Three weeks after the overthrow of the former regime, the new Syrian government is arresting people who were loyal to the previous president, Bashar al-Assad.
The new Syrian authorities detained nearly 300 people, including informants, pro-regime fighters and ex-soldiers. It happened as part of a crackdown on people loyal to former President Bashar Assad. On Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), based in Britain, reported about it, TASR writes, according to the report of the AFP agency.
Security forces began a large-scale operation against Assad’s militias on Thursday. “In less than a week, almost 300 people were detained in Damascus, its suburbs, but also in other cities,” said the head of SOHR, Rami Abdal Rahman. According to him, the detentions are allegedly taking place in cooperation with the local population, writes AFP.
The Syrian News Agency (SANA) this week also reported on the arrest of “members of Assad’s militia” in the provinces of Hama and Lazikiya, where weapons and ammunition were also seized. However, the agency did not provide any specific data.
Detention will continue
The head of SOHR stated that “the campaign continues, but so far no important figures have been detained”. The exception is General Muhammad Kandzú Hasan, the former head of the military judiciary, who allegedly oversaw thousands of death sentences in the infamous Sajdnaja prison, AFP reminds.
“Some persons, including informers, were executed immediately after being detained,” says Abdal Rahmán, referring to videos spread on social networks in which gunmen torture or even execute detained persons. The AFP agency could not independently verify the authenticity of these images.
Rebels led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group overthrew Assad three weeks ago, ending his family’s decades-long rule. Since then, the country’s new leadership has stepped up its efforts to consolidate control.
