New HTS regime intensifies kidnappings and executions in Syria

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, around 400 kidnappings and executions have been recorded, as the new HTS regime plunges Syria into a landscape of terror

Nine civilians were kidnapped and executed by unknown gunmen in the Syrian cities of Homs and Jableh, as revenge killings continue following the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, Sputnik News reported on Tuesday (31).

Local sources told Sputnik that “six civilians were kidnapped in the Abbasiya neighborhood of the city of Homs on Saturday (29) by unknown armed men. Their bodies were found after being executed by firing squad on the outskirts of the city of Homs. Five of them were from the same family.”

Sources also reported that the bodies of three people executed by firing squad were found in the coastal city of Jableh. The victims included a 70-year-old man and his 30-year-old son. An armed group kidnapped them and took them to an unknown location two weeks ago.

The sources added that four young men in the city of Homs were kidnapped by masked men in two 4×4 vehicles on Monday (30). Their fate is unknown.

On the outskirts of Latakia, west of Hama, and in Aleppo, another 15 people were kidnapped in the last 48 hours, Sputnik added. Violence was also reported on the outskirts of Damascus.

Security forces from the new Syrian government led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) carried out an operation in a town on the outskirts of Damascus, killed its mayor and arrested 30 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Tuesday. fair (31).

“On Monday (30), the city of Ras al-Ma’arra, in the western region of Qalamoun, on the outskirts of Damascus, witnessed an operation carried out by armed groups affiliated with the General Security in the Military Operations Department amid intense shooting,” SOHR said.

Medical sources told Sputnik that around 400 kidnappings and murders have been reported across Syria since HTS militants overthrew the government led by Bashar al-Assad on Sunday (8).

Many of the victims are members of Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect.

HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa became the de facto leader of Syria and formed an interim government. Sharaa was previously deputy to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Iraq. He traveled to Syria in 2011 on orders from Baghdadi to found the Nusra Front, which later became the HTS.

The HTS-led Syrian government has demanded that all members of the previous government’s army and security forces hand over their weapons and undergo a reconciliation process to ensure they have not committed acts that HTS considers crimes.