SYRIA NEWS | ZAMAN ALWSL

Zaman al-Wasl reveals data of 272 Air Force Intelligence officers, Where are they now?

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:53:09 +0300

Zaman al-Wasl collected 11 exclusive testimonies from officers who defected from the Assad regime over a two-month period. These testimonies include a list of 272 officers from the Air Force Intelligence Directorate, detailing their military status and revealing the human structure of this security apparatus. The list includes officers who were active duty until 2024, as well as those who were discharged or killed in action.

1. Major General (3 officers)

* Major General Hassan Wadih Ali

* Major General Izzat Abdullah Abbas

* Major General Salah al-Din Kasser Ghanem

2. Brigadier General/Staff Brigadier General (84 officers)

This category includes officers with the ranks of Staff Brigadier General, Brigadier General, and Staff Brigadier General:

* Staff Brigadier General Hamid Muslim Hamed

* Staff Brigadier General Maddah Abdullah al-Hussein

* Brigadier General Ali Suleiman al-Suleiman

* Staff Brigadier General Ratib Ahmed Ghosn

* Brigadier General Saeb Salam bin Ali Abbas * Brigadier General Ahmed Bader Mahmoud

* Brigadier General Arkan Mahmoud Hassan Hatem

* Brigadier General Anwar Nazih Abboud

* Brigadier General Haitham Ibrahim Banawi

* Brigadier General Abdul Hamid Ali Dioub

* Brigadier General Ibrahim Abbas Ibrahim

* Brigadier General Nihad Amin Al-Dahab

* Brigadier General Mahmoud Muhammad Mulla

* Brigadier General Ziad Mahmoud Al-Qadi

* Brigadier General Bassam Hussein Ali Al-Haji

* Brigadier General Issa Ali Al-Yassin

* Brigadier General Hassan Moussa Al-Hassan

* Brigadier General Imad Salman Mazhar

* Brigadier General Mudrik Salman Al-Hujja

* Brigadier General Ahmed Yassin Ghanem

* Brigadier General Nizar Hashem Al-Sheikh Ibrahim

* Brigadier General Abdul Basit Ali Shabara

* Brigadier General Ahmed Yahya Haj Khalil

* Brigadier General Hassan Marhej Al-Rustum

* Brigadier General Mohsen Ibrahim Al-Khatib * Brigadier General Mohammad Hassan Abboud

* Brigadier General Qusay Ali Diab

* Brigadier General Ali Ibrahim Youssef

* Brigadier General Mahmoud Youssef Sobh

* Brigadier General (Staff) Rakan Mohammad Ali Ghantawi

* Brigadier General Muawiya Ahmad Shihab al-Din

* Brigadier General Hussein Youssef Hussein

* Brigadier General Ibrahim Marai Abdo

* Brigadier General Asif Fajr Khaddour

* Brigadier General (Staff) Hussein Mohammad Jardo

* Brigadier General Imran Sarhan Ibrahim

* Brigadier General (Staff) Hisham Mahmoud Hamawi

* Brigadier General Mohsen Ahmad Ghanem

* Brigadier General (Staff) Nizar Hassan Sbeih

* Brigadier General Mohammad Youssef Haidar

* Brigadier General Ahmad Mohammad Ali

* Brigadier General Imad Mahmoud Nazzal

* Brigadier General Abdullah Saleh Ahmad

* Brigadier General (Staff) Faisal Mohammad Zarqa

* Brigadier General Ali Ahmad Sultan

* Brigadier General Haidar Hassan Rustum * Brigadier General Bassam Melhem Naffaa

* Brigadier General Abdul Karim Awad Al-Fares

* Brigadier General Khaled Hassan Al-Hussein

* Brigadier General Mazen Qassem Amer

* Brigadier General Muwaffaq Ramez Al-Sheikh Hassan

* Brigadier General Mazen Muhammad Saeed Al-Nashef

* Brigadier General Nizar Muhammad Al-Jarf

* Brigadier General Naeem Yousef Al-Sayed

* Brigadier General Hamza Muhammad Ali

* Brigadier General Muhammad Ali Hammoud

* Brigadier General Ghassan Nasr Nazha

* Brigadier General Jamil Ibrahim Habib

* Brigadier General Muhammad Ali Suleiman

* Brigadier General Muhammad Ali Bin Layez Suleiman

* Brigadier General Ahmad Ali Saleh

* Brigadier General Muhammad Mustafa Al-Siwan

* Brigadier General Ali Ibrahim Jund

* Brigadier General Nassif Hilal Abu Ammar

* Brigadier General Butros Ali Shamma

* Brigadier General Muhammad Darwish Yassin

* Brigadier General Ramez Ali Deeb * Brigadier General Basil Suleiman Al-Saloum.

* Brigadier General Faisal Younes Ibrahim.

* Brigadier General Samer Salman Salloum.

* Brigadier General Fouad Sharif Al-Balal.

* Brigadier General Nizar Abdul Karim Al-Hamdan.

* Brigadier General Bassam Ramadan Al-Najm.

* Brigadier General Muhammad Yusuf Al-Ibrahim.

* Brigadier General Ali Muhammad Rahal.

* Brigadier General Muhammad Asaad Khalil.

3. Colonel Rank (128 officers)

This represents the largest rank in the force, and includes:

* Colonel Hussein Yusuf Salman.

* Colonel Faisal Younes Assaf.

* Colonel Mazhar Ali Ghassa.

* Colonel Maher Muhammad Mazhar.

* Colonel Adel Ahmad Ezz El-Din.

* Colonel Dahi Ali Marhej.

* Colonel Adnan Anad Al-Mubarak.

* Colonel Mohsen Salem Abu Zahra.

* Colonel Waheed Muhammad Imran.

* Colonel Abdul Halim Abdul Sattar Al-Khatib.

* Colonel Akram Nour El-Din Haj Khalil

* Colonel Ahmed Khalifa Al-Hamada

* Colonel Muntajab Salman Ismail

* Colonel Muhammad Ali Mahmoud Assaf

* Colonel Ayman Diab Abdel Karim

* Colonel Ahmed Jaber Fadel

* Colonel Ali Salem Hamisha

* Colonel Alaa Salman Ahmed

* Colonel Shadi Adib Badran

* Colonel Muhammad Hamid Al-Ahmad

* Colonel Ibrahim Mahmoud Youssef

* Colonel Engineer Sinan Ali Omran

* Colonel Nader Muhammad Al-Khader

* Colonel Yasser Kamel Hassaneh

* Colonel Nizar Turki Khazal

* Colonel Hassan Muhammad Assi

* Colonel Thaer Muhammad Hajji

* Colonel Maher Muhammad Ayoud

* Colonel Mazen Abdel Latif Khader

* Colonel Labib Hussein Muhammad

* Colonel Muhannad Farid Al-Younes

* Colonel Imad Hamdan Hassan

* Colonel Reda Ibrahim Muhanna

* Colonel Mu'taz Ali Khalil * Colonel Mustafa Najib Abu Bakr.

* Colonel Majd Yassin Muhammad.

* Colonel Ramez Raif Saqr.

* Colonel Nidal Nazir Saqr.

* Colonel Maher Kamel Ghanem.

* Colonel Bassam Muhammad Khaddour.

* Colonel Muhammad Ali Muhammad.

* Colonel Nawras Jreis Lotfi.

* Colonel Tariq Muhammad Al-Saqr.

* Colonel Hisham Mahmoud Al-Abdullah.

* Colonel Khaled Salim Kanaan.

* Colonel Iyad Faiz Fandi.

* Colonel Qusay Hussein Al-Jar'atli.

* Colonel Firas Muhammad Mash'al.

* Colonel Taleb Abbas Al-Wanous.

* Colonel Hussam Abed Faraj.

* Colonel Mahmoud Ahmad Al-Hannan.

* Colonel Hussam Ali Razouq.

* Colonel Muhammad Ahmad Khalil.

* Colonel Bilal Bin Muslim Qader.

* Colonel Musa Na'im Al-Bitar.

* Colonel Muhammad Fadel Gharib.

* Colonel Suhail Hikmat Muhammad.

* Colonel Muhammad Abdullah Ali. * Colonel Basil Muhammad Suleiman.

* Colonel Nabil Faris Abdul Samad.

* Colonel Ghassan Yusuf Mustafa.

* Colonel Faiz Iskandar Ibrahim.

* Colonel Ali Muhsin Younis.

* Colonel Basil Jihad Al-Daknji.

* Colonel Abdul Munim Muhammad Omar.

* Colonel Farzat Mahfouz Suleiman.

* Colonel Hussein Nawaf Al-Salman.

* Colonel Asif Ali Fakhouri.

* Colonel Muhammad Dargham Idris.

* Colonel Bilal Aziz Rahal.

* Colonel Yusuf Suleiman Fakhouri.

* Colonel Bassam Hussein Zeino.

* Colonel Ali Muhammad Al-Sayed.

* Colonel Ahmad Suleiman Nazihah.

* Colonel Hassan Ahmad Al-Shamali.

* Colonel Iyad Raja Al-Shaibani.

* Colonel Asad Anis Al-Hakim.

* Colonel Imad Jihad Ali.

* Colonel Bassam Jirjis Abdullah.

* Colonel Malik Dib Ghannam.

* Colonel Al-Haitham Muhammad Al-Sini.

* Colonel Madin Hassan Issa. Colonel Sadouh

Ibrahim Saad.

* Colonel Tawfiq Habib Alouni.

* Colonel Kalim Salim Zeido.

* Colonel Munir Dargham Jazi.

* Colonel Imad Muhammad Saadallah.

* Colonel Ahmad Asaad Deeb.

* Colonel Fouad Ibrahim Ismail.

* Colonel Firas Muhammad Hashem.

* Colonel Muhammad Nasser Shahin.

* Colonel Tawfiq Mahmoud Hazim.

* Colonel Mamoun Fawzi Qutaini.

* Colonel Iyad Hamad Fahd.

* Colonel Mahmoud Abbas Al-Muhammad.

* Colonel Ghaith Aziz Rahija.

* Colonel Muhammad Younis Younis.

* Colonel Suhail Ali Saqour.

* Colonel Nader Mahmoud Wanous.

* Colonel Mahmoud Muhammad Ma’i.

* Colonel Mustafa Hussein Yassin.

* Colonel Munther Mahmoud Najmo.

* Colonel Khaled Muhi Al-Din Safieh.

* Colonel Maher Abdel Karim Ramadan.

* Colonel Yasser Ali Ibrahim.

* Colonel Ibrahim Saleh Deeb.

* Colonel Bassam Ali Hammoud

* Colonel Samir Dib Diab

* Colonel Thabet Jamil Khair Bek

* Colonel Maan Saleh Youssef

* Colonel Mujahid Hassan Sbeih

* Colonel Nidal Muhammad Makna

* Colonel Bilal Muhammad Issa

* Colonel Thaer Suleiman Al-Khatib

* Colonel Basel Ibrahim Ibrahim

* Colonel Samer Abdul Karim Al-Assaf

* Colonel Hussein Muhammad Hussein

* Colonel Ammar Ali Mahmoud

* Colonel Ali Mahmoud Khader

* Colonel Yasser Salman Fadel

* Colonel Hamed Ali Habib

* Colonel Nabil Shafiq Salami

* Colonel Ahmed Awad Mzaal

* Colonel Abdul Latif Youssef Al-Ahmad

* Colonel Maan Ahmed Al-Jardi

* Colonel Khaled Abdul Raouf Stanbouli

4. Lieutenant Colonel (36 officers)

* Lieutenant Colonel Fadi Ibrahim Al-Dakar

* Lieutenant Colonel Majd Hassan Bashlawi

* Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Radwan Al-Homsi * Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Issa Ali.

* Lieutenant Colonel Saad Ali Al-Khaled.

* Lieutenant Colonel Zakaria Ali Ibrahim.

* Lieutenant Colonel Bashar Muhammad Assi.

* Lieutenant Colonel Samer Ali Dawabeh.

* Lieutenant Colonel Mu'ayyad Ragheb Al-Hamoud.

* Lieutenant Colonel Younis Ali Ali.

* Lieutenant Colonel Kinan Mahmoud Hassoun.

* Lieutenant Colonel Ammar Mahmoud Ashour.

* Lieutenant Colonel Ghassan Awad Fouani.

* Lieutenant Colonel Amer Mahmoud Al-Ali.

* Lieutenant Colonel Samir Abdo Al-Nasser.

* Lieutenant Colonel Suleiman Mahmoud Suleiman.

* Lieutenant Colonel Diaa Salim Omran.

* Lieutenant Colonel Qutaiba Munir Saqr.

* Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Issa Qassem.

* Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Ismander Ismail.

* Lieutenant Colonel Fadi Mahmoud Mustafa.

* Lieutenant Colonel Samhar Hassan Baghdadi.

* Lieutenant Colonel Alaa Ibrahim Suleiman.

* Lieutenant Colonel Hussam Muhammad Fanda.

* Lieutenant Colonel Thaer Tali' Al-Awaj.

* Lieutenant Colonel Rabee' Mahmoud Younis.

* Lieutenant Colonel Mudhar Jamil Deeb.

* Lieutenant Colonel Samer Abbas Ibrahim. * Lieutenant Colonel Waseem Mahmoud Mubarak

* Lieutenant Colonel Hashem Saleh Al-Mohammad

* Lieutenant Colonel Alaa Ghassan Ibrahim

* Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Mohammed Ali

* Lieutenant Colonel Suleiman Mohammed Al-Hassan

* Lieutenant Colonel Samer Matanios Mahardawi

* Lieutenant Colonel Sumer Aref Huwaiji

* Lieutenant Colonel Naseer Issa Hassan

* Lieutenant Colonel Maher Ahmed Deeb

* Lieutenant Colonel Amer Kasser Jadid

* Lieutenant Colonel Ramil Jawdat Qassem

* Lieutenant Colonel Suhail Salim Ahmed

5. Rank of Major (9 officers)

* Major Muhannad Ali Al-Hassan

* Major Sameh Nadeem Issa

* Major Ammar Hassan Aqel

* Major Mamoun Abdul Karim Jannad

* Major Nazim Hikmat Mustafa

* Major Daram Hikmat Saeed

* Major Ali Yassin Mohammed

* Major Abdul Rahman Mohammed Nadhir Al-Nimr

* Major Sinan Mohammed Younis

* Major Alaa Salman Mahrez

6. Captain (7 officers)

* Captain Younis Muhammad Al-Hafyan

* Captain Ali Talat Hussein

* Captain Ali Jabr Jawhara

* Captain Firas Bassam Jneika

* Captain Ibrahim Wadhah Ibrahim

* Captain Wael Hassan Mukhtar

* Captain Yamen Abdul Hamid Bakkar

* Captain Ibrahim Sami Zaher

7. First Lieutenant/Lieutenant (6 officers)

* First Lieutenant Ahmad Ali Hamed

* First Lieutenant Nizar Muhammad Al-Jarda

* First Lieutenant Majd Fahim Jrikous

* First Lieutenant Muhammad Rafiq Sabour

* First Lieutenant Yazan Imad Shahin

8. Enlisted Lieutenant (4 officers)

* Enlisted Lieutenant Ali Abdul Karim Abdo

* Enlisted Lieutenant Muhammad Hassan Atiya

* Enlisted Lieutenant Raafat Abdul Jabbar Halabieh * Lieutenant Munther Jawdat Lulu.

Where are they now?

Did you recognize any of them?

Military police commander in Deir Ezzor dies of COVID-19

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 14:58:00 +0300

Colonel Hassan Haidar, commander of the military police in eastern Deir Ezzor province died from COVID-19, pro-regime media accounts said Monday.

Haidar, originally from Yabroud town in Damascus suburbs, took the post in 2017 after he showed a massive allegiance to the regime and the Iranian militias stationed in eastern Syria.

Local activists doubt the death of Haidar that came a week after the death of a fellow military police colonel who was heading the notorious Sednaya prison.

Colonel Wassim Hassan, the former director of Sednaya prison, died of a suspicious heart attack, the Sednaya Prison Detainees and Missing Association said.

The Sednaya slaughterhouse had witnessed during Hassan’s era the execution of at least 500 opposition rebels despite giving them guarantees of amnesty following Russia-brokered reconciliation deals in 2017, according to testimonies by former detainees,

Several human rights reports confirmed that Assad had committed crimes against humanity in Sednaya prison with an Amnesty International report describing it as a "human slaughterhouse".

Syrian opposition sources said that more than 500,000 prisoners remain inside the prisons of the Syrian regime.

Former Sednaya prison director dies of 'suspicious' heart attack

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 18:32:00 +0300

Colonel Wassim Hassan, the former director of Sednaya prison, died of a heart attack on Saturday, the Sednaya Prison Detainees and Missing Association said.

Hassan’s arrival at Sednaya prison coincided with the start of the Syrian revolution in 2011. The prison was emptied of the old prisoners to be stuffed by pro-democracy activists and Bashar al-Assad's opponents.

For years, Hassan was the second man in the prison, until he assumed the position of director, succeeding Colonel Mahmoud Ma'atouk, who also died of a heart attack at the beginning of 2018.

According to the Detainees Association, 100% of the detainees had been tortured physically and 97.8% had been tortured psychologically in Sednaya prison.

The regime security is practicing 24 methods of psychological torture and 8 methods of sexual torture inside Sednaya prison, including beatings sexual organs.

The majority of the detainees were deprived of food and basic needs.

Hassan graduated from the Military College in 1990. Then he was transferred as an instructor and at the Military Police School. He moved later to Sednaya Prison at the end of 2010 when he was appointed as an assistant to its director at the time, Brigadier General Talaat Mahfoud.

Hassan was dismissed at the end of 2020 in a policy by the Assad regime to eliminate notorious officers who committed war crimes during war years amid piling reports by human rights organizations revealing their violations.

Most of Sednaya's detainees were found guilty of affiliation with opposition armed groups, participating in battles against regime forces, and eliminating its informants within the region.

Several human rights reports confirmed that Assad had committed crimes against humanity in Sednaya prison with an Amnesty International report describing it as a "human slaughterhouse".

Syrian opposition sources said that more than 500,000 prisoners remain inside the prisons of the Syrian regime.

The Syrian regime has been practicing 72 torture methods against detainees in security chambers and military hospitals, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.

About 1.2 million Syrian citizens have been arrested and detained at some point in the regime’s detention centers, including 130,000 individuals who are still detained or forcibly disappeared by the Syrian regime, since the revolution erupted in March 2011, SNHR said.

Ten years of war in Syria have killed 500,000 people and driven half the pre-war population of 22 million from their homes, including more than 6.7 million as refugees to neighbouring countries.

63 Syrian Intelligence officers, operators detained over Soleimani's death, fate still unknown: source

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 12:36:00 +0300

The fate of 63 officers and agents from the Intelligence Communications Department is still unknown since they were held in January 2020 following the death of Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad's U.S. strike, a military source told Zaman al-Wasl Wednesday.

At least 20 officers and 43 telecommunication operators were held in the Military Investigation Branch 248 in Damascus. Six senior officers are still in the Branch 293 prison.

The Syrian Intelligence, backed by information and data from the Russian and Iranian intelligence, had tracked the network following the death of Iran's Quds Force Commander on January 7 in Baghdad.

At the time, initial reports accused a Syrian agent of providing information about the Soleimani's movements inside Syria and the exact time of his departure from Damascus airport before his death in a U.S. drone attack two hours later.

The arrests took place in the army's communication department (Branch 225) in Damascus where most officers topped by the Branch commander Maj. Gen Ma’an Hussein were arrested along with non-commissioned officers and civil technicians.

In June 2020, the finance ministry ordered to seize the assets of Hussein, his wife and children.

The main mission of the communication department, which coordinates with security and military services, is to spy on the Syrian telecommunications, and monitor local TV channels, social media accounts.

The Syrian and Iranian intelligence conducted very extensive investigations to find out those involved in leaking information related to the movement of these important figures inside Syria.

The source revealed that the regime's intelligence, with the participation of Iranian intelligence officers, practiced various types of torture against these detainees in order to extract confessions from them.

Months after interrogations and investigations, the regime’s intelligence, with the help of Russian technologies, reached the person who was associated with the American intelligence and Hussein.

The source said the espionage network is most probably linked to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The CIA has a deep and long history in Syria since it had delivered and made up Syria's first military coup in March 1949.

The source said the investigation is still in progress and has not been closed yet, noting that three Iranian intelligence officers are participating, and supervising the interrogations.

The detainees' families have not been able to find out any news about their sons, the charges against them, or at least the place of their detention, although the vast majority of them are from the regime's close circle.

Maj. Gen Ali Mamlouk, head of the National Security Office and Assad's advisor, has ordered officers who run the investigations to not reveal any details about the places of detention or the results of the investigation for fellow officers regardless of his rank, military or security position.

Transfers within military intelligence: source

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 14:10:35 +0300

The military intelligence division on Saturday made several transfers in top positions within the notorious security apparatus, military source told Zaman al-Wasl.

Brigadier General Suleiman Moussa Qanat was appointed as the head of Branch 261 in central Homs city. He was the head of Branch 256 in the coastal province of Tartus.

Brigadier General Imad Ahmed Mayhoub was transferred from heading the Branch 261 in Homs to the Military Intelligence Division in Damascus.

Brigadier General Bilal Suleiman Ma’lla was transferred from Branch 261 in Homs to Branch 219 in Hama city.

Brigadier General Ghazi Mohamed Khalil was assigned to run Branch 256 in Tartus city.

According to the source, Bashar al-Assad seeks to dismiss powerful Major General Kifah Melhem, head of the military intelligence division, and Major General Ghassan Ismail, head of the air force intelligence, for reaching the legal age for retirement.

Usually, Assad's old guards never leave top positions due retirement age but Zaman source revealed that Russia advised Assad removing them from the scene to improve his image since both are on the US sanctions list.

Melhem is also on the British, European and Canadian sanctions list.

Assad appoints new head for the military electronic warfare

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 00:24:00 +0300

Zaman Al-Wasl learned that the Syrian regime has appointed Major General Ali Youssef Hamad as Director of the Electronic Warfare Administration, succeeding Major General Younis Aziz Ali, who was referred to retirement.

Hamad, originally from Homs province, graduated from the Higher Military Academy in 1987, and was appointed to the ninth electronic warfare regiment, and continued in the technical department in the same regiment until the rank of lieutenant colonel.

He was an outcast and notorious officer among all the officers of the electronic warfare administration, the source said.

Stats, infographics show sectarian magnitude in Syrian army, one dominant sect

A military source told Zaman al-Wasl that during Hamad's military career, he stood behind the arrest and summoning of several officers by Military Security (Branch 293), like Brigadier General Najm al-Jadaan and Brigadier General Hassan Ibrahim.

Hamad was sent to North Korea to follow a course on one of the advanced reconnaissance stations.

Syrian regime arrests head of military fuel department over corruption charges

Hamad was the director of Headquarters 47, which is the central headquarters responsible for collecting and analyzing information. While listening to phone calls, he often fabricated charges against innocent people during the Syrian revolution.

The tasks of Headquarters 47 were wiretapping, analyzing communications, determining their content and locating people precisely.

Zaman Al-Wasl has obtained military data and statistics revealing the extreme magnitude of sectarianism in the Syrian army, and how a bunch of Bashar al-Assad fellows are the only ones who control the highest positions and ranks in the army and grip on all units.

Most of the Army's top officers are originally from Bashar al-Assad heartland in coastal region where most are Alawite-sect fellows, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

The proportion of the army distribution in regard to the religious sects in 2021 shows that the Alawite officers are holding 82% of army positions.

In relevant development, the Syrian military police has arrested Major General Haytham Khaddour, Director of the Fuel Department, after he was caught in a major theft case amounting to millions of dollars, military source told Zaman al-Wasl Tuesday.

More top officers who supervised military gas stations were also involved in this case and series of corruption deals in the army's petroleum products, as well as a large number of traders who worked to sell and distribute large quantities of fuel on the black market, taking advantage of the scarcity of these materials and their high prices, especially in winter.

The Syrian regime has frozen all assets and bank accounts belonging to Khaddour and his family.

Khaddour was appointed as Director of the Fuel Department in December 2018, where he attained the rank of major general.

The fuel department is one of the departments of the supply administration, which is responsible for providing the regime’s army with all kinds of fuel, oils and related equipment, and it has dozens of military gas stations deployed in all Syrian provinces, where various fuel materials are borrowed from the main refineries in Homs and Baniyas or from the warehouses of the defense ministry.

Syrian regime arrests head of military fuel department over corruption charges

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 13:13:00 +0300

The Syrian military intelligence has arrested Major General Haytham Khaddour, Director of the Fuel Department, after he was caught in a major theft case amounting to millions of dollars, military source told Zaman al-Wasl Tuesday.

The Syrian regime has frozen all assets and bank accounts belonging to Khaddour and his family.

Khaddour was appointed as Director of the Fuel Department in December 2018, where he attained the rank of major general.

Stats, infographics show sectarian magnitude in Syrian army, one dominant sect

Mon, 07 Jun 2021 12:09:00 +0300

Most of the Army's top officers are originally from Bashar al-Assad heartland in coastal region where most are Alawite-sect fellows, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

The proportion of the army distribution in regard to the religious sects in 2021 shows that the Alawite officers are holding 82% of army positions.

The total leadership positions that were counted in this study within nine groups reached 152 positions, in which the shares of the sectarian components are distributed as follows:

The Alawite sect holds 124 positions, 82%.

The Sunni sect holds 22 positions, at 14%.

The Druze community holds 3 positions, at 2%.

The Christian community hold 3 positions, at 2%.

Al-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 committed war crimes in the Syrian conflict that claimed the lives of half a million people and displaced half of the country’s population.

The study is the first of its kind of this size that reveals, with pictures, the leaders of the first ranks within the formations of the Assad army, and it contains about 150 leadership positions that have been divided into nine groups:

Commanders and staff of the army.

The commanders of the legions and their chiefs of staff.

Leaders of the ground and air forces and their deputies.

Leaders of the forces and forces and their deputies.

Military formations.

Directors of departments and their deputies.

Institutions.

Commanders of military districts.

Military colleges and academies.

More than 220,000 regime forces have been killed since the armed conflict erupted ten years ago.

The conflict in Syria has also killed more than 500,000 people and displaced 13.2 million.

Syria's Presidential Guard: structure, commanders, photos

Zaman Al Wasl — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 04:26:00 +0300

For decades, Syria’s Republican Guard forces have been the last frontline of defence for the ruling Assad family in Damascus.

The Republican Guard forces, or the Presidential Guard, were founded in the early 1970s by Hafez al-Assad, as the first shield of his regime in Syria, where they were initially placed in the Mount Qasioun and the perimeter of his palace located in the Muhajireen district.

The ‘formule’ of these forces has been modified several times since their establishment, until they were stabilized in 2011 with the presence of 5 Guard Command combat formations, most of which are stationed west of the capital.

Republican Guard Formations:

The Republican Guard Command: It is located between Mount Qasioun and Dummar town. There are battalions affiliated with it in the Mazzeh district near the People’s Palace road, and in the Jdeidet al-Shaibani town.

- The 101 Landing Regiment: Its mission is to protect the presidential palaces. It is located in Jdeidet al-Shaibani and in the foothills of the People's Palace and the monument of the Unknown Soldier Tomb. It has a battalion in Latakia.

The 102 Landing Regiment: The regiment charged with forming security detachments to protect palaces, personalities, and important places (from the inside). The leadership of 102 regiment is located in the Qaboun suburb, and its detachments are distributed in different areas.

104th Portable Infantry Brigade: Located in Jdeidet Al-Shaibani military camps.

The 105th Portable Infantry Brigade: Located in the Qasioun and Dummar camps.

The 106th Mechanized Infantry Brigade: Located in the Mount Qasioun and Dummar camps.

All formations were distributed around the city of Damascus with the spread of some security brigades and detachments outside Damascus to protect the presidential palaces in Latakia, Qardaha”, Slanfeh, Aleppo and others, according to the source.

After the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in March 2011 and the advance of the people in several areas, the regime rushed, with the help of the Iranians, to form and arm dozens of new combat battalions of the Republican Guard under different names, including storming battalions, including support battalions Including the women's brigades, all of which were independent brigades that were directly affiliated with the command of the Guard and were initially deployed in the vicinity of Damascus to protect it.

The Assad regime worked to frame some of these battalions within new formations of the Republican Guard Command after the Russians entered the military conflict line and the regime began to achieve victories at the expense of the opposition factions, under the guidance of the Iranians and the Russians.

The new formations:

(The Thirty Republican Guard Division - Aleppo Shield):

In 2017, the 30th Republican Guard Division was formed in the city of Aleppo, and the division's command was placed inside the Hanano camp, and the division was restructured by assembling some formations that were fighting in and around the city of Aleppo.

According to the source, the purpose of forming this division is to enable the regime and the Iranians to have absolute control over the economic capital (Aleppo) like the Republican Guard forces that control the administrative capital (Damascus), and this division currently includes basic membership formations from the division’s owners and formations attached to combat for a temporary period, which are as follows:

1- (The 124th Infantry Brigade): It was transferred from a reserve brigade to a working brigade.

2- (123rd Portable Infantry Brigade): a new brigade that was created during the past years.

3- (The 147th Landing Regiment): Transferred from the owners of the Special Forces to the owners (the 30th Division).

4- (Division Artillery Regiment): A new artillery regiment was formed within the "Al-Ramouseh" area.

5- (The 102nd Landing Regiment): It is part of the Republican Guard’s staff, it has been restructured, and 5 landing battalions have been added to it.

6- (Mechanical Brigade 106): It belongs to the Republican Guard Command. It has been attached to the battlefield (Division 30), and it is stationed near Manbij.

7- (93rd Tank Brigade): One of the owners of the 17th Division, attached to the 30th Division in combat, and it is stationed east of the city of Aleppo.

8- (The 135th Infantry Brigade): It was attached to (the 30th combat division) and is currently stationed in the "al-Safira" area.

New bastions in Damascus:

The Assad regime also created several new regiments in the vicinity of Damascus, to compensate for the formations that were moved outside the capital.

The new formations in Damascus suburbs:

1- 107th Artillery Regiment: The camp of this regiment is located in the Al-Drej area.

2- The 108th Intrusion Regiment: The camp of this new regiment is located near Damascus International Airport near the town of al-Ghasula in eastern Ghouta suburbs, next to the (35th Special Forces Regiment) camp

3- The 109th Regiment, storming: and its camp in the Mazzeh district, south of The People’s Palace on the road coming from Beirut Highway towards Presidential Palace.

Reuplican Guard’s presence outside Damascus:

The Syrian regime also formed several pieces and formations outside the capital to tighten its control over several areas, including:

1- 103rd Infantry Brigade, or the Coastal Shield, was formed in 2015 in Latakia province. It includes a number of new battalions that were formed from the people of the Syrian coast. Its mission was restricted to back regime forces against opposition factions on the fronts of Jabal al-Turkman and Jabal al-Akrad.

The brigade was redeployed in the Badia desert in central Homs province and parts of Deir Ezzor province at the Syria-Iraq border.

2- The 151st Regiment: It was formed in the northern countryside of Hama province to support the regime forces fighting in northwestern Syria. The regiment's leadership is currently located inside the town of Saraqib in Idlib province.

3-The 152nd Regiment: It was formed by Assad’s loyalists in Latakia, then it was transferred to the northern countryside of Hama. Its command is currently located near Maarrat al-Nu'man town.

4- The Women’s Intrusion Brigades: Several battalions were formed in the Mazzeh district.

5- Popular Defense Brigades: Formed by pro-Assad Shabiha militants who receive salaries from the Republican Guard.

The number of formations affiliated with the Republican Guard forces is 19 formations while the number of battalions that fall under the command of these formations is 123 battalions which is equivalent to the structure of two entire corps of the regime’s army.

The regime aims to make these forces the largest forces in Syria in the coming years, the source said.

All officers who commanded the Republican Guard forces in recent years are from the hometown of Bashar al-Assad, while the rest of officers are banned from any post or getting promoted to a high rank.

Republican Guard Commanders:

(Maj. Gen Adnan Makhlouf, Maj. Gen Ali Hassan, Maj. Gen Noureddin Naqar, Maj. Gen Shoaib Suleiman, Maj. Gen Badi Ali, Maj. Gen Talal Makhlouf, and Maj. Gen Malik Alia).

Assad appoints new commanders for 4th Corps, Special Forces and Navy

Zaman Al Wasl — Fri, 21 May 2021 17:10:00 +0300

Bashar al-Assad has appointed new commanders for the Fourth Corps, Special Forces and the Navy, a military source told Zaman al-Wasl on Friday.

Maj. Gen Ramadan Ramadan was appointed as commander of the 4th Corps and the head of the security and military committee in the coastal region.

Maj. Gen Maarouf Mohamed as commander of the Special Forces.

Maj. Gen Mohsen Issa as commander of the naval forces.

Two months ago, Russia denied Assad's request to appoint a new chief of the army staff under the pretext that the de-facto role of the Russian forces in Syria is substituting that position, sources told Zaman al-Wasl.

Assad's demand was delivered to the Russian headquarters based in Hmeimim base in coastal Latakia province in January.

Al-Assad as the General Commander of the Syrian regime army wanted to appoint the deputy chief of staff Maj. Gen Salih Hilal Al-Ali as the Chief of the General Staff, a position that has been vacant for 3 years.

The military source told Zaman al-Wasl that the Russian ’pretext for rejecting Assad’s request to appoint Al-Ali is that the Joint Operations Room is currently carrying out this mission (the chief of staff’s tasks).

Al-Ali's appointment might contradict the task room decisions in regard to the military operations on the ground, according to the source.

The Joint Operations Room, which was formed at the end of 2015, following the entry of the Russian forces, is tasked by the Syrian chief of staff to issue all orders related to military formations, including proposals for appointments of commanders and officers, the source said.

Assad appoints new artillery forces commander

Zaman Al Wasl — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 14:51:41 +0300

Bashar al-Assad has appointed Major General Tayseer Ibrahim Salem as commander of the artillery and missile forces, succeeding Major General Akram Tajour who retired at the beginning of March, military source told Zaman al-Wasl.

Salem was assigned temporarily to lead the forces in early March but Assad officially named him this position on Wednesday.

In relevant development, Russia has denied Bashar al-Assad's request to appoint a new chief of the army staff under the pretext that the de-facto role of the Russian forces in Syria is substituting that position, sources told Zaman al-Wasl.

Assad's demand was delivered to the Russian headquarters based in Hmeimim base in coastal Latakia province in January.

Al-Ali's appointment might contradict the task room decisions in regard to the military operations on the ground, according to the source.

Photos: In heavily fortified headquarters, Russia's favorite warlord in Syria dwells

Zaman Al Wasl — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 01:10:00 +0300

Zaman Al Wasl obtained aerial photos of the permanent headquarters of the militias of Suhail Al Hassan, who is considered Russia’s most important man in Syria.

Since 2014, Assad’s and Russian media have presented Suhail Al Hassan as an officer with exceptional military prowess, however according to widespread information, Al Hassan was never on the front lines, giving orders from within his fortified and well protected headquarters.

According to private sources, Russia provided protection for Al Hassan and placed under him highly trained personal guards from the Russian Special Forces, as it no longer trusts even the members fighting under his command.

Al Hassan’s Resort

Sources revealed that in mid-2017, roughly after fighting stopped in most Syrian regions, the Russians sought to establish a semi-permanent camp that included militias led by Al Hassan and became a home base for upcoming operations in the liberated north.

“Russian forces started construction at the eastern end of Kuweires airbase with a separate entrance for the militias, converting many of the Aviation College and Institute facilities into buildings for Al Hassan’s militia. Dozens of new buildings, warehouses, and hangars were constructed, making it the largest Russian base in Aleppo,” sources say.

By the end of the year 2018, most of the leadership of this militia moved to the new camp in Kuweires, however Suhail Al Hassan did not move his office there until the beginning of 2019, after a private resort had been prepared for him.

Around August 2019, Russian forces legalized these militias by rebranding them as “25th Special Forces Division” instead of their more infamous name, the Tiger Forces. And despite the military’s issuance to restructure these militias, nothing really changes except for the names, turning mercenary groups into regiments.

After the renovations of the Kuweires Airbase, and with its floors paved bright blue and a luxurious greenhouse added to its garden, Al Hassan moved to his new resort and residence, which he soon fenced with an external concrete wall, two meters high, topped by an electrified barbed wire and monitored with cameras on an area of about 16,000 square meters.

East to the officer’s resort, there is a garage containing a number of armored SUVs, a helipad with 2 Kyzyl helicopters on call, and, to the south of the helipad, two Tochka missile launch sites, which has a maximum firing range of 70 km.

The sources continue that a Russian volunteer office is set to receive recruiting requests to the 25th Division and other Russian militias, such as the Fifth Corps and the 16th Assault Brigade.

Prison outside the law

An informed source revealed that Suhail Al Hassan established a 220 square meter detention center in the same headquarters equipped with two great halls that could hold hundreds of people, in addition to interrogation, torture and liquidation rooms.

According to the source, one of the torture methods in this prison, which some call “the black prison”, is to refuse providing medical attention for sick detainees, regardless of the severity of their illness.

Those killed under torture are delivered to the Military Hospital in Aleppo, to be handed over to their families, or are buried directly in public cemeteries west of the city of Aleppo, at times without informing any of their relatives.

Assad reappoints Hassan Ali as Air Force Commander

Zaman Al Wasl — Mon, 22 Mar 2021 20:14:38 +0300

Assad has reappointed Maj. Gen. Hassan Ali as Air Force Commander after former Air Force Commander, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Balloul, was once again retired.

On October 23, 2020, The Syrian regime appointed Ali Air Force Commander for the first time, succeeding Major General Ahmed Balloul, who was retired after exhausting all kinds of extension.

But due to Balloul's extreme loyalty to both the regime and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, he was reinstated as Air Force Commander on November 25, 2020 under Iranian request in order to finish working on the military files he started on his last visit to Iran on January.

Zaman al-Wasl's source suggested that Balloul had closed all open files with Iran and that Russian pressure pushed the regime to terminate his service once again, making him to only Air Force Commander in Syria to return to his post after retirement.

Russia refused Assad's demand to appoint new chief of army staff: source

The newly-appointed commander has Russia's big support pushing fellow officers in the air force to dub him as the “spoiled boy” , then returned to his position as commander after spending more than two months as deputy commander of the reinstated Balloul.

As commander of the 14th Brigade, Ali carried out more than 30,000 sorties dropping an average of four bombs of different calibers per sortie; that is, more than 120,000 air bombs from each category and class targeting rebelled cities and villages, source says.

Under the command of Brigadier General Hassan Ali, the 14th Brigade committed thousands of massacres against innocent civilians, especially in Hama, Idlib, Aleppo and Latakia.

Russia refused Assad's demand to appoint new chief of army staff: source

Zaman Al Wasl — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 20:55:00 +0300

Russia has denied Bashar al-Assad's request to appoint a new chief of the army staff under the pretext that the de-facto role of the Russian forces in Syria is substituting that position, sources told Zaman al-Wasl.

Assad's demand was delivered to the Russian headquarters based in Hmeimim base in coastal Latakia province in January.

Al-Ali's appointment might contradict the task room decisions in regard to the military operations on the ground, according to the source.

Assad appoints pro-Iran general to handle security mess in southern Syria

Zaman Al Wasl — Sat, 21 Nov 2020 17:38:00 +0300

Bashar al Assad has assigned Maj. General Abdulsalam Mahmoud, deputy director of the Air Force Intelligence Department, to handle the security portfolio in southern Syria.

According to a well-informed source, the appointment of Mahmoud, a Shiite officer who had secretly visited Tehran for several days before starting his duties as a security official, came at the request of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).

Both the Revolutionary Guard and the Iranian government support Abdulsalam, not only for his sectarian affiliations, but also for being one of the senior security figures in the Air Force Intelligence after being the head of the investigation branch in Mazzeh airport, between 2010 and 2019.

Abdulsalam Mahmoud is also one of the security figures covered by the American sanctions imposed on the regime.

The source considered this an important step in the IRGC’s plan to infiltrate and root themselves in southern Syria, despite popular rejection of the militia’s presence as well as neighboring countries, especially Israel, insisting that Russia keep them over 80 km from the borders of Golan.

Since the fall of southern Syria to regime control in 2018, the instability in security and constant bombings and assassinations have not subsided. The conflict over the region between Russia and Iran continues to intensify, with the Fifth Corps controlling the eastern countryside of Daraa and the Fourth Division controlling western Daraa and Quneitra, and Russia’s continued attempts to share control over eastern Daraa with the help of Iranian militias.

Recently, the region between Daraa and Sweida has witnessed bloody clashes between the Fifth Corps, led by Ahmad Al-Awda, and armed faction from Sweida, which resulted in a large number of casualties.

Raslan's Trial: testimony of Der Spiegel reporter Christoph Reuter

Zaman Al Wasl — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 09:16:00 +0300

The trial of former Syrian intelligence senior officer Anwar Raslan in Germany continues with more witnesses in the queue to give their testimonies about the roles he played in the Syrian conflict. Because of his familiarity with and his in-depth investigations into the subject, “Der Spiegel” reporter Christoph Reuter stood before the court and gave his account regarding the Syrian situation.

Reuter, currently living in Lebanon, studied in Syria in 1989, where he learned Arabic and gained more familiarity with the country. When the revolution broke out, he was intent to cover it, and was able to enter it several times as a correspondent to “Der Spiegel”.

According to The Levant News, during the session, Reuter talked about his close relations with some Syrians in an attempt to verify or refute the Assad regime’s claim of the presence of Jihadists groups with funding from abroad, especially Al-Nusra Front.

In the spring of 2012, Reuter was informed about a point in Baba Amr, Homs, where corpses were collected and photographed before being transported in refrigerated trucks.

Reuter confirmed that he attended several demonstrations in Syria and witnessed first-hand the regime forces shooting demonstrators, killing hundreds in the first few months while Assad claimed that it was the doing of jihadists in hopes to present himself as the lesser of two evils.

Reuter explained that he was surprised that despite the escalation of the violence and the threat of arrest and torture, and enforced disappearance, more people took to the streets to demonstrate. During that period, he focused on jihadists and Hezbollah as political and military organizations, which made him particularly interested in Major General Ali Mamlouk, who worked with Assef Shawkat and participated in transporting foreign jihadists to Iraq before 2011.

Reuter said that audio recordings of encounters between the Islamic State and Hezbollah and detail on making car bombs and carrying out attacks existed with Mamlouk at the center of these activities maintaining contacts with Tehran and Lebanon.

In 2013, Reuter recounted, the former deputy chief of Daraa police, whom he met in Jordan, pointed him towards Anwar Raslan. And indeed, Reuter met with Raslan once in the latter’s apartment in Amman, two more times in May 13 and 14, 2013, then twice more in 2014 and 2015 when Raslan moved to Germany.

In their first meetings in Jordan, the focus of their conversation centered on the jihadists, al-Qaeda, and suicide bombers who entered Syria from several other countries, such as Libya and Saudi Arabia. They brought up the explosions that occurred in Syria at the beginning of 2011, including in the State Security Complex, in Kafr Sousa in December 23, 2011, which was followed by a meeting between Ali Mamlouk and Raslan in which he told Mamlouk that he wanted to open an investigation, to which Mamlouk responded, “There is no need for that.” Raslan believed that Mamlouk wanted to exploit the incident as a proof to the presence of terrorism in Syria. Reuter confirmed the account from another source who indicated that the explosion was staged. Raslan also talked about Al-Nusra Front declaring itself as a jihadist group, despite not existing at the time.

The conversation with Raslan at the time did not touch on the nature of his previous work in the Al-Khatib branch, however Raslan still spoke about the tools and methods of torture in the branch. Raslan justified his defection to Reuters, saying that he was unhappy about the results of investigations being falsified and used in favor of the presence of terrorism in Syria, and about the unjustified torture of innocent people who had no information at all, referring to fabricated clips filmed in the regime’s intelligence buildings showing fake jihadists.

In addition, Raslan explained that he was under great pressure to prove himself from Al-Hula region, which revolted against the regime. He said he has two options, either to work harder than everyone else to prove his loyalty, or to leave; either way he was not trusted. The pressure increased on him after 2011, due to tension between him and Hafez Makhlouf, who stood against releasing people who did not have any information.

Major General Deep Ziatoun has supported Raslan for a period before telling him that “I cannot help you, your Sunni denomination is a problem.” “Raslan was bitter because the security services claimed that every Sunni is fundamentally disloyal until proven otherwise. This offended him after working with the regime for 35 years,” Reuter commented to the court.

According to the German journalist, Raslan has a photographic memory, which enabled him to describe many investigations and interviews without referring to any file, but that he does not know if Raslan has delivered any files to the opposition. Reuter insisted that Raslan is a very attentive person and is unlikely to have been unaware of what occurred in his workplace and within the scope of his responsibility.

Mossad breakthroughs in Assad army

Zaman Al Wasl — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 02:38:14 +0300

The Israeli spy Eli Cohen was not the only agent who succeeded in penetrating Syria’s regime in 1960s. Repeatedly, Mossad operations were able to infiltrate high-profile branches of the regime including the ministry of defense and important military units and security systems, which were concealed by Bashar al-Assad in fear of scandal, sources confirmed.

The source, who requested to remain anonymous, worked for years in the Military Intelligence Division, Branch 211, detecting Israeli spying devices through systematic inspections of the offices of senior officers and military communication lines, as well as examining all combat equipment and electronic and electrical devices obtained by the armed forces and other security activities.

Infiltration of the Ministry of Defense

In 2001, during routine inspection of the office of the Minister of Defense, Mustafa Tlass, a signal was detected from inside his desk. The team had to cut into the desk to find inside the beech wood an extremely sophisticated recording and transmission device.

“After investigation, we discovered that the desk and the office’s furniture, which were shipped by sea, were a gift from one of the Minister’s friends who lived in Germany, despite the fact that all supplies of the commanding offices are usually purchased through Mission Control,” the source explained.

Tlass asked his friend to come to Syria, and after interrogating him, he denied any knowledge of the device. Under pressure from Tlass and in order to sweep the matter under the rug, he was cleared as a suspect and returned to Germany soon after.

After analyzing the device, they discovered that “it was German-made, but its data was transmitted via an Israeli satellite. It was technologically advanced, recording all audio in its surroundings, storing it in a temporary memory, then transmitting it through satellite at exactly 2 a.m. every 10 days.”

Dumayr and Al-Sin Military Airports

In 2004, while military patrols of Al-Dumayr airport were conducting a regular check of the main communication channels that connects Damascus to Dumayr and Al-Sin airports, one of the patrol personnel randomly opened a telecommunication inspection chamber to find strange devices inside it.

After Branch 2011 was notified, experts arrived with detection devices to discover that it was a listening and recording device that was linked to the main cable connecting Dumayr and Al-Sin airports. It was estimated that the bug was planted around two and a half years prior.

Jayrud Mountains

In 1995, a shepherd discovered a spy device in the barren mountains of Jayrud, northeast of Damascus, after following a number of cables buried under ground that lead him to a concrete rock. The man informed the 3rd Division, which back then was led by Hikmat Idris al-Mashriqi, who came with the team from Branch 211 to the scene.

They discovered that it was a spying system that has been set up for at least five yeat, with high resolution camera directed at the Scud missiles bunker. The device, which was booby-trapped and distributed into three groups: camera, batteries, and transmitter, was then dismantled. The shepherd has been imprisoned ever since.

Brigade 155/ Command

In 2008, during a routine inspection, a spying device that was planted on the ceiling of the office of the commander of the 155th Brigade, in Al-Qutayfa was discovered. A specialized team from the branch was called to dismantle the device for fear of the presence of explosives inside it.

The device was connected through a cable stretched inside the concrete of the ceiling to a sound clip implanted 8cm in the cement directly above the chair of the brigade commander. According to the source, the device was planted during the construction of the building, which led to a major issue within the branch for not discovering it sooner during previous inspections. The reason was that the old scanner was not able to detect it, with the new detector that revealed the bug is new gifted to the regime by Japan.

The 1st Corps Command

In one of the planned inspections, a technical inspection team discovered a signal in one of the chimney columns inside the office of 1st Corps commander, now Defense Minister, Major General Ali Ayoub. The team dug into the column and found a recording and transmission device installed in the cement.

A sample of the concrete was sent to the laboratories of the University of Damascus in order to determine its age, while the device was sent to the Center for Scientific Studies and Research. The device, it was discovered, was planted three years prior, which meant that Israel has been listening in on 1st Corps secrets for as long, a major scandal for the Intelligence Division, and especially for Branch 211.

Investigations were expanded, with Major General Ali Ayoub being detained in his office and prevented from leaving it for about a month. A large number of Corps officers as well as military engineers who worked on the building were interrogated without any results.

Another tapping signal was detected in the headquarters of the 90th Brigade, near the office of the Brigade Commander. The listening device was found underground connected to the communication cable of the commander's office, near it a satellite transmitter placed at 5 cm within a rock. The device was planted two to three years before its discovery, when Brigadier General Wajih Abdullah was commander.

The latest spy device

In 2013, a fisherman found large electrical cable emerging from a rock on Alnaml island, Tartus, which prompted him to inform the branch of Tartus Intelligence, who discovered a sophisticated high-resolution camera and transmission system linked with satellite receivers distributed over several Bakelite blocks camouflaged to look like the other rocks on the island.

The system was fed by 6 large long-life batteries, with the camera facing the hill where the naval Yakhont missiles, which the regime had received from Russia a few years before the revolution, were stationed.

The system is one of the latest, most complex and largest Israeli systems that have been seized. Remarkably, the regime has broadcasted its discovery on national television several months after finding it, to expose the “global conspiracy” against it led by Israel.

The source concluded that these are not all the devices that have been discovered. For two decades, around 22 devices have been found in different places, however, since 2011, it is likely that the number of spying devices from Israel and other counties has doubled.

Russia takes Palmyra airbase from Assad regime: sources

Zaman Al Wasl — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 03:56:12 +0300

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Military sources told Zaman al-Wasl that Russia has taken full control of Palmyra Military airbase in the Syrian desert from regime forces, making it the fifth Russian military base in Syria.

A Russian military delegation received the airport from a Regime delegation headed by the commander of the 22nd Air Force Brigade, Maj. Gen Tawfiq Muhammad Khaddour early June. The airport has been evacuated from all Iranian presence and from all regime related military and logistical forces, a private source said.

Russia started to reconstruct the airport with engineering and drilling equipment so as to remake it into a Russian military base capable of receiving Russian military and civilian planes and military troops. The base will be similar to the Hmeimim base, and will be independent from any regime presence.

According to the sources, It is still unclear whether the Russian military control is a long-term or a short-term agreement with the Regime.

The rehabilitation engineering operations carried out at the airport, however, indicate that the Russian military stay won’t be short-lived. The source indicated, as well, that a large number of shields had already been brought to the airport and deployed to the ground in a way that is suitable for the Russian military and civilian presence.

Russia’s essential motive behind controlling Palmyra airport is military related. There is, however, a strategic motive having to do with using the airport for touristic purposes, especially since Palmyra includes some of the most important tourist sites in Syria and the whole middle east region, and since it is the only place with significant touristic infrastructure like the Palmyra Hotel.

Russia wants to significantly expand its military bases in war-torn Syria, the Interfax news agency cited a government resolution as saying last May.

President Vladimir Putin ordered his Defense and Foreign Ministries to hold talks with Bashar Assad's regime over obtaining maritime access in Syria, as well as further military facilities and additional real estate on land and at sea, according to DW.

During the engineering preparation operations, the Russian forces have found ancient historical monuments and have kept hold of them in the presence of the Regime delegation which did not seek to prevent it. The Russian engineering forces had carried out excavation operations before, looking for monuments in Palmyra in 2017 and 2018 and had looted many of them deporting them to Russia, the source said.

Bashar al-Assad's forces and Iranian militias had reused the airport militarily and deployed L-39 helicopters and airplanes in September of 2017, after quickly making the necessary changes during the summer of that year. The rehabilitation changes were mainly made by the regime's Airport Battalion with the assistance of civil engineering companies in cooperation with Russian engineering forces.

Russian attack helicopters of various types, as well as a squadron of Iranian flying aircraft were temporarily put in place during the battles against the "State" in the countryside of Palmyra, Deir Ezzor and Albukamal.

Aleppo: 5 military pilots return to Kuweires airport after one year training in Iran

Zaman Al Wasl — Tue, 12 May 2020 23:21:00 +0300

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Five Syrian military pilots returned from Iran last week to the Kuweires Airport College in Aleppo province after they had completed a full year of training in Iran as pilots and pilot trainers, on the Brazilian-made plane Embraer-Tucano-EMB-TUCANO, sources told Zaman al-Wasl.

The training was a part of an agreement described as highly confidential between the regime and Iran in order to reoperate the Kuweires airfield through qualifying the new army pilots after most of the Air Force’s aircrafts have been destroyed or bombed out of service.

In May 2019, Kuweires airbase was operated the after years of siege by opposition factions.

Kuweires has been the main airport of the Aviation Institute since 1972. It is followed by Keshish (al-Jarrah) to the east and Meneg air base north of Aleppo.

The Syrian regime is seeking to rehabilitate the Air College with Iran’s help, arguably, to supply the air force with the new pilots, by purchasing Tucano planes, which Iran can give to the regime or by purchasing this plane by Iran for the regime, as Iran is one of the countries that owns this plane, and it may be possible to buy more of it from Brazil, as it is a preliminary training plane, knowing that Egypt has been producing this kind of plane with a Brazilian license for decades.

The price of the aircraft is ranging between 9 to 14 million USD. Modern versions of them are equipped with very sophisticated electronics, where they take off and land on short runways, and there are two-seat versions, and one seat version.

The maximum speed of the aircraft is 590 km / h, the maximum flight range is 4,820 km, the maximum flight height is 11 km, and the empty weight is 3.2 tons.

Idlib: opposition forces repel new army attack

Zaman Al Wasl — Sat, 09 May 2020 20:29:00 +0300

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian opposition forces thwarted an incursion attempt by regime forces and allied militias in northern Idlib region, military source told Zaman al-Wasl Saturday.

Bashar al-Assad's forces pushed separately into the towns of Falaifel and Maarat Alia in the southern and eastern countryside.

Turkish-backed fighters have repelled the attack, killing and wounding dozen, according to the source.

The March-5th ceasefire did not force regime army to roll back significant military gains made in the Russian-backed offensive.

The Turkish artillery pounded regime bastions in Saraqeb town in retaliation to the truce violations, the source said.

The truce halted a terrifying three-month air and ground campaign that killed hundreds and sent 1 million people fleeing toward the Turkish border.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned last week that Turkey would no longer tolerate terrorist harassment in the Idlib safe zone in northwestern Syria or ramped-up attacks, which flout agreements.

Idlib province is home to 3.5 million civilians, third of them are displaced, according to the United Nations.

Syrian Regime forces and allied militias have killed 2,125 people since April 2019 in northwestern Syria, according to the Syrian Response Coordinators group.

The death toll has included 597 children and 35 humanitarian workers. Also, the Russian-led offensive has also displaced 1,533,714 people.

Since the ceasefire agreed between Russia and Turkey in March, the lowest death toll ever was recorded in Syria in nine years with 270 people.

Strategic Stamu military airfield in details

Zaman Al Wasl — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 23:14:00 +0300

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Most regime airstrikes on northern Syria have been carried out from Stamu airfield in coastal Latakia province, military sources told Zaman al-Wasl and had provided more details about the strategic base.

The attack helicopters base was created in 2016 after Russian forces seized the Hmeimim airbase and turned it into a command center and headquarters.

Stamu airfield has an area of 750,000m² divided into two sections: the first is a training camp, with an area of around 400,000m², including warehouses that hold ammunition, explosive barrels, aircraft missiles, and naval mines, as well as underground shelters fortified against chemical and nuclear weapons and food and fuel warehouses that would last several months. It is also equipped with electric generators. The camp has a guard battalion consisting of 300 soldiers from the Fifth Corps, who are not allowed to enter the airstrip, providing security to the camp from the outside.

The second section is a helipad, with an area of around 350,000m², located southwest of the old camp. It surrounds the training camp in the form of an arc and has its own entrance for airport workers only. The helipad is as equipped as the camp with more shelters and its fortification force.

According to an officer serving in the airstrip, the airport holds 21 helicopters used to bomb resistance-controlled areas, two of which are model Mi-8, 16 Mi-17, and 2 Mi-25, as well as a Kamov marine helicopter and 3 Flamingo training aircraft. All of these helicopters are around 50 years of age.

There are also training halls and offices for the officers, in addition to small and dispersed fortified warehouses to temporarily store naval mines and barrel bombs, as well as cranes and vehicles for loading aircraft. “There are 150 pilot officers who take turns flying the helicopters, and more than 100 technical officers for aircraft preparation, in addition to officers from different specialties and a guard battalion as a first line of defense and to accompany the runway command and pilots during takeoff. The total manpower operating amounts to more than 1000 military personnel.”

The source also confirmed to Zaman al-Wasl that all aircraft are used for bombing indiscriminately with no guided munitions, with the purpose of destroying homes and causing the largest possible number of casualties to coax resistance fighters to leave. Combat orders are issued to the camp command by the Hmeimim air base and the notorious Brigadier General Suheil Al-Hassan, and any insubordination from the pilots is punished by death or arrest.

Colonel Ziyad Hajj Obaid, a defected pilot, said that all the aircrafts operating in Stamu had been assembled from other airports, to be close to Idlib and the countryside of Aleppo, under Russian protection and command, and far from and bombing from Israel. Colonel Ziyad confirmed that most of the helicopters owned by Assad’s army are old and undeveloped, and are unable to carry out accurate air strikes because they are not equipped with high-precision weapons, and are limited to indiscriminate executions that target civilians and services centers, civil defense and medical institutions.

Colonel Fayez Al-Asmar believes that the Russian air force and the regime's aircrafts were the bloodiest and most used in suppressing the Syrian revolution, killing hundreds and forcing Syrians to flee their homes to be invaded by militias and regime forces to raise their flags of victory over the ruins of cities and villages.

Colonel Al-Asmar added that helicopters play a big role in logistics and ammunition, and it is easy to establish airports and airstrips at a low cost, that is why the regime is planning to increase the number of helicopters and to distribute them over its areas of control. The Colonel believes that choosing Sitamu as a landing site helps strengthen Russian influence in the coast at the expense of Iran, and being close to operations in Latakia and Idlib.

With the start of the revolution, the university training camp in Sitamu turned into a military headquarters for the regime’s National Defense Forces before its dissolution, and after 2016, it became the headquarters of the Fifth Corps and the Air Force Intelligence.

The airport uses aircrafts model Mi-8, which were first made in 1961 in the Soviet Union, and entered service in 1964, becoming coordinated in all countries that used it. The Mi-8 is considered a military transport and combat aircraft, also used as a civilian transport plane for passengers and goods. It can carry 28 passengers or 3.5 tons of cargo. Its maneuverability is weak, and it cannot fly higher than 5km. Arming it is not for fighting, but for self-defense. It can fly for a range of 465 km with a 3-person crew at a speed of 250km/hour. A large number of helicopters of this model were shot down by the Syrian resistance factions.

While still old, the Mi-17 is a newer model than the Mi-8, with the same shape and a similar flying speed, range and height as the Mi-8, but with a better engine and maneuverability. It first appeared in 1981 and can carry between 3000 and 4000 kg, with.

Mi-25 is yet another old model that was first used in 1979, with a speed of 325km/hour and 3.5 tons cargo capacity.

The Kamov Ka-50 is a single-seat attack helicopter first used by the Soviet Union in 1980 with a coaxial rotor s and a radar system with a signal of detection that reaches 35km. It is equipped with Hermes anti-tank guided missiles with a speed of 1km/s, and a fast-firing auto cannon.

Assad's air force trains Libyan pilots to fight against UN-recognized Govt: source

Zaman Al Wasl — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 12:57:00 +0300

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A well-informed source said Libyan pilots from Khalifa Haftar's forces had arrived in Damascus to follow a training by the Syrian Air Force on the Russian Mi-25 attack helicopters.

The pilots will be stationed in the Air Force 64th Brigade at the Beli Military Airport, 20 km (13 miles) south of Damascus where they have to follow an intensive training for at least six months to be qualified, according to the military source.

Backed by Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE, the parallel Libyan authorities have been on offensive against the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) since April 2019 to take the Libyan capital Tripoli.

Bashar al-Assad's regime and a delegation representing eastern Libyan strongman Haftar agreed last March to exchange diplomatic missions and confront Turkish "interference", state-run news agency SANA said.

Turkey backs the UN-recognized government in Tripoli, and has dispatched troops and Syrian fighters to the North African country.

The Syrian regime has also sent hundreds of fighters to bolster Haftar's army near Tripoli in the past few months who were encouraged by high incentives.

The Beli airbase is also a training field for Iranians pilots. Two squadrons of Iranian warplanes have been stationed since 2012.

Military sources said Iran controls the northeastern part of the airport.

Intelligence source reveals how Israel recovered Eli Cohen's watch from Assad

Zaman Al Wasl — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 10:07:00 +0300

Ali Mamlouk, Head of the Syria's National Security Directorate, is described as the intelligence’s Joker card, whose relations with international intelligence have served Bashar al-Assad's regime.

A description that corroborates the story of the watch of Israel's most famed spy Eli Cohen, which has been recovered by the Israeli government in July 2018 after 53 years since Cohen’s was caught and hanged in Damascus.

Zaman Al-Wasl got exclusive information from a Military Intelligence source, who said that the watch was kept at the External Security Division branch 236, in Damascus.

“The watch had been in The 236th Branch since the 1970s. The branch is one of the Secret Military Intelligence whose activities are concentrated outside Syria, thus keeping it outside media coverage over the past years.”

The watch, which the Egyptian-born Jew wore until the day he was captured in 1965, was kept in the branch archives, on the second floor in the penultimate room on the left side, and was stored in two boxes.

Branch 236 consists of two floors and a ground floor. Most of the training of security officers of the armed forces used to take place the training halls in the first floor, before the opening of the National Institute for Security Studies, while the second floor contains branch officers, archives, etc.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the watch was recovered “in a special Mossad operation” in Syria, while Cohen’s wife said that the watch was purchased online. According to our source, both stories are false. “On April 22, 2018, Maj. Gen Mohamed Mahala, the Head of the Military Intelligence Division, paid a surprise visit to the Branch 236, going directly to the room where the watch was kept, later leaving the building with it. We learned then that he would be handing it to Maj. Gen Ali Mamlouk personally.”

According to the source, after the news that the watch was returned to Israel, old volunteers of branch 236 spread the information that the regime’s delegate to the UN, Bashar Jaafari, had a role in delivering the watch to Israel, but without any detailed information about the place and time of its delivery.

The Cohen watch is not the first deal between the regime and Israel, and will certainly not be the last. In fact, an Israeli tank, which the regime previously claimed was gifted to Russia, was also returned; as well as the remains of IDF soldier Zachary Baumel, who was killed in Sultan Yaqoub battle in 1982 and was buried in Yarmouk camp cemetary, which were handed to Israel through Russian mediation and not through an intelligence operation, as Israeli media claimed.

Masquerading as Kamal Amin Taabet, a fictitious Syrian businessman, Eli Cohen made multiple trips to Syria from 1962. He befriended influential political, business and military figures and become increasingly trusted, according to BBC.

The mystique of his story is such that it is oft-reported that he was even considered for the position of Syrian deputy defence minister, though this has not been backed up by evidence.

Assad appoints criminal pilot as 24th Brigade Commander

Zaman Al Wasl — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 08:05:00 +0300

(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.

Assad army constructs new military prison in Homs: sources

Zaman Al Wasl — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 18:40:00 +0300

The Syrian regime army has finished building and equipping the deserted Hassia prison in central Homs province , Well-informed sources told Zaman al-Wasl.

The so-called the Military Disciplinary Center is located on the western side of the Homs-Damascus highway, just across from the industrial district of Hassia.

The main section was completed in 2011, and although its interior was ready, construction has stopped with the outbreak of the revolution.

The regime wanted to establish the Military Disciplinary Center as the new headquarters for the Disciplinary Center 336 of the Military Police, moving it from its old location near Palmyra (Tadmur) Military Prison.

The regime had officially assigned a company of the 812th Battalion of the 67th Brigade, 11th Division, to protect the prison, switching the company shifts every three months.

According to satellite images obtained by Zaman al-Wasl, the prison is surrounded by three concrete walls, each about six meters high. Its overall area is 505,000 square meters.

The main prison block is divided into two symmetrical sections. Each sections has eight floor blocks and each block consists of three floors. The prison also includes a separate three-sotrey administrative building, with an area of 4,500 square meters, located between the outer wall and the central wall, and which was completed in the past two months.

Early this month, the regime appeared to have started transferring some military prisoners from Sednaya prison and other prisons to this prison.

Military source uncovers mass grave containing 6000 bodies buried by Assad

Zaman Al Wasl — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 07:05:32 +0300

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A military source has revealed the location of mass grave containing about 6000 bodies of opposition fighters, activists and detainees northeast of Damascus.

The heavy-guarded cemetery is located in a military zone near Baghdad Bridge at the Damascus-Latakia highway.

Air Force Intelligence and Fourth Mechanical Division surround the 6.5 hectares mass grave that was fenced in 2014, according to the source.

The regime army said Monday it had discovered a mass grave containing of 70 bodies in Douma, a former rebel stronghold north of Damascus, the state-run news agency reported.

At least 53,275 torture photographs smuggled out of Syria in August 2013 by a military defector code-named Caesar.

Caesar’s photographs show at least 6,786 detainees who died in detention or after being transferred from detention to a military hospital. The remaining photographs are of attack sites or of bodies identified by name as of government soldiers, other armed fighters, or civilians killed in attacks, explosions, or assassination attempts, according to Human Rights Watch.

Most of the 6,786 victims shown in the Caesar photographs were detained by just five intelligence agency branches in Damascus, and their bodies were sent to at least two military hospitals in Damascus between May 2011, when Caesar began copying files and smuggling them out of his workplace, and August 2013, when he fled Syria.

The Detainees Association of Sednaya Prison released last November testimonies of torture survivors of the notorious detention facility.

According to the report, 100% of the detainees had been tortured physically and 97.8% had been tortured psychologically.

The nine-year-old war has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands and forced 13 million people from their homes, half of whom have left their shattered homeland.

Assad forces dig up graves of revolution commanders

Zaman Al Wasl — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 04:03:13 +0300

(Zaman Al Wasl)- On September 7, 2011, Syria lost one of its revolution’s icons, Bilal Al-Kin, who was the thorn in the regime's side, both dead and alive, mourning his loss but following in his footsteps.

Activist Yaman Al-Homsi said that Al-Kin was a strong-willed young man who grew up in the Jourat Al-Shayah neighbourhood in the central city of Homs. He was conscripted between 1999 and 2000, and was convicted of burning a weapons warehouse and was sentenced to prison, which he left in 2010.

Bilal joined the rest of Homs’ youth in the revolution. On March 25, 2011, Security and Shabiha stormed the homes of the residents of Jourat Al-Shayah and assaulted them. Bilal had hit one of the Shabiha who arrested his mother, making him the most wanted in the whole city.

Bilal was one of the guardians of the protestors during their prayers until the day of the great sit-in, which transformed his life altogether. Bilal, then, decided to forcefully defend the innocent, taking up arms against the regime’s tyranny. The young rebel chose to leave his neighborhood to keep it safe from the regime’s attacks, as it was a passage for the injured to hospitals.

هذا الفيديو صادم إذ يعرض نبش قبر #بلال_الكن من قبل مخابرات الأسد واستخراج جثته.... التفاصيل بالرابط

نبشت النظام قبره وصوره... "بلال الكن" نهاية "رجل شجاع" جالت المخابرات بجثتهhttps://t.co/n4j72YVhaV pic.twitter.com/P5a9ThNhGi
— زمان الوصل (@zamanalwsl) September 7, 2019

ilal moved between Khalidiya and Old Homs, and a fair share of other rebelling areas.

With the increased aggression and criminality of the regime against the people of the city, Al-Kin was able to gather a number of brave men, creating, according to Al-Homsi, one of the first fighting groups in the city, which he later called “Khalid Ibn Al-Walid”. The group started operating under cover of night, attacking Shabiha locations and barriers. Bilal’s name became a nightmare for Shabiha and branches of security, the losses of the regime increasing tenfold in Homs, with the city's release from its grip around the corner. The martyr’s friend said that he terrified the regime not only because of his prowess, but because people began to rally around him. Bilal expanded his resistance beyond the neighborhoods of Homs to the countryside, coordinating with activists and rebels to form a united brigade.

By September 2011, after 6 months of resistance in Homs, the reigme mobilized its ful forces to eliminate “the breeding ground of terrorism”, sending the Fourth Division with infantry and tank divisions to put an end to the revolution in Homs. War erupted in the streets with two days of one-sided battles between Shabiha and the revolutionaries, during which Bilal and his companions managed to take down dozens of regime forces, who, in turn increased the intensity of shelling and fire, burning down houses and foreshadowing a human catastrophe.

Their families and other people appealed Bilal and his companions to leave before they were besieged, which, according to Al-Homsi, Bilal refused to withdraw, vowing to either die a martyr or defeat the regime and liberate the people from its injustice.

With the regime forces’ advancement faltering, they switched to a new tactic, infiltrating the roofs of the buildings and deploying snipers on the towers surrounding Al-Warsha and Bustan Al-Diwan area, as well as the rest of the resistance areas throughout the city. Thus, casualties began to grow in numbers in the ranks of the resistance. Among them was the hero Louay, known as “Mimati”, who was shot in the leg.

While evacuating the wounded and moving for cover, one of the snipers managed to hit Bilal, with the bullet entering from the back of his head and lodging under his eye. Al-Homsi said that no one believed that Bilal had been martyred, that a mere shot might take his life, to them he was invincible, walking the ground like a tank and standing tall like a mountain. September 7, 2011 was a sad day, in which Homs and its revolutionaries wept. His death was announced the next morning after securing his burial in Nakhla Al-Omari mosque.

Al-Homsi revealed that the regime left no stone unturned searching for Bilal, arresting wounded people from Al-Bar Hospital that same day. And after discovering the location of Bilal’s body, along with his companions Ahmed Al-Nakdali and Omar Shtur, the regime extracted their bodies, circulating Bilal’s in loyalist neighborhoods to reassure Shabiha that the nightmare has ended, thinking that they had defeated Homs. His body was then returned to the military hospital, with the regime preventing everyone from attending his funeral except for his mother, two of his relatives and the guardian of the Nasr cemetery.

His martyrdom concluded a heroic life that was a symbol of his honor, his revolution, and the clarity of his goal, a true hero that was adored by many, an adoration which was the source of his strength and his symbolism.

By Faris al-Rifai

January's Promotion List of Syrian Air Force: Names, Positions

Zaman Al Wasl — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 13:01:00 +0300

Zaman al-Wasl has obtained the January's promotion list of 52 top officers in the Syrian Air Force.

Most of the top officers operate as military pilots who carried out deadly air strikes on the opposition areas during over the nine-year-old conflict that claimed the lives of half a million people and displaced half of the country’s population.

The Syrian regime army on January 1st has also promoted 3 Brigadier Generals who gained fame in brutality and killing, each in his field.

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.

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

More than 135,000 pro-regime forces have been killed in seven years of brutal war, according to local monitoring groups.

In details, Brigadier General Pilot Tawfiq Mohamed Khadhour, originally from coastal Jableh region, to the rank of Maj. Gen. after his appointment as the Commander of The 22nd Division.

The second Brigadier to be promoted to Maj. Gen. was Mohamed Mansour. He was appointed as Deputy Commander of The 22nd Division.

The third Maj. Gen. was the pilot Abdullah Suleiman, originally from Tartus province; He was appointed as Commander of the Coastal Unitary Headquarters of the Air Force and Air Defense.

COLONEL TO BRIGADIER

The promotions from Colonel to Brigadier have included 49 officers throughout the formations, sectors, units, and headquarters of the Air Force, most of whom are technicians, navigators, and pilots who are suspended from aviation serving in the headquarters and leadership of the Air Force. Below is a list of the names of the majority of them:

Brigadier General Haitham Fayad

- Brigadier General, Asaad Asaad

Brigadier General Issa Duweiri

Brigadier General Akram Abdel Salam

Brigadier General Abdul Rahman Hassan

- Brigadier General Kamel Ahmed

- Brigadier Pilot Mohamed Qunbas

- Brigadier General Rafiq Ahmed Ibrahim

Brigadier General Abdullah Al-Ahmad

- Brigadier General Mohamed Ibrahim Al-Dakhil

- Brigadier General Mohamed Heen Neisafi

Brigadier General Samih Halloum

Brigadier Pilot Khaldoun Adham Boueini

- Brigadier General Mohamed Bakry

- Brigadier General Pilot Hamza Haider

- Brigadier General Ahmed Masoud

Brigadier General Ziyad Abu Al-Laith

Brigadier General Youssef Jammoul

- Brigadier General Ali Asaad Habib

- Brigadier General Melhem Abdel-Karim

Brigadier General Taher Ali

Brigadier General Tayseer Ibrahim

- Brigadier General Adib Suleiman

- Brigadier General Mansour Shahoud

Brigadier General Mounir Ayyash

- Brigadier General Moataz Hamdan

Brigadier General Mohamed Al-Dhamati

- Brigadier General Khalil Sheikh Saleh

Brigadier General Riyadh Al-Ahmed

Brigadier General Rami Mahfoudh

Brigadier Salim Jaber Al-Ali

- Brigadier General Sultan Al-Ahmad

Brigadier General Hussain Al-Ali

Brigadier General Yasser Mohammed

Brigadier General Abdul Karim Al-Nasser

- Brigadier General Abdul Razzaq Al-Ahmad

Brigadier General Walid Hawash

- Brigadier General Nadim Shahoud

Brigadier General Ramadan Al-Saeed.

Iran’s radar jammers paralysed Syrian defense systems during Israeli strikes: source

Zaman Al Wasl — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 13:20:00 +0300

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A source operating in the Syrian Air Defence Force told Zaman al-Wasl that the defence systems were paralysed and almost caused a disaster during the Israeli strikes last November due to Iran’s radar jamming stations.

The source confirmed that some of Syrian defense missiles had been exploded minutes after its launch at a distance of no more than 2 to 5 km, causing many casualties.

The source information is contradicting what the state-run news agency (SANA) reported in the aftermath of the Israeli strike by claiming that regime’s air defence had intercepted 11 of the 18 missiles fired by six Israeli jets before they struck their targets.

After the Israeli attack on November 20, Syria's air defense officers attributed the fail to a wide jamming package targeted the radars and control systems but investigations revealed that three Iranian radar jammers were behind the jamming.

A committee formed by the Syrian electronic warfare said, in a report provided to the Defense Minister, the radar stations are located in Mount al-Manea near the town of al-Kiswa, Tal al-Saroukhiya (Missiles Hill) and Tal al-Sultan near the town of Sayyida Zeinab. The three sites are controlled by Iran.

Israel said on November 20 that its aircraft struck dozens of Iranian and Syrian military targets in retaliation for rockets fired towards Israel a day earlier. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said weapons and ammunition storage facilities belonging to the Al Quds force were destroyed in the attack.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said 11 people were killed, including seven members of the elite Quds Force is the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

In relevant development, Israel in November’s strikes had destroyed Russian missile systems owned by the Syrian regime, military source told Zaman al-Wasl.

The source, who requested anonymity, said Israel tried to 'not embarrassing Russia' or to evoke tension over targeting its advanced missile systems.

New satellite images obtained by Zaman al-Wasl showed that The Buk-M2 and Pantsir-S1 missile systems had been destroyed by Israel south of the Syrian capital.

The Buk is medium-range surface-to-air missile system designed to counter cruise missiles. Pantsir-S1 is a combined short to medium range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapon system.

Russia used to condemn Israel for all strikes targeting the regime and Shiite allies, saying they were a “wrong move” that is in “stark contrast” to international law.

Israel has been carrying out a war-between-wars campaign since 2013, in an attempt to prevent Iran and its proxies, including Hezbollah, from obtaining advanced weapons to use against the Jewish state and from entrenching themselves in Syria.

Thousands of strikes have been carried out over the years in Syria and, according to foreign reports, in neighboring Iraq.

Israel destroyed Russian missile systems in November’s strikes: source

Zaman Al Wasl — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 20:27:00 +0300

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Israel in November’s strikes had destroyed Russian missile systems owned by the Syrian regime, military source told Zaman al-Wasl.

The source, who requested anonymity, said Israel tried to 'not embarrassing Russia' or to evoke tension over targeting its advanced missile systems.

New satellite images obtained by Zaman al-Wasl showed that The Buk-M2 and Pantsir-S1 missile systems had been destroyed by Israel south of the Syrian capital.

Russia used to condemn Israel for all strikes targeting the regime and Shiite allies, saying they were a “wrong move” that is in “stark contrast” to international law.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said 11 people were killed, including seven members from the elite Quds Force is the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Zaman Al Wasl, Agencies