The dismissal came after information and reports collected from a special security team affiliated with al-Assad’s wife, Asma al-Akhras, during the last period about the officers responsible for guarding the Republican Palace, al-Assad’s convoy, and the National Security Division.
The “Voice of the Capital” website quoted a security source as saying that al-Assad suddenly removed three high-ranking officers, in addition to others in charge of security divisions and detachments, from their duties, and issued orders to put them and their families under house arrest.
The source indicated that al-Assad dismissed, upon seeing the reports, the security official responsible for the special presidential convoy and al-Assad’s movements, Major General Fayez Jumaa, in addition to the person in charge of the escort and protection unit, Brigadier General Moeen Shehadeh.
He pointed out that al-Assad attached the dismissal decision to an order to place all the officers whose names appear in the file submitted by his wife under house arrest, seize their property and the property of their families, and stop the security cards of those close to them.
He pointed out that the two officers were involved in entering smuggled cars from Lebanon and Iraq into Syria, and illegally owning real estate and partnerships with merchants in return for clearing shipments coming to Syria from customs, in addition to taking out huge sums of money in foreign currency outside Syria, and issuing security cards and licenses to carry weapons for those close to them. and wanted criminal cases.
The seizure included 30 luxury cars belonging to the two isolated officers, which were entered without customs restrictions, in addition to the confiscation of sums of money in foreign currencies and quantities of gold from the villas and palaces owned by them.
According to the source, the reports proved that the two officers owned no less than 4 buildings consisting of several floors, real estate, restaurants and shops in the Damascus neighborhoods, which they obtained in return for security and economic facilities for merchants and businessmen.
He pointed out that al-Assad attached the decision to an order requiring the dismissal and freezing of officers from the National Security Branch, the State Security Branch, the Military Intelligence Division and “Branch 40”, and the confiscation of all their property and weapons handed over to them and their relatives.
Among them is the former head of the Military Intelligence Division, Major General Muhammad Mahalla, as the decision stipulated freezing his authority, which he currently occupies in the National Security, until the end of 2023.
The source confirmed that al-Assad assigned Major General Kifah Melhem, head of the Military Intelligence Department, to follow up the investigation with junior officers and collaborators with the officers who were included in the dismissal decision.
Al-Assad worked during the years that followed his control of the Syrian lands outside his control from the opposition factions, with Russian-Iranian support, to isolate some officers who committed massacres against the Syrians in the areas rebelling against his regime and demanded his departure, most notably the former head of the Air Force Intelligence branch, Jamil Hassan.
Human rights opponents also accused al-Assad of executing others to prevent him from being held accountable in the future, including the prominent leader of the Republican Guard, Major General Issam Zahr al-Din, and the head of the Military Security Branch in Deir ez-Zor, Major General Jameh Jameh, in addition to Rustom Ghazali.
