Syrian Internal Security Forces have arrested Brigadier General Jaber Mehrez Ibrahim, a former commander of the 138th Air Defense Brigade under the ousted Assad regime, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Sunday.
According to SANA, Ibrahim was apprehended following a “precise surveillance and tracking operation.” During the Assad era, he commanded the brigade stationed in the town of Saida, in eastern Daraa province. Preliminary investigations indicate he issued orders to kill and arrest protesters, suppress demonstrations, and participated in military campaigns targeting villages and towns in the eastern Daraa countryside, where civilians were pursued and homes attacked.
Investigators hold Ibrahim directly responsible for the Saida Housing massacre, in which nearly 120 people were killed, SANA stated. His name is also linked to systematic arrests and torture involving numerous individuals from the province, including the child Hamza al-Khatib. The report did not specify the date of the arrest, and the allegations have not yet been tested in court.
The Saida Housing Massacre
The atrocity occurred on April 29, 2011, during the early days of the Syrian uprising, on a day protesters designated the “Friday of Anger.” The violence erupted near Saida, around the military housing compound and the 138th Air Defense Brigade headquarters.
Thousands of unarmed demonstrators from surrounding villages—including al-Jiza, al-Musayfirah, and Kahil—were marching toward the city of Daraa to deliver food and medical aid and to help break the military siege. Regime forces and Air Force Intelligence opened heavy machine-gun fire on the approaching crowd. An estimated 120 people were killed or went missing, while scores more were wounded or detained.
Among those arrested was 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib. His mutilated and tortured body was returned to his family weeks later, igniting widespread protests across Syria and drawing international condemnation.
Broader Accountability Campaign
The arrest marks the latest step in a campaign by Syria’s current authorities to pursue officials of the Assad government—which fell on December 8, 2024—for alleged war crimes.
The Interior Ministry has previously announced the arrests of several senior officers over the 2013 Ghouta chemical attack. Those detained include Major General Adnan Abboud Halwa, identified as responsible for the attack; Colonel Ahmad Habib Ali, a chemical weapons specialist; and Brigadier General Khardal Ahmad Dioub, accused of coordinating logistics for the bombardment.
Authorities have also detained Amjad Youssef, a former Military Intelligence non-commissioned officer implicated in the 2013 Tadamon massacre in Damascus, following a Guardian investigation that identified him in 2022.
On the anniversary of the Ghouta attack, the head of the National Commission for Transitional Justice, Abdul Basit Abdullatif, renewed a pledge to hold accountable anyone who used chemical weapons, ordered their use, or facilitated the attacks. He emphasized that ending impunity is essential for justice and for preventing the recurrence of such crimes.
Decades of Documented Atrocities
Rights groups and Syrian authorities have documented mass killings under both Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar, who was toppled in December 2024.
- Tadmor Prison, 1980: Troops of the “Defense Saraya” under Rifaat al-Assad killed an estimated 1,000 to 1,200 detainees on June 27, 1980, a day after a failed assassination attempt on Hafez al-Assad. No one has been held accountable, according to SANA.
- Hama, 1982: The Syrian Network for Human Rights says regime forces killed between 30,000 and 40,000 civilians and forcibly disappeared about 17,000 others during a nearly month-long assault in February 1982.
- Saida Housing, 2011: An estimated 120 marchers heading to besieged Daraa were killed or went missing on April 29, 2011.
- Daraya, 2012: Human rights groups reported that between 320 and 700 people, including more than 60 children, were killed between August 20 and 25, 2012.
- Ghouta, 2013: A sarin attack on August 21, 2013, killed 1,144 people, according to the SNHR. A UN mission confirmed the use of sarin but was not mandated to assign blame.
- Tadamon, 2013: More than 500 people were killed in the Damascus neighborhood on April 16, 2013, according to the Interior Ministry. Residents have documented 288 victims.