Syria’s Ministry of Interior said its Counter-Terrorism Department dismantled multiple armed cells during 2025 and arrested more than 6,000 people accused of involvement in crimes and attempts to destabilise the country, including senior officers linked to the former Assad-era security apparatus and members of the Islamic State group.
In an approximately 18-minute official video titled “A Year Since the Fall… A Year of Achievement”, the ministry said the networks it targeted operated under the supervision of officers from the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad, and that the total number of detainees suspected of crimes against Syrians reached 6,331.
Former officers among those named
The ministry listed several former officers among those detained, including Major General pilot Riyad Abdullah Yusuf, Brigadier General staff pilot Rami Qanbar Suleiman, former Colonel Abdul Karim Habib Ali, Colonel Malik Aw Saleh, Colonel Shadi Adnan Agha, Colonel pilot Ghassan Shabaan, Colonel Mohammed Nadeem Shab, and First Lieutenant Waddah Ismail.
It added that hundreds of other “influential figures” were arrested for allegedly coordinating directly with Suhail al-Hassan and Maher al-Assad, whom the ministry accused of planning and coordinating events that erupted on 6 March in Syria’s coastal region.
According to the ministry’s account, counter-terrorism units also arrested figures described as influential in the former regime and accused of war crimes, including Wassim al-Assad, Atef Najib, Namir al-Assad, and Ibrahim al-Huweija. The ministry said al-Huweija is accused of involvement in the assassination of Kamal Jumblatt, and identified him as the founder of the Air Force Intelligence Directorate and a former chief security officer under Hafez al-Assad.
Operations against ISIS cells
On the Islamic State file, the ministry said it arrested about 620 ISIS members during 2025 in cooperation with intelligence services, including individuals it described as the group’s “walis” (governors) for Homs and Damascus. It said security forces dismantled 33 ISIS cells across several provinces, highlighting what it called the “Abu Ayesha al-Iraqi” cell, which it said focused on “economic strikes”, and claimed to have “neutralised” 24 prominent figures.
The ministry also said it thwarted several planned attacks after surveillance and tracking operations, including plots it said targeted the Maaloula Church, the Sayyida Zainab shrine south of Damascus, and sites in southern Syria.
The announcement was framed as part of a year-end review marking one year since the fall of the Assad government. In recent days, regional reporting has also highlighted Interior Ministry warnings about “remnants of the former regime” and efforts the ministry says are aimed at preventing renewed violence and instability
