Arab News | Syrian forces arrest at least 14 Assad-era operatives accused of massacres and other abuses

HAMA: Syrian security forces arrested at least 14 former operatives connected with the regime of the former president, Bashar Assad, on Thursday in Hama over their alleged involvement in massacres, torture, the kidnap of civilians and other abuses.

They included seven suspects detained during operations in Masyaf and southern Hama, where security forces also seized weapons and ammunition, the state-owned Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

In separate announcements, authorities identified seven other individuals who were apprehended, including Shaheen Hamdan Al-Shaheen, founder of the Al-Shawaheen Regiment militia, who allegedly participated in massacres in eastern Hama and along the Athriya-Raqqa road in 2017. He is also accused of leading groups responsible for killings, arbitrary arrests, torture and the destruction of property in Palmyra and Deir Ezzor between 2017 and 2019.

Authorities said Al-Shaheen helped establish wide-reaching armed militias after working with the Assad regime’s Air Force Intelligence Directorate in 2015 under Suheil Al-Hassan, a prominent military commander nicknamed “The Tiger.”

Al-Hassan commanded the regime’s Tiger Forces, a network of military units and allied militias that played a major role in government offensives during Syria’s civil war, including operations in Aleppo, Hama and eastern Syria.

In December 2017, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented intense bombardment by government forces and their allies, under Al-Hassan’s command, in Hama and Idlib, and reported that at least 41 civilians, including 11 children, were killed in the space of about four days.

The security operations on Thursday also resulted in the arrests of Nabil Adnan Ismail and Ghazi Mohammed Ismail, identified by investigators as former commanders of armed groups affiliated with Air Force Intelligence. They stand accused of participating in kidnappings, looting and massacres of civilians, SANA reported.

Taher Youssef Al-Mohammed and his brother, Talal Youssef, were also detained. Authorities said they served in Air Force Intelligence and the Scientific Studies and Research Center, and were involved in repression, arbitrary arrests and the extortion of money from the families of detainees.

The other arrested men were identified as Faisal Badour and Asef Salameh. Badour allegedly joined pro-regime militias operating in rural Hama and Aleppo in 2012 and became known as the “Tiger’s Cub” because of his treatment of civilians. Authorities said he remained active until the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024. Salameh reportedly served as a warrant officer in the former regime’s defense factories until 2018.

The Interior Ministry said investigations were continuing and the suspects would be referred to the appropriate courts when legal procedures were completed.

The latest arrests form part of ongoing efforts by the new authorities in Syria to pursue and hold accountable former regime officials and members of militias suspected of committing abuses during the country’s civil war, which began in 2011 and ended with the fall of Assad and his regime.

The Assad government’s security and intelligence agencies were accused by UN investigators and human rights organizations of widespread use of arbitrary detentions, torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings during the conflict.