Syrian authorities arrest former Air Force Intelligence Chief
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – The Internal Security Agency of the Syrian caretaker government announced on Thursday evening the arrest of retired Major General Ibrahim Huweija, the former head of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Directorate, who is accused of orchestrating multiple assassinations during the rule of former President Hafez al-Assad, in the coastal city of Jableh.
According to the official Syrian news agency SANA, a source within the General Security Administration confirmed the arrest, stating: “The criminal Major General Ibrahim Huweija, former head of Syrian Air Force Intelligence from 1987 to 2002, has been detained in the city of Jableh.”
Huweija is accused of being involved in “hundreds of assassinations” under the Assad family’s rule, including the 1977 assassination of Lebanese Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt. Reports indicate that Jumblatt’s vehicle was intercepted in the town of Baakline, where he was shot and killed.
During a 2015 hearing before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Kamal Jumblatt’s son, Walid Jumblatt, testified that the Syrian intelligence office in Beirut—under Huweija’s authority—was responsible for his father’s assassination.
Born in the village of Ain Shaqaq in the countryside of Jableh in Latakia Governorate, Huweija hails from a region close to Beit Yashout, the hometown of Major General Mohammed al-Khouli, the first director of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Directorate.
Huweija began his military career in the 1970s and later became one of Syria’s most influential intelligence officers.
In 1987, he was appointed as head of the Air Force Intelligence Directorate, succeeding al-Khouli. He remained in the position until 2002, when he was dismissed by President Bashar al-Assad.