الداخلية السورية: ثلث الشعب مطلوبون للنظام السابق

The spokesperson for the Syrian Ministry of Interior, Nour al-Din al-Baba, revealed today (Saturday) the establishment of several new departments as part of a comprehensive restructuring of the ministry, aiming to reinforce the principles of transparency and community participation. He clarified during a press conference in Damascus that one-third of the Syrian population was wanted by the Assad regime's intelligence.

Al-Baba disclosed the creation of a counter-terrorism department tasked with monitoring any terrorist threats in coordination with the intelligence agency and unifying the public security and police forces under a single central administration called the Internal Security Command. Additionally, another department for border guards was established to secure and protect the borders from smuggling activities, along with a special department for prisons and rehabilitation to ensure operations are in line with human rights principles, and a department for combating human trafficking.

He pointed out that separate departments for communications, information networks, cybersecurity, and communication security have been established, indicating that a package of laws will be issued in coordination between the Ministries of Defense and Interior to curb the phenomenon of loose weapons and halt their spread.

He noted that the name of the criminal security has been changed due to its negative connotations in the memory of Syrians to the name of the Criminal Investigations Department, explaining that more than eight million people, approximately one-third of the Syrian population, were wanted by the intelligence and security agencies of the previous regime.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior stated: "The number of those wanted for political reasons by the previous regime exceeds eight million," adding: "One-third of the Syrian population has security records for which they are wanted by the intelligence and security agencies of the previous regime."

Al-Baba confirmed that the security wanted individuals still pose a threat, vowing to carry out daily campaigns in various provinces to apprehend them.

Since December 7, the Syrian authorities have released thousands of detainees from prisons, particularly the notorious Sednaya prison, and have managed to locate many mass graves of prisoners who died under torture. They have also launched a mechanism to account for the missing during the war and to ascertain their fate.

The Syrian authorities are making significant efforts to combat and eliminate terrorism, especially the ISIS terrorist organization, through executing several campaigns and pursuing pockets in various cities.