A member of the German police anti-terror unit, Illustrative image
German authorities arrested two former officers of the Syrian intelligence on February 14 after accusing them of committing war crimes.
According to the German prosecutors, the suspects, who were arrested in Berlin and Rhineland-Palatinate, are Anwar R., a 56-year-old high-ranking member of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate, and Eyad A., a 42-year-old member of a unit operating a checkpoint in the region around the Syrian capital of Damascus.
While Germany accused Anwar and Eyad of committing war crimes against Syrian opposition activists between 2011 and 2012, Syrian soources revealed that both men are actually supporters of the opposition.
The activists identified the first suspect as Colonel Anwar Ruslan, head of the investigation branch in the General Intelligence Directorate. The officer defected in December 2012 and headed to Jordan and than Egypt. Later, he held a key position in the Staff of the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA). Ruslan was even a member of the military committee of the Syrian opposition delegation that attended the peace talks in Geneva in 2014.
The second suspect was identified as Eyad al-Gharib, who was not even an officer, according to activists. Eyad defected in January of 2012 and he made a previous attempt to defect in the very first months of the crisis in mid-2011.
A third suspect was arrested in France. However, his identity was not revealed, likely in order to hide the fact that he was also an opposition supportern, just like the vast majority of former Syrian intelligence officers living in Europe.
If these persons are in factcommitted the aforementioned crimes, their clear political affiliation raises serious questions about the real motives behind such actions.
That means they must be released again. Otherwise Washington will impose sanctions on Germany.
It’s not possible that Germans didn’t know these people’s affiliation prior to the arrest. Germany and their allies used to help them against the Syrian government and very well know who they are and knew their crimes when they helped them.
So far Europe was a safe haven for terrorists from the ME to gather and have HQs to work against their countries. Is it going to be the same?
I think the more pressure the US puts on Europe, the more of these kinds of terrorists they’ll cut lose.
are you suggesting that US, is cutting her mercenary armies lose? You are mistaken and is no pressure on EU giving them hospitality by them either, since they footing part of the bill.
On the contrary. I think US needs those mercenaries for their schemes and to keep them around, pressures Europeans to support them. OTOH, these schemes hurt Europeans economically and politically, so as time passes, Europe cuts them loose in their struggle to be free of US domination. The more pressure US puts, the more EU feels the need to be independent and inevitably moves in this direction.
How much success they have is dependent on the amount of backbone they manage to grow, which is another matter.
k understood wrong my bad.
Expect them to be quietly released very soon.
an fact two officers FSA!! mdr!!!
So……. now they will release them compensate them with several thousand of euro and give them a passport to go any where they wish or recruit them again ?
or perhaps they’ll give them a new mission and quietly release them, as arresting them was the only way to overcome surveillance by other interested parties..
It seems that those rats were trying to say no to new CIA assignment and require a bit of convincing measures.
I remember skimming the headlines of MSM talking about Assad supporters arrested for crime against humanity.. ??? .. on second tough it is pretty scary of MSM vomit the same propaganda in all €urope at same time ?
Italian version
https://www.corriere.it/esteri/19_febbraio_13/germania-arrestati-due-agenti-siriani-torture-sistematiche-d02c3bca-2f9c-11e9-9db5-c6e1c6b28b3d.shtml
German version
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/syrien-geheimdienstler-des-assad-regimes-in-deutschland-festgenommen-a-1252852-amp.html
well now that they turned out to be ‘moderate opposition’ they will be released and all charges will be dropped…..i bet on this.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0548303427fa3b2481c45efff81855a0b09af0c1d74e2ecb897c64d8275fdd37.jpg
Hey, there are so many defectors in the SAA ranks, that these men are likely both SAA officers and opposition members. Now, the SAA washes their hands of them because it is expedient, assuming the Germans did not misidentify the men they arrested.
lol
Don’t tell me the German Intel. Services did not know these guys’ identities prior the arrest?. I mean if indeed it so then that says a lot about Germany’s support of the opposition…. Do they even know who they are shipping money & weapons to in Syria? Are they even in control of their Foreign policy in Syria or Washigton plays as the sole proprietor in ensuring that the Opposition gets its endorsements directly from them?