Assad appoints criminal pilot as 24th Brigade Commander

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Brigadier General Yusef Ghanem Hussein has been appointed by Bashar al-Assad as the commander of the Air Force 24th Brigade in eastern Deir Ezzor province, sources told Zaman al-Wasl on Wednesday.

According to military sources, Hussein is considered as the most Sukhoi-24 pilot carrying out deadly strikes since the Syrian revolution erupted in 2011.

Hussein committed the first massacre in the city of Douma on November 2, 2012, by carrying out two successive air strikes by his Sukhoi-24, which took off from the Squadron 696 of the 17th Brigade near Damascus.

Commanders of the Syrian Air Force are so carefully selected as the appointments of last years show, which include officers famed for their strong loyalty and most descended from pro-close circles of the Assad himself.

Al-Assad has also appointed Maj. Gen Akram Ahmed Hawija as the new commander of the 7th Mechanical Division, succeeding Maj. Gen Hikmat Suleiman who was referred to retirement.

Hawija, originally from Qerdaha, Assad's hometown, was the head of the security committee in the border Albukamal region, and a deputy commander of for the 11th Tank Division in central Homs province.

Brig. Gen Haitham Suleiman Barakat wax also appointed by Assad as the commander of 123rd Infantry Regiment in the 17th Division in Hasaka province.

Most of the promoted generals come from Bashar al-Assad's hometown in coastal region and belong to the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Assad, who believes that war is over along with his key allies Russia and Iran, has maintained to survive with a powerless army by depending on local militias and Iran-backed-and-funded foreign militants.

Syrian activists said all active officers in the regime army have been involved in war crimes against the Syrian people.

More than 200,000 pro-regime forces have been killed in nine years, according to local monitoring groups.

Meanwhile, the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has confirmed that Assad's Air Force carried out Latamenah's chemical attack in 2017.

The international investigation coincides with the third anniversary of the chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun town in northern Idlib province and the second anniversary of Douma chemical attack.

The Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Wednesday that Syrian Air Force pilots flying Sukhoi Su-22 military planes and a helicopter dropped bombs containing poisonous chlorine and sarin nerve gas on the town of Ltamenah in the country's western Hama region in March 2017.

The special investigative unit was established by members of OPCW in 2018 to identify perpetrators of illegal attacks. Until now the OPCW had only been authorized to say whether chemical attacks occurred, not who perpetrated them, according to Reuters.

Officials in the Assad regime and its military backer Russia have repeatedly denied using chemical weapons and accuse insurgents of staging attacks to implicate Syrian forces.

The OPCW Investigation and Identification Team (IIT), the formation of which was opposed by Moscow and Damascus, said more than 100 people were affected by the attacks, carried out on March 24, 25 and 30 in 2017 in the town of Ltamenah.

Syria's 50th Brigade of the 22nd Air Division of the Syrian Air Force dropped M4000 aerial bombs containing sarin on the town and a cylinder containing chlorine on a hospital, a summary of the report said. The raids were conducted from the Shayrat and Hama air bases, it said.

According to Zaman Al-Wasl sources, the military pilot who carried out the deadly Khan Sheikhoun chemical attack in April 2017 and Ltamenah attack was also promoted by Assad last February to command o the 70th Brigade that affiliated to the military T-4 airbase east of Homs province.

Brig. Gen. Mohammad Yousef Hasouri was the chief of staff and deputy commander of Shayrat airfield, also known as the 50th Brigade, in central Homs province.

Hasouri was the commander who took off with his Su-22 (Dubbed: Quds 1) and bombed Khan Sheikhoun with Sarin gas.

The nine-year-old conflict has killed more than 390,000 Syrian people and displaced 6.5 millions, leaving most of the Syrian people under the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

Zaman Al Wasl