of Sunni MP Tayseer al-Mashhadani in July 2006, who was released after two months of captivity.
On 8 June 1941, troops of the 5th Indian Infantry Brigade Group—under Brigadier Wilfrid Lewis Lloyd—had crossed the Syrian border from the British Mandate of Palestine to take Quneitra and Deraa with the objective of opening the way for Free French forces to advance along the roads from these towns to Damascus.
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By 12 June, Deraa, Sheikh Meskine and Ezraa on the Deraa to Damascus road had been captured and the Indian and Free French forces, now named Gentforce and under the unified command of French Major-General Paul Legentilhomme were before Kissoué.