Syrian security forces arrested at least 14 former operatives linked to Bashar Assad’s regime in Hama on Thursday, accusing them of involvement in massacres, torture, kidnappings and other abuses against civilians. Authorities detained seven suspects in operations in Masyaf and southern Hama, seizing weapons and ammunition, the state-owned Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
Arrests and allegations
Authorities separately named seven more people they apprehended, including Shaheen Hamdan Al-Shaheen, founder of the Al-Shawaheen Regiment militia. Officials said Al-Shaheen helped establish 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-Shaheen is accused of taking part in massacres in eastern Hama and along the Athriya-Raqqa road in 2017. Authorities also accuse him of leading groups responsible for killings, arbitrary arrests, torture and property destruction in Palmyra and Deir Ezzor between 2017 and 2019. These remain allegations. The Interior Ministry said investigations are continuing, and authorities will refer the suspects to the appropriate courts once they complete legal procedures.
The Thursday operations also resulted in the arrests of Nabil Adnan Ismail and Ghazi Mohammed Ismail. Investigators identified both men as former commanders of armed groups affiliated with Air Force Intelligence, and accused them of participating in kidnappings, looting and massacres of civilians, SANA reported.
Authorities also detained Taher Youssef Al-Mohammed and his brother, Talal Youssef. The two had served in Air Force Intelligence and the Scientific Studies and Research Center, officials said, and were involved in repression, arbitrary arrests and extorting money from detainees’ families.
Regime forces and civilian deaths
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.
At least 41 civilians, including 11 children, died in about four days, the Observatory reported. Its account described civilian deaths during bombardment by forces commanded by Al-Hassan. It doesn’t say those deaths are among the specific charges against the suspects detained Thursday.
Authorities named the other arrested men as Faisal Badour and Asef Salameh. Badour 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. They said he remained active until the Assad regime collapsed in December 2024. Salameh reportedly served as a warrant officer in the former regime’s defense factories until 2018.
Accountability process
The arrests form part of efforts by Syria’s new authorities to pursue former regime officials and militia members suspected of abuses during the civil war, which began in 2011 and ended with the fall of Assad and his regime. The Interior Ministry said investigations are ongoing; it hasn’t announced the outcome of any court proceedings involving the men arrested Thursday.
UN investigators and human rights organizations accused Assad government security and intelligence agencies of widespread arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings during the conflict. The latest detentions focus on individuals authorities link to those agencies and pro-regime armed groups. Their cases now depend on the investigations and legal procedures the Interior Ministry described.