Syria says arrested Assad-era general over chemical attack

Damascus: Syria’s interior ministry on Friday announced the arrest of a general from ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s era, accusing him of involvement in a 2013 chemical attack on a suburb of the capital, Damascus.

In August 2013, the army under Assad’s rule was accused of using chemical weapons to target areas then under rebel control, killing more than 1,400 men, women and children, according to US intelligence and rights groups.

With Syria at the height of its civil war, the Assad government denied responsibility, but agreed to hand over its chemical arsenal in order to avert US strikes.

Assad went on to remain in power for more than a decade, only to be ousted in 2024 by Islamist-led rebels led by now President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

On Friday, the ministry said it arrested “Khardal Ahmed Dayoub, a former brigadier general in the forces of the ousted regime and former head of the Air Force Intelligence branch in Daraa, for his direct involvement in systematic violations against civilians”.

The ministry accused Dayoub of being “implicated in chemical attacks during his service in the Damascus branch and his presence in the Harasta area” where “he oversaw repressive operations and contributed to the logistical coordination for the bombing of Eastern Ghouta with internationally prohibited chemical weapons”.

Dayoub, among the latest in a string of Assad-era officials detained in recent months, is also accused of extrajudicial killings and coordination with Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, both of which were backing the ousted government.

Survivors of the attacks, including medics, at the time risked their lives by posting dozens of videos online, and spoke to journalists including AFP reporters about the horror they had witnessed.

The footage showed dozens of corpses, many of them children, outstretched on the ground.

Other images showed unconscious children, people foaming at the mouth and doctors trying to help them breathe.

– Global condemnation –

The scenes provoked revulsion and condemnation around the globe.

A United Nations report later said there was clear evidence sarin gas had been used.

Syria agreed that year to join the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and disclose and hand over its toxic stockpile under Russian and US pressure, averting the threat of strikes by Washington and its allies.

But that was not the last of the chemical attacks: the OPCW went on to blame Assad’s forces for others later in the civil war.

Syria’s civil war began in 2011, with a brutal crackdown on dissent that yielded an armed rebellion. More than half a million people ended up being killed, and millions more forced into exile.

Last month, Interior Minister Anas Khattab announced the arrest of Adnan Abboud Hilweh, one of the Syrian generals internationally sanctioned over involvement in the Ghouta attack.

The interior ministry said Friday evening it had also arrested another former Assad-era general, Sahl Fajr Hassan, accusing him of taking part in “repressive operations against the Syrian people” since the start of the uprising.

Syria’s new authorities have vowed to provide justice and accountability for Assad-era atrocities, while activists and foreign governments have emphasised the importance of transitional justice to ensure the country moves forward.

Last month, a Syrian court conducted the first hearing in an in absentia trial of Assad himself, alongside several senior members of his government.

Assad fled to Moscow as his country fell to rebel hands in December 2024, bringing to a stunning end decades of rule by his clan.