Nearly 300 Arrests in Syria: Crackdown on Assad Loyalists: Monitor

BEIRUT: New Syrian authorities have arrested nearly 300 people, including informants, pro-government fighters and former soldiers, as part of a crackdown on loyalists seeking to be ousted former President Bashar al-Assadsaid a monitor on Sunday.
There rebels under the leadership of the Islamists Hayat Tahrir al-Sham After the group (HTS) toppled Assad three weeks ago and ended more than five decades of family rule, Syria’s new authorities have stepped up efforts to consolidate control.
The security forces of the new government launched a major operation against Assad’s militias on Thursday.
“In less than a week, almost 300 people were arrested in Damascus and its suburbs, as well as in Homs, Hama, Tartus, Latakia and even Deir Ezzor,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Monitor.
The official Syrian news agency SANA also reported this week on arrests against “members of the Assad militia” in Hama and Latakia provinces, where weapons and ammunition were confiscated. No figures were provided.
According to the Observatory, those arrested included former regime informants, pro-Iranian fighters and low-ranking military officers accused of killings and torture, Abdel Rahman said.
The UK-based observatory relies on a network of sources across Syria.
Abdel Rahman said that “the campaign is still ongoing, but no prominent figures have been arrested,” with the exception of General Mohammed Kanjo Hassan, the former head of military justice under Assad, who reportedly handed out thousands of death sentences after summary trials in Saydnaya Prison.
Abdel Rahman referred to videos on social media showing gunmen mistreating detainees and even carrying out summary executions: “Some people, including informants, were executed immediately after their arrest.”
AFP could not independently verify the authenticity of the images.
The arrests reportedly took place “in collaboration with the local population,” Abdel Rahman added.
The HTS led a coalition of former Islamist rebel groups that entered Damascus on December 8 after a rapid offensive, forcing Assad to flee to Russia.
Anas Khattab, the new head of the General Intelligence Service, has vowed to overhaul the security apparatus and denounced “the injustice and tyranny of the previous regime, whose authorities sowed corruption and inflicted suffering on the people.”