Syrian security authorities have detained 16 former air force officers, including senior commanders, in less than a month as part of a widening campaign targeting personnel accused of involvement in airstrikes on populated areas during the country’s war. The arrests were carried out mainly in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartous, as well as in Aleppo province in northern Syria. State-run Alikhbariah TV reported that the Counterterrorism Directorate arrested former pilot Khaldoun Hussein Mubarak in the countryside of Jableh in Latakia province. Local media reported that he was detained Friday at his home in the village of Ain Qaita. Mubarak survived the downing of his aircraft near Saraqeb in Idlib province in 2020. State media under the former government reported at the time that his plane had been hit by Turkish aircraft. Activists have since recirculated an interview in which Mubarak vowed after surviving the incident to continue flying military missions even if he were targeted again. His detention brought to 16 the number of former air force pilots and officers arrested in less than a month. On Sept. 18, Tartous Internal Security chief Col. Abdul Aal Mohammed Abdul Aal announced the arrest of five senior former air force officers in operations conducted with the Counterterrorism Directorate. Abdul Aal said the five were suspected of involvement, according to their respective positions and responsibilities, in planning, directing and carrying out airstrikes on populated areas during the war. Investigations were continuing to determine their alleged criminal responsibility before referring them to the judiciary, he added. Latakia security authorities had announced on Sept. 10 the detention of nine former pilots and officers, who were accused of participating in attacks and violations in several Syrian provinces through their roles in fixed-wing and helicopter aviation. A Syrian Interior Ministry source said the nine had logged more than 3,200 flight hours and sorties during the uprising and war, including missions over Eastern Ghouta, Aleppo and its countryside, Deir Ezzor and its countryside, and rural Hama, according to state news agency SANA. Earlier, on Sept. 5, security forces in Aleppo detained Brig. Gen. pilot Hamidi Ali Murad, a former senior air force commander who had overseen several military air bases, including Mezzeh in Damascus, T4 in eastern Homs province and Kuweires east of Aleppo, and had also headed the air force academy. Syrian authorities accuse the detained officers, according to their respective roles, of helping plan, direct or carry out air operations that struck populated areas, causing deaths, destruction and displacement. The allegations remain under investigation ahead of possible referral to the courts.
