how HTS rebels hunt down former supporters of Bashar al-Assad

Israeli airstrikes targeted Syrian military sites linked to former President Bashar al-Assad's army in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Wednesday (December 11th). OSDH). Meanwhile, in Damascus, life is gradually returning. Students are returning to class and universities have reopened. However, the Islamist group HTS, which took power, hunts down former supporters of Bashar al-Assad's regime. A list of these former members of the regime has been published.

We meet a rebel on patrol, equipped with a touchscreen tablet, protected by a hooded guard named Osama Lech. “A lot of pro-Assad people had posted videos of themselves killing people, so it's easy to find them. And these are missions from the military branch of our group,” he explains.

A list published by the HTS movement is accessible on its tablet. It presents the identities and faces of several dozen officials of the al-Assad regime. “Let them rest assured, those who were not involved in murders can resume their lives peacefully,” he assures. But what fate will be reserved for them? No one knows.

A few kilometers away, we discover a pro-Assad neighborhood. Concrete blocks were installed at the entrance to the street. Citizens, former civil servants, are armed. “We don’t let anyone into the neighborhood. It was the sheikh of the village mosque who provided us with these weapons“, they explain. For a week, fighting has taken place in this neighborhood, but the HTS has not yet established itself there.

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