Saydnaya prison's 'Azrael' captured in Homs security operation
The "Deterrence of Aggression" operations room later revealed the capture of "Azrael of Saydnaya," who stands accused of killing and torturing many prisoners.
Jan. 3, 2024
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - The name Aws Salloum, known as "Azrael of Saydnaya," has dominated social media platforms in recent hours.
Social media users circulated images of Salloum alongside a video of Syrian detainee Mazen Hamada, who died under torture in Assad's prisons, speaking about the same prison guard.
Photos of Salloum under arrest have also spread widely across different social media platforms.
The "Deterrence of Aggression" operations room later revealed the capture of "Azrael of Saydnaya," who stands accused of killing and torturing many prisoners.
The operations room explained that the suspect's arrest took place during Thursday's search operations for "Assad's remnants" across numerous areas in Homs.
The Ministry of Interior, together with the Military Operations Administration in Syria, has started a wide-ranging searching operation in Homs' neighborhoods in central Syria, looking for "war criminals and those implicated in crimes who refused to lay down their arms and report to settlement centers."
The Syrian Arab News Agency "SANA" cited a security official on Thursday saying that "the Ministry of Interior calls on residents in the neighborhoods of Wadi al-Dahab and Akrama to remain indoors and fully cooperate with our forces until the conclusion of the searching campaign or until our forces allow movement."
Saydnaya Prison, located near Damascus, has been widely accepted as a site of systematic torture and extrajudicial killings during the Syrian civil war.
The nickname "Azrael," referring to the angel of death in Islamic tradition, echoes the notorious reputation of prison guards engaged in severe human rights violations.
This arrest indicates an important development in efforts to hold responsible those accused of war crimes during the Assad regime's tenure.