Syria: Military operations arrest prominent figures from the ousted regime during its security campaign

The Military Operations Department in Syria continues its security campaign against groups, officers and former members of the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad in the cities of Homs, Tartous, Hama and Aleppo, and said that it was able to arrest a number of prominent figures accused of involvement in war crimes against humanity and sectarian incitement.

Sources from the Military Operations Department told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the Military Operations Department, in cooperation with the General Security Service, was able to arrest Khaled Zubeidi, one of the economic arms of Asma al-Akhras, the wife of former regime president Bashar al-Assad, yesterday, Thursday. The arrests also included the leader Fakhri Darwish, the director of the office of the commander of the "Jerusalem Brigade" in Aleppo.

The Military Operations Administration in Syria announced in a statement today, Friday, the arrest of "major figures from the remnants of the former regime and rioters in Tartous on the Syrian coast in northwestern Syria," stressing that "the security campaign also included sites of supporters of the former regime in the western Hama countryside in central Syria." Al-Araby Al-Jadeed was unable to learn the names of the prominent figures who were arrested.

The sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the western Homs countryside witnessed violent clashes between forces affiliated with the Military Operations Department and armed groups affiliated with the ousted regime, after these groups refused to hand over their heavy weapons and engage in the proposed settlement operations. They pointed out that these groups have a military arsenal that includes anti-tank missiles, tanks, and artillery, entrenched in areas close to the border strip with Lebanon, and that "a number of members and officers of these groups have been neutralized while security operations continue in the area until security and stability are restored."

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that Syrian security forces in Latakia province arrested Hayan Mia, one of those accused of "major crimes" against Syrians. It stated that "the General Security Department in the province arrested the outlaw criminal Hayan Mia, who is notorious and responsible for a number of major crimes against Syrians." Some Syrian accounts on social media reported that the aforementioned person leads a terrorist gang and is a drug dealer.

New Arab