Damascus Arrests Relatives of Former Regime Security Chief Rustum Ghazaleh

ARK News.. Syrian internal security forces arrested several relatives of the late Major General Rustum Ghazaleh, one of the most prominent security figures of the former Syrian regime, during raids targeting their homes in Damascus.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Internal Security Service carried out security raids in the Syrian capital that resulted in the arrest of several relatives of Ghazaleh, who previously served as head of Syria’s Security and Reconnaissance Directorate in Lebanon and later headed the Political Security Directorate.

Those arrested included Hamza Abdo al-Talab al-Ghazaleh and Nazem Abdo al-Talab al-Ghazaleh, Rustum Ghazaleh’s brothers, as well as Jamal Mohammad Jamal al-Ghazaleh, Abdo al-Malik al-Ghazaleh, and Colonel Ajwad al-Ghazaleh, the son of his brother.

According to local sources, the operation followed a period of intelligence monitoring after authorities uncovered attempts to use bribes to influence security pursuit procedures.

The sources also said that security authorities obtained a video recording documenting an attempt by one of those targeted to offer a bribe in exchange for concealing his whereabouts, which helped identify his location and arrest him.

Human rights groups and relatives of victims have linked the arrests to allegations against Rustum Ghazaleh and some of his relatives of involvement in forming local armed groups during the former regime’s rule. These groups were reportedly responsible for violations against residents of Qarfa town in the eastern countryside of Daraa.

Rustum Ghazaleh (1953–2015) was one of the most prominent security figures during the former regime. He headed Syria’s Security and Reconnaissance Directorate in Lebanon from 2002 to 2005, earning the nickname “the ruler of Lebanon,” before later becoming head of Syria’s Political Security Directorate.

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