The security forces of the power installed by the Islamist rebels of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham launched, on Thursday, a vast operation against the “militias” of Bachar al-Assad. “In less than a week, nearly 300 people were arrested, in Damascus and its suburbs, in the regions of Homs, Hama, Tartous, Latakia and even Deir ez-Zor”Rami Abdel-Rahmane, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday.
Among those arrested are “informants from the regime's former security services, armed men loyal to the regime and pro-Iranians, soldiers and lower-ranking officers, proven to have committed murder and acts of torture”assured Mr. Abdel-Rahmane, whose organization has a vast network of sources across Syria.
“The campaign is still ongoing, but no notable personality has been arrested”he said, with the exception of General Mohammed Kanjo Hassan, head of military justice under Bashar Al-Assad who, according to activists, issued thousands of death sentences following speedy trials against inmates of Saydnaya prison.
Referring to videos on social networks which show armed men mistreating arrested men, even a summary execution, Mr. Abdel-Rahmane affirmed that “certain individuals – including informants – [avaient] were arrested and killed immediately, which is totally unacceptable”. AFP was not immediately able to authenticate these images. Security forces arrests take place “with the cooperation of the populations” local, explained Mr. Abdel-Rahmane.
