{"id":139119,"date":"2026-07-15T12:13:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T12:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=139119"},"modified":"2026-07-15T12:13:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T12:13:38","slug":"syria-arrests-former-chemical-weapons-officer-linked-to-assad-era-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/139119\/","title":{"rendered":"Syria arrests former chemical weapons officer linked to Assad-era attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>LATAKIA, Syria (North Press) \u2013<\/strong> Syria&#8217;s Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday the arrest of a former army officer accused of overseeing chemical weapons production under the government of ousted President Bashar al-Assad during a security operation in the western governorate of Latakia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a statement, the ministry identified the suspect as Colonel Ahmad Habib Ali, describing him as a specialist in chemical weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ministry said Ali served as head of the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) and was responsible for sarin gas stockpiles and chemical weapons production at Unit 417.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the ministry, preliminary investigations indicate that Ali supervised the production of around 20 sarin-filled bombs, each weighing 250 kilograms, which were allegedly used in attacks targeting Syrian cities and towns between 2013 and 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Authorities said investigations are ongoing to document all crimes attributed to the suspect before referring him to the competent judiciary for legal proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The SSRC played a central role in Syria&#8217;s chemical weapons program under the former Assad government and has long been subject to international sanctions. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has attributed several chemical weapons attacks during the Syrian conflict to former government forces, including the use of sarin gas and chlorine in multiple incidents. The former Syrian government denied responsibility for those attacks despite findings by international investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>By Malin Mohammed<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LATAKIA, Syria (North Press) \u2013 Syria&#8217;s Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday the arrest of a former army officer accused of overseeing chemical weapons production under the government of ousted President Bashar al-Assad during a security operation in the western governorate of Latakia. In a statement, the ministry identified the suspect as Colonel Ahmad Habib Ali, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":139120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-developments","category-syria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Syria arrests former chemical weapons officer linked to Assad-era attacks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"LATAKIA, Syria (North Press) \u2013 Syria&#039;s Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday the arrest of a former army officer accused of overseeing chemical weapons\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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