The fighting continues in Syria. This Wednesday, fourteen members of the security forces were killed, according to the Syrian Interior Ministry, in fighting with armed men who tried to prevent the arrest of an official of the former power of Bashar al- Assad linked to Saydnaya prison, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
“Fourteen members of the Interior Ministry were killed and 10 others injured after […] a deceitful ambush set by the elders of the criminal regime” in the province of Tartous (west) “while they were carrying out their tasks of maintaining security and safety”, wrote the new Minister of the Interior Mohammed Abdel Rahman , in a press release.
They were trying to arrest one of the leaders of the Saydnaya prison
The OSDH reported 17 deaths, fourteen members of the security services were killed as well as “three armed men”, in clashes between armed men and security forces who tried to arrest a government officer in Tartous, accused of being “one of those responsible for crimes at Saydnaya prison” near Damascus.
The NGO reported that the wanted man, a former director of military justice identified as Mohammed Kanjo Hassan, was accused of being “one of those responsible for crimes at Saydnaya prison (near Damascus)”, sadly famous for its inhumane conditions and its central role in the violent repression carried out by the Assad clan.
Dozens of people arrested
The ex-officer had “pronounced death sentences and arbitrary judgments against thousands of prisoners,” added the OSDH.
The clashes broke out after “residents refused to have their homes searched,” the OSDH said, adding that “dozens of people” had been arrested.
The officer’s brother and armed men blocked the security forces and “ambushed them near the village and targeted one of the patrol vehicles,” according to the OSDH.
Saydnaya prison, located north of Damascus, has become the symbol of the repression exercised by the Assad clan on the Syrian population, particularly since the civil war broke out in 2011.
