Syria: 17 people died in fighting in Tartous, including 14 “members of the Interior Ministry”

Fighting caused many deaths in Tartous. Fourteen “members of the Ministry of the Interior” were killed in this Syrian city on Wednesday December 25, according to the new dedicated ministry, in clashes with armed men. The latter were trying to prevent the arrest of an official from the former power of Bashar al-Assad, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), which for its part counted 17 deaths in total.

The NGO reported that the wanted man, a former director of military justice identified as Mohammed Kanjo Hassan, was accused of being “one of those responsible for crimes in Saydnaya prison”infamous for its inhumane conditions and its central role in the violent repression carried out by the Assad clan. The ex-officer had “pronounced death sentences and arbitrary judgments against thousands of prisoners”, added the OSDH.

The clashes broke out after “residents refused to have their homes searched”specified the OSDH, adding that “dozens of people” had been arrested. The officer’s brother and armed men blocked the security forces and “ambushed them near the village and targeted one of the patrol vehicles,” according to this same source.