Syrian security forces arrest former regime air force general in Latakia

Syrian security forces on Thursday arrested an air force general accused of overseeing crimes against humanity under the former regime.

Major General Riad Abdullah Youssef was arrested in Latakia province, according to the interior ministry.

"In a special security operation carried out by our specialised units, in cooperation with the Counter-Terrorism Branch in the Latakia Governorate, we were able to arrest Major General Pilot Riad Abdullah Youssef, who hails from the town of Termanin in the Idlib countryside," the ministry said on Telegram.

"It has been proven that the criminal was involved in supervising a number of air raids during which massacres were committed against unarmed civilians. He rose through the ranks until he became commander of the Al-Dumayr Air Base" near Damascus, it added.

During Syria's conflict, which began in 2011 after the Assad regime brutally suppressed, regime warplanes routinely dropped barrel bombs on areas held by opposition fighters, killing tens of thousands of civilians.

It also used chemical weapons on multiple occasions.

Rebels led by the now-dissolved Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) overthrew Assad in December last year, ending over five decades of tyrannical Baathist rule

Since then, Syrian authorities have detained dozens of former regime officials accused of committing or ordering crimes.

Rights groups however have raised concerns over how the new government is handling human rights cases in the country, with government forces and affiliated militias accused of engaging in sectarian violence, summary executions and other crimes.