In a surprise turn of events, Syrian authorities detained nearly 300 people, among them informants, pro-regime fighters, and former soldiers, in their widest campaign of arrests against loyalists of the ousted President Bashar al-Assad, according to a war monitor who spoke on Sunday, December 29.
These arrests come after the rebel takeover of the Assad regime, led mostly by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and the end of more than five decades of family rule. The new administration has since ramped up efforts to consolidate its rule.
The operation, which began on December 26, has targeted supporters of Assad in a number of provinces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Observatory, told that “nearly 300 people were detained in areas such as Damascus, Homs, Hama, Tartus, Latakia, and Deir Ezzor over just the past few days alone”.
The official Syrian news agency, SANA, confirmed arrests of “Assad militia members” in Hama and Latakia, reporting the confiscation of weapons and ammunition, but without indicating the number of arrests.
Those detained include former regime informants, pro-Iranian fighters, and lower-ranking military officers implicated in killings and torture. The most prominent detainee is General Mohammed Kanjo Hassan, the former head of military justice under Assad, accused of supervising thousands of death sentences against people after expedited trials at the notorious Saydnaya prison.
While the crackdown is ongoing, Abdel Rahman added that no senior figures have been arrested other than Hassan. There have been reports of abuse and summary executions on social media, including videos that seem to show armed men abusing detainees and executing others.
Most of the arrests took place “with the cooperation of local populations,” Abdel Rahman said. HTS, the umbrella group leading a coalition of former Islamist rebel groups, seized control of Damascus on December 8 after a lightning offensive that sent Assad fleeing to Russia.
Anas Khattab, the new chief of General Intelligence, vowed to reform Syria’s security apparatus, slamming “injustice and tyranny” during the rule of Assad and blaming his regime for the perpetuation of corruption and suffering among the populace.
