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HomeNewsContained in the deserted houses of Assad's enforcers

Contained in the deserted houses of Assad’s enforcers

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ORIONEWS A torn picture of Bashar al-Assad sits among other household items including a chopping board, with electrical wires coming out of a wall nearbyORIONEWS

Jamil Hassan, one of the feared males in Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime, wished for the torture and killing of civilians, was shaking as he walked down the steps of his condo block.

Exterior, the 72-year-old climbed right into a automobile in a small convoy together with his household and a handful of safety guards, only a few suitcases between them.

His neighbour and her teenage son watched.

“I knew the second I noticed them flee that Assad had fallen,” she says.

After we entered Hassan’s condo a couple of days later, indicators of the household’s hasty departure have been in every single place.

Within the fridge was a half-eaten carrot cake with a knife nonetheless on the plate. The beds have been strewn with garments and empty shoeboxes. Flowers wilted in a vase within the eating room, and cups and plates had been left to dry by the sink.

A framed picture of a smiling Hassan and Assad held on the wall of the examine, with textual content studying: “Our skies are for us and forbidden to others”.

Jamil Hassan pictured in a composite photo in a frame, with Bashar al-Assad in the background
A white carrier bag with the words Prada Milano on it, with a sandal on top of one corner of the bag

Indicators of the household’s hasty departure have been in every single place

Hassan, known as “the butcher” by many civilians on his road, was one in every of Assad’s most menacing enforcers. He led the Air Drive Intelligence and oversaw a community of detention services together with the infamous Mezzeh Jail, the place detainees have been routinely tortured.

He’s one in every of many senior regime figures wished or sanctioned world wide who’ve deserted their houses in prosperous areas of Damascus and vanished.

Discovering these males who dominated Syria with an iron fist will likely be tough. Some concern they’ll strike political offers overseas and evade justice.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the marketing campaign to topple the regime, has vowed to seek for them inside Syria. Rebels aligned with the group now occupy Hassan’s condo and a handwritten word on the entrance door warns folks to not enter.

After we requested them the place Hassan might need gone, one grinned and replied: “I do not know – to Hell.”

‘His guards threatened to kill my canine’

Many condo shutters on Hassan’s quiet road in central Damascus are actually closed. Knocks on doorways go unanswered.

Those that will converse inform us about their concern at dwelling on a road with a wished conflict felony. “We have been so afraid to speak,” says the girl who watched him flee. “It was terrifying to dwell subsequent to them.”

Hassan is needed within the US for “partaking in conspiracy to commit merciless and inhuman remedy of civilian detainees, together with US residents”. He was convicted in absentia earlier this yr in France for his position in imprisoning, disappearing and torturing two Syrian-French nationals. Germany desires him too. An Interpol Purple Discover exhibits {a photograph} of Hassan alongside a word that he’s wished for “conspiracy to commit conflict crimes”.

He was positioned below journey bans and had his belongings frozen over the repression of civilian protesters. In April 2011 the US says Air Drive Intelligence personnel fired tear gasoline and dwell ammunition at protesting crowds in Damascus and different cities, killing a minimum of 43.

Individuals on the road describe a formidable determine who was unapproachable and all the time surrounded by guards.

A makeshift safety put up outdoors Hassan’s condo constructing was continually staffed by navy personnel. The evening earlier than the regime collapsed, the lads merely took off their uniforms and discarded their weapons, based on one other neighbour.

“It was the primary time I might seen this put up with no lights, no sounds, no noise,” says 27-year-old Amr al-Bakri, a filmmaker who lives together with his household within the constructing subsequent door.

He stated locals “knew what he did to the Syrians – outdoors of Damascus and in Damascus – so we all know it however we won’t say something, simply ‘good morning sir’. He’d say nothing again.”

Amr says his household needed to give away their pet canine after Hassan’s guards threatened to kill it if it did not cease barking. When Amr’s household requested for the guard put up to be moved from outdoors their house, they have been advised they need to transfer home as a substitute, he says.

A family living room with a large rug, translucent curtains, and sofas

Hassan’s house, pictured above, was routinely guarded by navy personnel, civilians on the road say

A bedroom with bunk beds which appears to be messy

A guard put up outdoors of Hassan’s constructing has been deserted

The guards would run common inspections on the road and verify the baggage of holiday makers.

“Typically if I had a plumber or handyman to come back and repair one thing one of many guards would come and verify if there was actually one thing that wanted to be fastened,” says the girl dwelling in Hassan’s constructing.

Neighbours additionally say Hassan had a “golden line” for electrical energy that meant his household’s lights have been all the time on, whereas different houses within the neighbourhood have been in darkness.

The electrician known as to repair any issues on the condo says he knew Hassan over a few years “however solely from a distance”. “[Hassan] was very strict – a navy persona,” the person says. “He was a butcher… He had no mercy.”

The person advised ORIONEWS Information he had been in jail – not at Mezzeh however elsewhere – and was tortured there.

A neighborhood shopkeeper, Mohammed Naoura, says he did not like Hassan however that you simply needed to seem to help him.

“We’re completely satisfied now,” he provides. “No one believed this could ever occur.”

Weapons on sofas and underground swimming swimming pools

Hussam Luka, head of the Common Safety Directorate (GSD), was much less well-known amongst residents however had an condo beneath Hassan.

His “ruthless, smooth-talking nature” reportedly earned him the nickname “the spider” – and he is below sanctions within the EU, US and UK.

A UK sanctions checklist says he was “answerable for the torture of opponents in custody”, whereas the US Treasury Division says he “reportedly dedicated quite a lot of massacres” whereas working in Homs.

The White Home has stated he’s one in every of a small group of officers who might need details about lacking American journalist Austin Tice.

At his house on Monday, rebels have been dismantling furnishings to be put into storage. They stated they arrived after looters had already taken most of the most costly objects.

The interior of a house with damaged walls
Utensils and home appliances are placed on the floor, piled together
A photograph in  wooden frame shows Hassam Luka and Assad shaking hands.

Hussam Luka (left) and Assad

A photograph of Luka and Assad remained, printed in numerous sizes and kinds, alongside paperwork from safety and intelligence occasions, and ceremonial medals and certificates from the overseas spy service in Russia – the place the deposed Syrian chief Assad has fled.

“This award is to the coordinator of the mukhabarat [intelligence service] organ within the southern provinces of the Syrian Arab Republic,” one certificates naming Luka says. “You confirmed the utmost professionalism and put in big effort to fulfil the duties entrusted to you for the nice of the Syrian folks.”

As rebels clear the condo, a neighbour wanders in to see what’s taking place.

When requested what she is aware of in regards to the regime official, she replies: “We hold to ourselves, they hold to themselves. Nobody on this constructing interacts with one another.” She walks away.

In different prosperous areas extra houses have been deserted. Fridges are absolutely stocked, wardrobes full and in some instances journey paperwork left behind.

The rebels who’ve taken over the houses are utilizing them as bases, and say they’re additionally stopping additional looting.

At one lavish condo, males say they’re sleeping on blankets on marble flooring beneath big chandeliers and cooking on a camp range in its fashionable kitchen. Weapons are propped in opposition to plush sofas and arm chairs.

“We do not want any of this,” a insurgent says, gesticulating across the room.

At one other, a toddler peaks via the curtain of a sprawling ground-floor condo with an out of doors swimming pool. A big household say they’re occupying the area.

Maybe the grandest house within the space is the fashionable labyrinthine underground dwelling of one of many nation’s best-known businessmen – Khodr Taher Bin Ali, higher referred to as Abu Ali Khodr.

Bin Ali has been sanctioned by the US, UK and EU for his position in supporting and benefiting from the Syrian regime.

His house has an elevator, a full-size gymnasium, an indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi and sauna, and an industrial kitchen.

A swimming pool with sofas in the foreground
two full-length safes, golden in colour

Two golden safes designed to carry watches in the main bedroom

A family photo showing Khodr Taher Bin Ali and his wife with his two children, their faces blurred. The photo frame is on another table, with other photos nearby

A household picture of Khodr Taher Bin Ali that was left in his home

In the main bedroom, there are two golden safes, with area for dozens of watches – in a drawer there’s a forgotten guarantee card for luxurious model Audemars Piguet. A gun case and jewelry packing containers within the wardrobe are empty.

The kids’s ensuite bedrooms nonetheless have toys and a Louis Vuitton purse on the ground and homework and faculty studies are within the cabinets. A Quran rests on a countertop with the phrases “A present from the president Bashar al-Assad” inscribed on the facet.

Across the nook from Bin Ali is the house of Ali Mamlouk, one in every of Assad’s closest associates and among the many most senior and infamous members of the regime. He was reportedly given the nickname “black field” due to his management over delicate info.

He was sentenced alongside Hassan by French judges this yr for conflict crimes, and can be wished in Lebanon for 2 explosions in 2012 within the metropolis of Tripoli that killed and wounded dozens.

Like Luka, the White Home believes Mamlouk is one in every of few males who might have details about Tice.

His house is padlocked shut, and rebels are extra reluctant to grant entry there.

In a guard sales space outdoors, there are notes on guests to the property earlier than Assad’s fall – folks delivering candies, water and greens, and coming to repair the electrical energy.

“Nobody might see, nobody might stroll, nobody might go by this space. It is truly the primary time I am seeing this place from up shut,” says 17-year-old Mo Rasmi Taftaf, whose household personal a home close by.

“At any time when he got here in or out, guards would lower the roads off,” one neighbour says.

four men in camo gear stand facing away from the camera

Rebels are actually occupying the deserted residences

A gun placed on a chair at another of the apartments the ORIONEWS saw inside

A gun positioned on a chair at one other of the residences the ORIONEWS noticed inside

Shouting down from a second-floor balcony, one other gestures in the direction of Mamlouk’s giant house when requested in regards to the wished regime determine.

“It felt like there was a wierd environment” on the road the evening earlier than information broke that Assad had fled, he says, with out elaborating.

“His safety was right here on the time however I noticed them go away on Sunday morning – a whole lot of automobiles. Ali Mamlouk wasn’t right here,” he provides, earlier than returning inside.

One other man, who declines to present his title, says he does not wish to discuss in regards to the regime males.

“I simply wish to dwell in peace. I do not wish to open this ebook or discover all of those crimes – there can be a whole lot of blood.”

Searching the Assad males

Many, although, do need justice.

The chief of HTS has vowed to pursue the senior regime figures in Syria and requested different international locations at hand over those that fled. These wished elsewhere have restricted locations to run.

Discovering the lads will likely be a problem.

“Whereas there isn’t any confirmed info on the present whereabouts of senior regime figures like Jamil Hassan, Ali Mamlouk, and others, there are issues that such people may gain advantage from political offers that allow them to evade justice,” the Syrian Heart for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) tells the ORIONEWS.

“Some are more likely to have sought refuge in allied international locations, complicating future extradition efforts, whereas others should be in Syria, dwelling discreetly.”

On Hassan’s road, neighbours speculate about the place the vanished conflict felony has gone.

His household left few clues within the condo. However within the workplace is a certificates for Hassan’s daughter signed by Hassan Nasrallah, the late chief of Lebanon-based Shia militant group Hezbollah, thanking her for her “assist and help for this honourable resistance”.

A number of neighbours recommend he could also be hiding in Lebanon or has transited via there, whereas the native shopkeeper says he thinks Hassan headed for the coast, maybe to Latakia within the north – the heartland of the minority Alawite sect to which Assad and plenty of of his closest allies belong.

In the meantime, Lebanese newspaper Nida al-Watan studies that Mamlouk was smuggled throughout the border and into the Lebanese capital Beirut by Hezbollah – a long-time ally of Syria’s Ba’ath authorities.

Hezbollah has not confirmed providing help to any regime figures, and the Lebanese authorities has stated no Syrian officers focused by worldwide warrants have been authorised to enter via authorized crossings. Lebanese safety providers say Mamlouk isn’t within the nation.

Syrian-British barrister Ibrahim Olabi says regime officers might have acquired new identities and passports, as they have been highly effective folks backed by state establishments.

In the case of getting justice, he provides, a scarcity of proof isn’t the issue. It’s extra about discovering them and getting them to a spot the place they are often held accountable.

The SCM says doing this can “require appreciable sources, sustained political will, and worldwide collaboration”.

Failing to take action will ship a “harmful message that crimes, together with conflict crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity, can go unpunished”, it provides.

Ibrahim Olabi says he’s hopeful that justice will likely be served.

“It’s going to completely be a hunt,” he says, however “the world now could be a small place via social media, personal investigators, political leverages”.

Hassan’s neighbours who have been keen to speak say they hope he’ll in the future be returned to Syria, distant from their road, to be punished.

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