Assad's warlord behind ransom kidnappings, murders killed in Homs PHOTO

One of the high-ranking commanders of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Shujaa al-Ali, was killed in clashes with the forces of the new Syrian military administration in the village of Hirbet al-Hamam, located west of Homs.

Shujaa al-Ali was responsible for numerous kidnappings and murders of both Lebanese and Syrian citizens for ransom, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

Prior to his death, he commanded a militia of around 400 fighters from the village of Balkas, a suburb of Homs.

Before the fall of Assad's regime, al-Ali’s group was reportedly involved in the kidnapping of approximately 15 Syrians travelling from Homs to Lebanon.

Sources indicate that his militia, which operated under the Syrian regime’s security services, also had ties to Hezbollah.

To recall, for over six decades, the Baathist regime under the Assad family has been responsible for numerous atrocities, leaving an indelible mark on Syria's history. The brutal crackdown on dissent, involving both chemical and conventional weapons, has caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians.

One of the earliest and most devastating massacres occurred in 1982 when Hafiz al-Assad, father of Bashar al-Assad, ordered the suppression of a Muslim Brotherhood uprising in Hama. The assault, which lasted 27 days, resulted in the deaths of at least 30,000 civilians and the destruction of much of the city.

Throughout the ongoing civil war, Assad's forces employed chemical weapons, most infamously in the 2013 Eastern Ghouta attack that killed over 1,400 people, primarily women and children. This act, along with the repeated use of barrel bombs, cluster bombs, and airstrikes, continued to devastate civilian populations.

The years 2012-2013 were particularly horrific, with numerous massacres in Homs, Hama, and Aleppo. Attacks on peaceful protesters, villages, and towns were marked by mass executions, aerial bombardments, and chemical warfare. In 2013 alone, more than 100,000 people were killed. By 2016, the UN estimated the death toll at 400,000, a figure that continued to rise as the war progressed.

As the regime clung to power, areas like Eastern Ghouta and Aleppo faced relentless sieges, starving and bombing civilians into submission. In addition to conventional attacks, chemical weapons became a grim symbol of the regime’s methods of warfare.

The Assad regime’s legacy is one of terror, with chemical and conventional massacres continuing through 2018, underscoring the persistent brutality that has marked Syria’s tragic history under Baathist rule.

By Aghakazim Guliyev