TUNIS, January 31. /TASS/. Syria’s new government has confirmed earlier reports about the detention of Atef Najib, a maternal cousin of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, Director of General Security Administration in Latakia Mustafa Kneifati said on Friday.
The Syrian Interior Ministry cited Kneifati on its Telegram channel as saying that Najib was apprehended "during a joint operation with the military Department of Internal Affairs in the province of Latakia."
According to Kneifati, Assad’s cousin Najib, who previously served as the head of the political security department in the country’s southern province of Daraa, is suspected "of committing crimes against the people of Syria."
In late November 2024, Syria’s armed opposition forces started a large-scale offensive on government troops in the Aleppo and Idlib governorates.
By the evening of December 7, they seized several large cities, including Aleppo, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, and Homs. On December 8, they entered Damascus. Bashar Assad stepped down as Syrian president and left the country.
On December 10, Mohammed al-Bashir, who had led the so-called Syrian Salvation Government in the Idlib Province since January 2024, announced his appointment as head of Syria’s interim government.
The interim period is expected to last until March 1, 2025. Head of the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham group (outlawed in Russia) Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, became the country’s actual leader.