Inside the abandoned homes of Assad’s enforcers

Jamil Hassan, some of the feared males in Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime, wished for the torture and killing of civilians, was shaking as he walked down the steps of his condominium block.

Exterior, the 72-year-old climbed right into a automobile in a small convoy together with his household and a handful of safety guards, just some suitcases between them.

His neighbour and her teenage son watched.

“I knew the second I noticed them flee that Assad had fallen,” she says.

After we entered Hassan’s condominium a couple of days later, indicators of the household’s hasty departure had been in every single place.

Within the fridge was a half-eaten carrot cake with a knife nonetheless on the plate. The beds had been strewn with garments and empty shoeboxes. Flowers wilted in a vase within the eating room, and cups and plates had been left to dry by the sink.

A framed photograph of a smiling Hassan and Assad held on the wall of the examine, with textual content studying: “Our skies are for us and forbidden to others”.

Hassan, known as “the butcher” by many civilians on his avenue, was one in all Assad’s most menacing enforcers. He led the Air Pressure Intelligence and oversaw a community of detention amenities together with the infamous Mezzeh Jail, the place detainees had been routinely tortured.

He’s one in all many senior regime figures wished or sanctioned around the globe who’ve deserted their properties in prosperous areas of Damascus and vanished.

Discovering these males who dominated Syria with an iron fist can be troublesome. Some worry they are going to strike political offers overseas and evade justice.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the marketing campaign to topple the regime, has vowed to seek for them inside Syria. Rebels aligned with the group now occupy Hassan’s condominium and a handwritten be aware on the entrance door warns folks to not enter.

After we requested them the place Hassan might need gone, one grinned and replied: “I do not know – to Hell.”

Many condominium shutters on Hassan’s quiet avenue in central Damascus at the moment are closed. Knocks on doorways go unanswered.

Those that will communicate inform us about their worry at residing on a avenue with a wished struggle felony. “We had been so afraid to speak,” says the girl who watched him flee. “It was terrifying to stay subsequent to them.”

Hassan is needed within the US for “participating in conspiracy to commit merciless and inhuman remedy of civilian detainees, together with US residents”. He was convicted in absentia earlier this yr in France for his function in imprisoning, disappearing and torturing two Syrian-French nationals. Germany desires him too. An Interpol Purple Discover shows a photograph of Hassan alongside a note that he’s wished for “conspiracy to commit struggle crimes”.

He was positioned below journey bans and had his property frozen over the repression of civilian protesters. In April 2011 the US says Air Pressure Intelligence personnel fired tear gas and live ammunition at protesting crowds in Damascus and other cities, killing at least 43.

Folks on the road describe a formidable determine who was unapproachable and all the time surrounded by guards.

A makeshift safety put up outdoors Hassan’s condominium constructing was continuously staffed by navy personnel. The evening earlier than the regime collapsed, the boys merely took off their uniforms and discarded their weapons, in keeping with one other neighbour.

“It was the primary time I would seen this put up with no lights, no sounds, no noise,” says 27-year-old Amr al-Bakri, a filmmaker who lives together with his household within the constructing subsequent door.

He stated locals “knew what he did to the Syrians – outdoors of Damascus and in Damascus – so we all know it however we will not say something, simply ‘good morning sir’. He’d say nothing again.”

Amr says his household needed to give away their pet canine after Hassan’s guards threatened to kill it if it did not cease barking. When Amr’s household requested for the guard put up to be moved from outdoors their dwelling, they had been instructed they need to transfer home as a substitute, he says.

The guards would run common inspections on the road and test the baggage of tourists.

“Generally if I had a plumber or handyman to return and repair one thing one of many guards would come and test if there was actually one thing that wanted to be fastened,” says the girl residing in Hassan’s constructing.

Neighbours additionally say Hassan had a “golden line” for electrical energy that meant his household’s lights had been all the time on, whereas different properties within the neighbourhood had been in darkness.

The electrician known as to repair any issues on the condominium says he knew Hassan over a few years “however solely from a distance”. “[Hassan] was very strict – a navy persona,” the person says. “He was a butcher… He had no mercy.”

The person instructed BBC Information he had been in jail – not at Mezzeh however elsewhere – and was tortured there.

A neighborhood shopkeeper, Mohammed Naoura, says he did not like Hassan however that you simply needed to seem to help him.

“We’re glad now,” he provides. “No person believed this could ever occur.”

Hussam Luka, head of the Normal Safety Directorate (GSD), was much less well-known amongst residents however had an condominium beneath Hassan.

His “ruthless, smooth-talking nature” reportedly earned him the nickname “the spider” – and he is below sanctions within the EU, US and UK.

A UK sanctions checklist says he was “chargeable for the torture of opponents in custody”, whereas the US Treasury Division says he “reportedly committed a number of massacres” whereas working in Homs.

The White Home has stated he’s one in all a small group of officers who might need details about lacking American journalist Austin Tice.

At his dwelling on Monday, rebels had been dismantling furnishings to be put into storage. They stated they arrived after looters had already taken lots of the most costly objects.

A photograph of Luka and Assad remained, printed in several sizes and types, alongside paperwork from safety and intelligence occasions, and ceremonial medals and certificates from the international spy service in Russia – the place the deposed Syrian chief Assad has fled.

“This award is to the coordinator of the mukhabarat [intelligence service] organ within the southern provinces of the Syrian Arab Republic,” one certificates naming Luka says. “You confirmed the utmost professionalism and put in large effort to fulfil the duties entrusted to you for the great of the Syrian folks.”

As rebels clear the condominium, a neighbour wanders in to see what’s taking place.

When requested what she is aware of in regards to the regime official, she replies: “We preserve to ourselves, they preserve to themselves. Nobody on this constructing interacts with one another.” She walks away.

In different prosperous areas extra properties have been deserted. Fridges are absolutely stocked, wardrobes full and in some circumstances journey paperwork left behind.

The rebels who’ve taken over the properties are utilizing them as bases, and say they’re additionally stopping additional looting.

At one lavish condominium, males say they’re sleeping on blankets on marble flooring beneath big chandeliers and cooking on a camp range in its trendy kitchen. Weapons are propped towards plush sofas and arm chairs.

“We do not want any of this,” a insurgent says, gesticulating across the room.

At one other, a baby peaks by way of the curtain of a sprawling ground-floor condominium with an out of doors swimming pool. A big household say they’re occupying the house.

Maybe the grandest dwelling within the space is the trendy labyrinthine underground dwelling of one of many nation’s best-known businessmen – Khodr Taher Bin Ali, higher often known as Abu Ali Khodr.

Bin Ali has been sanctioned by the US, UK and EU for his function in supporting and benefiting from the Syrian regime.

His dwelling has an elevator, a full-size gymnasium, an indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi and sauna, and an industrial kitchen.

In the main bedroom, there are two golden safes, with house for dozens of watches – in a drawer there’s a forgotten guarantee card for luxurious model Audemars Piguet. A gun case and jewelry containers within the wardrobe are empty.

The youngsters’s ensuite bedrooms nonetheless have toys and a Louis Vuitton purse on the ground and homework and faculty studies are within the cabinets. A Quran rests on a countertop with the phrases “A present from the president Bashar al-Assad” inscribed on the facet.

Across the nook from Bin Ali is the house of Ali Mamlouk, one in all Assad’s closest associates and among the many most senior and infamous members of the regime. He was reportedly given the nickname “black box” due to his management over delicate data.

He was sentenced alongside Hassan by French judges this yr for struggle crimes, and can be wished in Lebanon for 2 explosions in 2012 within the metropolis of Tripoli that killed and wounded dozens.

Like Luka, the White Home believes Mamlouk is one in all few males who might have details about Tice.

His house is padlocked shut, and rebels are extra reluctant to grant entry there.

In a guard sales space outdoors, there are notes on guests to the property earlier than Assad’s fall – folks delivering goodies, water and greens, and coming to repair the electrical energy.

“Nobody might see, nobody might stroll, nobody might move by this space. It is really the primary time I am seeing this place from up shut,” says 17-year-old Mo Rasmi Taftaf, whose household personal a home close by.

“At any time when he got here in or out, guards would reduce the roads off,” one neighbour says.

Shouting down from a second-floor balcony, one other gestures in the direction of Mamlouk’s massive dwelling when requested in regards to the wished regime determine.

“It felt like there was an odd ambiance” on the road the evening earlier than information broke that Assad had fled, he says, with out elaborating.

“His safety was right here on the time however I noticed them go away on Sunday morning – numerous automobiles. Ali Mamlouk wasn’t right here,” he provides, earlier than returning inside.

One other man, who declines to provide his title, says he does not need to discuss in regards to the regime males.

“I simply need to stay in peace. I do not need to open this guide or discover all of those crimes – there could be numerous blood.”

Many, although, do need justice.

The leader of HTS has vowed to pursue the senior regime figures in Syria and requested different nations at hand over those that fled. These wished elsewhere have restricted locations to run.

Discovering the boys can be a problem.

“Whereas there isn’t any confirmed data on the present whereabouts of senior regime figures like Jamil Hassan, Ali Mamlouk, and others, there are considerations that such people may benefit from political offers that allow them to evade justice,” the Syrian Heart for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) tells the BBC.

“Some are more likely to have sought refuge in allied nations, complicating future extradition efforts, whereas others should still be in Syria, residing discreetly.”

On Hassan’s avenue, neighbours speculate about the place the vanished struggle felony has gone.

His household left few clues within the condominium. However within the workplace is a certificates for Hassan’s daughter signed by Hassan Nasrallah, the late chief of Lebanon-based Shia militant group Hezbollah, thanking her for her “assist and help for this honourable resistance”.

A number of neighbours counsel he could also be hiding in Lebanon or has transited by way of there, whereas the native shopkeeper says he thinks Hassan headed for the coast, maybe to Latakia within the north – the heartland of the minority Alawite sect to which Assad and lots of of his closest allies belong.

In the meantime, Lebanese newspaper Nida al-Watan studies that Mamlouk was smuggled across the border and into the Lebanese capital Beirut by Hezbollah – a long-time ally of Syria’s Ba’ath authorities.

Hezbollah has not confirmed providing help to any regime figures, and the Lebanese authorities has stated no Syrian officers focused by worldwide warrants had been authorised to enter by way of authorized crossings. Lebanese safety companies say Mamlouk will not be within the nation.

Syrian-British barrister Ibrahim Olabi says regime officers could have acquired new identities and passports, as they had been highly effective folks backed by state establishments.

With regards to getting justice, he provides, an absence of proof will not be the issue. It’s extra about discovering them and getting them to a spot the place they are often held accountable.

The SCM says doing it will “require appreciable assets, sustained political will, and worldwide collaboration”.

Failing to take action will ship a “harmful message that crimes, together with struggle crimes and crimes towards humanity, can go unpunished”, it provides.

Ibrahim Olabi says he’s hopeful that justice can be served.

“It would completely be a hunt,” he says, however “the world now could be a small place by way of social media, personal investigators, political leverages”.

Hassan’s neighbours who had been prepared to speak say they hope he’ll at some point be returned to Syria, far-off from their avenue, to be punished.