An official document issued in 2013, reveals the extent of discriminatory distribution of weapons to the branches and directorates of the regime's Ministry of Interior.
The document showed that the ministry’s intelligence agency, the Political Security Directorate received two-thirds of the BKC machine guns, while the remaining third was received by the Special Tasks Unit.
The document, dating back to March 2013, mentions a number of police headquarters in major governorates, yet weapons reports show none of them received any of the BKC machine guns, including the police headquarters of Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, and even regime’s security forces.
The same applied to RPG rocket launchers, showing a significant difference in its distribution. The Political Security Directorate was given nearly 50% of these weapons, equivalent to the total assets of five police headquarters in addition to regime’s security forces, according to the document.
The document provides an insight into the regime’s general view toward its military institutions, and its favoritism towards intelligence branches.
The Political Security Directorate is the security arm of the Ministry of Interior, and has headquarters and branches in most Syrian cities and towns. This agency has been heavily involved in the suppression of the Syrian revolution along with other intelligence agencies.
The Political Security Branch played a major role in igniting the spark of Syrian revolution in the spring of 2011, when Atef Najib, the political security chief in the city of Daraa, and Bashar Assad’s cousin, provoked the residents by detaining and torturing of a group of children in his branch.
The arrest, detention and torture of 15 boys for painting slogans in support of the Arab uprisings – "Al Shaab Yoreed Eskaat el Nizam" (The people want to topple the regime) on a wall, led to demonstrations in Daraa city. Najib later confronted the demonstrations with live bullets, killing several people and unleashing a wave of protests in most Syrian cities.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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