Syria’s Interior Ministry announced Friday the arrest of a former general from the era of ousted regime leader Bashar Assad over alleged involvement in a 2013 chemical attack in the Damascus suburbs.
In August 2013, the army under Assad's rule was accused of using chemical weapons to target areas then under rebel control, killing more than 1,400 men, women and children, according to U.S. intelligence and rights groups.
With Syria at the height of its civil war, the Assad government denied responsibility, but agreed to hand over its chemical arsenal in order to avert U.S. strikes.
Assad went on to remain in power for more than a decade, only to be ousted in 2024 by anti-regime forces led by now President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
On Friday, the ministry said it arrested "Khardal Ahmed Dayoub, a former brigadier general in the forces of the ousted regime and former head of the Air Force Intelligence branch in Daraa, for his direct involvement in systematic violations against civilians."
