Syria’s new government steps up pursuit of Assad loyalists
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Men queuing as former soldiers, police members and civilians wait at a centre for handing over small arms and security registration with the new authorities in Damascus on Dec 24.
PHOTO: AFP
DAMASCUS – Syria’s new administration has stepped up its campaign to track down and arrest members of the ousted Assad dictatorship, signalling that it would act with a heavy hand against people who it claims are challenging its ability to impose law and order.
Sana, the state-run Syrian news agency, reported on Dec 28 that “a number of remnants of the Assad militias” had been arrested in the coastal Latakia region in western Syria.
Weapons and ammunition were confiscated, the report added.
The new administration, which has tried to assert authority over Syria since an alliance of rebels toppled president Bashar al-Assad three weeks ago, has indicated that pursuing loyalists of the Assad dictatorship, who are undermining its authority, is a top priority.
But a human rights organisation has raised alarm about the way the transitional government was going after Assad loyalists, saying it was carrying out arbitrary arrests of supporters of the old regime.
Over the past few days, Sana has also reported that government security forces were pursuing members of the Assad regime in the regions of Tartus, Homs and Hama.
On Dec 25, an attempt to arrest Mr Mohammed Kanjou al-Hassan, the former director of military justice under Mr Assad, set off deadly clashes in the Tartus area – part of the heartland of Mr Assad’s Alawite minority.
Security forces were ambushed by loyalists of the former government in the area, according to the Britain-based war monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
A total of 14 members of the government forces were killed, according to Mr Mohammed Abdel Rahman, Syria’s interim interior minister.
While some reports have said Mr Hassan was later arrested, media officials in Syria’s transitional government had not confirmed that as at Dec 28 and his whereabouts remain unclear.
The media office of Syria’s interim Interior Ministry said security forces were pursuing members of the Assad regime “to secure” the country’s territory, suggesting they were undermining the security situation.
It said the campaign was launched only after loyalists of the former government had failed “to hand over their weapons and settle their affairs” within a specific timeframe.
On Dec 28, the Lebanese authorities repatriated 70 Syrian officers and soldiers who served in Mr Assad’s military
An official in the new Syrian administration confirmed Lebanon returned military personnel from the ousted regime to Syria, without specifying a number. NYTIMES
