Nearly 300 arrested in Syria crackdown on Assad loyalists: monitor

A boy carries products for his family with the help of a bicycle in the cold weather after heavy rain, in Muadamiyat al-Sham, on the outskirts of Damascus, after Syria’s Bashar al-Assad was ousted, in Syria, December 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Syria’s new authorities have arrested nearly 300 people, including informants, pro-regime fighters and former soldiers, in a crackdown on loyalists to ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, a monitor said Sunday (December 29, 2024).

Since rebels led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group toppled Assad three weeks ago, ending more than five decades of family rule, the new authorities in Syria have intensified efforts to consolidate control.

The security forces of the new administration launched a large-scale operation on Thursday (December 26, 2024) against Assad’s militias.

“In less than a week, nearly 300 people have been detained in Damascus and its suburbs, as well as in Homs, Hama, Tartus, Latakia and even Deir Ezzor,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.

The official Syrian news agency SANA, also reported arrests this week targeting “Assad militia members” in Hama and Latakia provinces, where weapons and ammunition were seized. It did not provide any figures.

“Among those arrested, according to the Observatory, were former regime informants, pro-Iranian fighters and lower-ranking military officers accused of killings and torture,” Abdel Rahman said.

The Observatory, which is based in Britain, relies on a network of sources across Syria.

Abdel Rahman said that “the campaign is ongoing, but no prominent figures have been arrested” except for General Mohammed Kanjo Hassan, the former head of military justice under Assad, who reportedly oversaw thousands of death sentences following summary trials at Saydnaya prison.

Referring to social media videos showing armed men abusing detainees and even carrying out summary executions, Abdel Rahman said, “Some individuals, including informants, were immediately executed after being detained”.

AFP could not independently verify the authenticity of the images.

The arrests were reportedly taking place “with the cooperation of local populations”, Abdel Rahman added.

The HTS led a coalition of former Islamist rebel groups that entered Damascus on December 8 after a rapid offensive, forcing Assad to flee to Russia.

Anas Khattab, the new head of General Intelligence, has pledged to overhaul the security apparatus, denouncing “the injustice and tyranny of the former regime, whose agencies sowed corruption and inflicted suffering on the people.”