New Syrian government arrests 300 people in ‘effort to consolidate’

“In less than a week, almost 300 people were detained in Damascus and its suburbs, as well as in Homs, Hama, Tartus, Latakia and even in Deir Ezzor,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights .

The operations also targeted former fighters linked to the Iranian regime, an ally of Assad. Still others would be military personnel accused of murders and torture.

One of the targets of the wave of arrests is General Mohammed Kanjo Hassan, former head of military justice and accused of overseeing thousands of deaths after summary trials in Saydnaya prison. Some of the processes that condemned opponents lasted just a few minutes.

Kanjo Hassan headed the military court from 2011 to 2014, the first three years of the country’s civil war. He was then promoted to head of Military Justice throughout Syria.

Rights groups warn that Kanjo Hassan obtained $150 million from bribes paid by relatives of detainees desperate for information about their relatives or to avoid executions.

The repression would have been intensified in recent days, mainly in operations against pockets of pro-Assad militia that were still operating across the country. Among the actions are weapons and ammunition seizure operations.