During the decades of rule of the Assad clan, the security services were real instruments of repression feared by the Syrian population. They are dissolved by their new leader, Anas Khattab.
New Syrian intelligence chief Anas Khattab announced a plan on Saturday to “restructure” the institution so feared under the reign of Bashar al-Assad, which goes through «dissolution» of all of its branches. During the decades of rule of the Assad clan, the security services were real instruments of repression feared by the Syrian population.
“The security institution will be reformed after the dissolution of all services and their restructuring, so as to honor our people”declared Anas Khattab, two days after being appointed to his post by the new authorities who overthrew Bashar al-Assad on December 8. In a statement relayed by the official Sana news agency, he highlighted the suffering of Syrians “under the oppression and tyranny of the old regime, through its various security apparatuses which sowed corruption and inflicted torture” to the people.
After the fall of Bashar al-Assad, detainees of the security services were released, notably in Damascus, after the flight of officials and security agents of the Assad regime. Most of these places are now under the guard of Islamist fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the armed coalition that seized power in Damascus.
100,000 people died in prisons
Since then, many Syrians have flocked to security centers in the capital, particularly in what is known as the “safe square”in the hope of obtaining information on missing loved ones. “The security services of the old regime were numerous and varied, bearing different names and affiliations, but all had in common that they had been imposed on the people, burdened for more than five decades”as explained by Anas Khattab.
The fate of tens of thousands of prisoners and missing people constitutes one of the most painful aspects of the Syrian tragedy, in a country torn apart by more than 13 years of a devastating war which left more than half a million dead. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), more than 100,000 people have died in Syrian prisons and detention centers since the start of the conflict.
On Thursday, security forces arrested a general in the west of the country who headed military justice under the former regime. He is accused of being responsible for sentencing thousands of people held to death at the notorious Saydnaya prison, according to activists. And in Europe, several convictions of former high-ranking Syrian intelligence officials accused of torture and other abuses have been handed down since 2022.
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