Nearly 300 people were arrested in a few days in Syria by the security forces of the new authorities, an NGO said on Sunday, as part of security operations against the “militias” of Bashar al-Assad.
Without giving figures, the official Sana news agency reported, Thursday and Saturday, “arrests” targeting “members of Assad’s militias” in the province of Hama or that of Latakia, on the west coast, where an operation allowed the seizure of “arms and ammunition”.
The security forces of the new power installed by Islamist rebels launched a vast operation on Thursday against the “militias” of Bashar 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 Ezzor,” Rami Abdel Rahmane told AFP on Sunday, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
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, who are proven to have committed murders 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 acted according to activists condemned thousands of death sentences following speedy trials against inmates at Saydnaya prison.
Referring to videos on social networks showing armed men mistreating arrested men, or even a summary execution, Mr. Abdel Rahmane affirmed that “certain individuals – including informants – were arrested and killed immediately, which is totally unacceptable”.
The AFP was not immediately able to independently authenticate these images.
The arrests of the security forces are taking place “with the cooperation of the local populations”, according to Mr. Abdel Rahmane.
At the end of a dazzling offensive, a coalition of armed rebels dominated by Islamists entered Damascus on December 8, forcing the former president to flee, marking the end of more than 50 years of unchallenged rule by the Assad clan.
The new head of General Intelligence Anas Khattab promised on Saturday a plan to restructure the entire security apparatus, decrying “the injustice and tyranny of the old regime, whose security agencies sowed corruption and inflicted torture” on the people.
