AANES official accuses Syrian governor of sparking ethnic tension
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – A senior official in the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES) accused the governor of Hasakah, Ghassan Khalil, of trying to ignite discord between Kurds and Arabs in Syria’s northeastern city of Hasakah on Sunday.
On Sunday, mutual clashes took place between pro-Syrian government National Defense groups and the AANES’s Internal Security forces (Asayish) in the central market of Hasakah, which resulted in unknown numbers of injuries and the death of a member of the government forces.
Security sources from the Asayish in the city told North Press that a short clash took place between the two sides in the vicinity of the government’s security square after the demonstrators began to move towards an Asayish checkpoint.
The official, who preferred not to be named, said that the governor is trying to stir up tension and create strife in the Jazira region, especially in the cities of Hasakah and Qamishli.
On Saturday, Ghassan Khalil invited pro-government Arab tribal sheikhs and notables to a meeting at the governorate headquarters in the city center, in the presence of the heads of security services and the police chief of Hasakah city.
A source from one of the tribes who attended the meeting, who preferred to remain unidentified, said that the governor asked them to attend a demonstration against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), accusing them of being “Kurdish forces, and how can we Arabs be run by the Kurds?”
Journalists affiliated with the Syrian government published the news of the meeting, stressing that it focused on the tension in the city.
After the meeting, the governor and government officials called for a demonstration against what they described as a “siege policy by the SDF”, according to what was published by journalists working in government institutions.
Khalil was appointed as the governor of Hasakah according to a presidential decree issued by Syrian President Bashar Assad at the end of last May.
The governor, who held the rank of major general, occupied the position between 2011 and 2013 as the head of the information branch in the State Security Agency, headed by Major General Ali Mamlouk.
Human Rights Watch mentioned the name of Major General Ghassan Khalil in one of its special reports in 2011 as one of the officers overseeing the repression at the beginning of the protests in the country.
Khalil was among the team assigned to protect Syrian President Bashar Assad, after which he was appointed as the head of the National Security Bureau.
In 2017, he was appointed as the deputy director of the State Security Services, after which he was promoted to the rank of major general, according to Syrian opposition media.