New authorities in Syria arrested on Thursday a leader of the ousted power of Bashar al-Assad, considered responsible for numerous death sentences in the infamous Saydnaya prison near Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. (OSDH).
The operation to arrest General Mohammed Kanjo Hassan, head of military justice under Bashar al-Assad, with 20 members of his bodyguard, was launched on Wednesday by security forces in Tartous, in the west of the country.
This arrest was marked by violence, after armed men tried to intervene. Seven of them and fourteen members of the security forces died in 24 hours, according to the OSDH. The operation in Tartous made it possible to “neutralize a certain number” of “militiamen» loyal to the deposed president, indicated the official Sana agency.
The arrest of “one of the criminals of the al-Assad regime», «represents an important step towards achieving justice and prosecuting criminals», rejoiced on X the Syrian Opposition Coalition, which brings together the main political groups in exile.
Demonstrations and clashes
On Wednesday, thousands of Alawites demonstrated in Tartous, Banias, Jableh, and Latakia (west) as well as in Homs (center), after the broadcast of a video on social networks showing fighters attacking one of their sanctuaries in Aleppo (north), according to the OSDH. Five sanctuary employees were killed. These protests are the first since the overthrow of Mr. Assad.
Authorities said the video was from the rebels’ capture of Aleppo on Dec. 1, and the Information Ministry warned Thursday that it was “strictly prohibited from disseminating or publishing any information aimed at sowing division».
Elsewhere in Syria, clashes broke out in the northwest of Homs province between pro-Assad gunmen and security forces, four of whose members were killed. The Sana agency affirmed that “outlaw groups linked to Assad’s militias» had attacked the security forces.
Par Le360 (with AFP)
12/27/2024 at 7:10 a.m.
