Syrian security forces on Sunday killed a senior military officer of the former Bashar Al Assad regime, who played a major role in a "mutiny" against the country's new government last year, state television reported.
Firas Hammoud died after opening fire at anti-terrorism and other security personnel as they stormed his hideout in the city of Safita. That led to them "dealing with him and neutralising him", the report said.
Safita, a small city in Tartus governorate in western Syria, has a population mainly of Christians and members of the Alawite sect to which Mr Al Assad belonged.
A Syrian official told The National this month that the new authorities have "prepared files" on 6,000 members of the former regime to prosecute them for crimes committed mostly during the 2011 to 2024 civil war.
Hammoud was a commander in the 25th Special Mission Forces Division, known as Tiger Forces, of Al Assad's military.
The Tiger Forces were close to Russia and operated alongside the troops that Moscow sent in 2015 to prop up the Assad regime. In December 2016, under Russian air cover, they led the regime's capture of Aleppo.
In 2020, they made up most of regime's forces in a Russian-backed offensive to regain the northern governorate of Idlib. The offensive stopped after Russia and Turkey, a backer of Syrian rebel forces, came close to war.
After rebels toppled Al Assad in December 2024, Hammoud led "remnants of the former regime and [other] outlaws" in the Syrian coast, deputising for Ghayyath Dallah, a more senior commander in the former military, according to state television.
Dallah, who was close to Al Assad's brother Maher, is widely believed to have fled Syria, like many of the most senior figures in the former military. The Assads and most of the ruling elite fled to Russia.
State television reported that Hammoud was involved in "armed mutiny operations that targeted state compounds" and killed or captured security personnel belonging the new government. Using the nom de guerre Dawn 3, he "personally" negotiated prisoner swaps and sought to form other armed groups "to strike at government buildings and target civilians".
The report was referring to a campaign in March 2025 to crush what the authorities described as an insurgency in the coastal Alawite heartland. Mass killings took place, mainly of civilians from the minority Alawite sect.
The new authorities have arrested several thousand members of the former regime who are suspected of killings and other crimes during the civil war. Meanwhile, revenge killings of those seen as Assad regime collaborators are reported almost daily in Syria.
Trials the most high-profile detainees began last month with most receiving the death sentence, including Bashar and Maher Al Assad, who were tried in their absence.
