Policemen involved in Assad's National Defence Militia: document

Reporting by Georg Hadad: Translation by Dani Murad

(Zaman Alwal)- An official leaked document issued from regime’s ministry of interior has confirmed the actual involvement of the National Security Bureau headed by Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk in recruiting Shabiha (National Defense Army) after obtaining a "Paid leave” for them from their basic jobs.

The document which is signed by Head of administrative Affairs and addressed to the Director of Management and Administration in the ministry, referred to a letter from the latter, pursuant to the National Security Bureau’s letter, which requested to discharge the police officer “Salah Essa” who works in the administrative affairs of the Ministry, in order to transfer him to “National Defense Committees."

The head of administrative Affairs clarified that Essa’s services are indispensable due to the fact that he is the only correspondent to the ministry’s branches.

Ali Mamlouk, who is a special security adviser to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and one of his trusted men, was appointed by Bashar as head of National Security Bureau which is highest intelligence ranks, following the death of Hisham Bakhtiar, in an operation known as “exploding the Crisis Cell” mid of July 2012 with a group of top military and intelligence officials who run the Syrian army's daily operations.

Since the beginning of the Syrian revolution, the Syrian regime depended on a group of mercenaries to suppress the revolution demonstrations known as “Shabiha” , yet their work remained uncoordinated and Illegal until the regime gave them the legitimacy to operate their crimes late in 2012 in the so-called ( National Defense Army).

Al Shabiha, who used to concentrate in Hafez’s regime in the Mediterranean region of Syria around Latakia, Banias and Tartous, benefited from smuggling through the ports in the area.

The word Shabiha came from the Arabic word for ghost or for the Mercedes S600 that was popular for its smuggling sized trunk and was called the Shabah.