Nine former military pilots from Assad era detained in Syria
In Syria’s Latakia province, internal security forces detained nine former military pilots from the period of Bashar al-Assad’s rule. Syrian authorities said that three generals were among those detained, and that the pilots are suspected of involvement in the bombing of cities and villages that resulted in deaths.
Operations in Latakia
As Asharq Al-Awsat reports, citing the state agency SANA, the detentions took place after a series of operations in western Syria. According to Syrian authorities, the former pilots were involved in war crimes against the Syrian people in several regions of the country.
Those detained include generals Menhel Anwar Saleh, Sami Ibrahim Mahmoud and Ghayat Ali Rehyeh. SANA claims that the actions of these individuals caused numerous casualties, significant destruction of cities and villages, the displacement of residents, as well as the destruction of housing and civilian infrastructure.
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Cases against officials from the Assad era
The civil war in Syria lasted more than 13 years and, according to the publication, claimed more than half a million lives. Before Assad’s overthrow in December 2024, Syrian government forces regularly shelled areas controlled by the opposition. Following the change of power in the country, the current authorities began operating.
Since then, the new Syrian authorities have detained dozens of former security officials, and trials began in April. On Monday, authorities also reported the detention of a former general accused of involvement in suppressing the 2011 protests and the events in Hama in 1982.
According to Asharq Al-Awsat, in August Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad and five other former security officials were sentenced in absentia to death for crimes committed during the civil war. The former president left Syria after the fall of his government and is believed to be in Russia.
