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Syria: Pro-Iranian Militias Launch Campaign Against 'Tiger Forces'

Syrian regime force (AFP)
Syrian regime force (AFP)
    Damascus, London - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Syria: Pro-Iranian Militias Launch Campaign Against 'Tiger Forces'

Syrian regime force (AFP)
Syrian regime force (AFP)

Pro-Iranian Syrian militias intensified on Monday their campaign against the commander of the elite “Tiger Forces,” Suheil Salman al-Hassan, who is backed by Russia and had attended meetings with President Vladimir Putin at the Hmeimim base in late 2018.

The National Defense Forces, a pro-government militia formed by Iran to fight in Syria during the past years, posted Monday on its Facebook page a report entitled, “Tiger Forces Commander… the godfather of stealing.”

The page quoted the network “Nahno al-Balad” as saying that “one of the Tiger Forces commanders has turned from a person who barely owns the price of one-bedroom house to a millionaire and one of the most prominent warlords.”

The NDF also published another report about Rami al-Tabel, a commander affiliated with the Tiger. It described al-Tabel as a truck driver who became a fuel warhead dealer.

The report explained that Fouad Adnan, the head of Tiger’s office is the brother-in-law of al-Tabel.

Last summer, the Tiger Forces have been renamed Division 25 Special Mission Forces and placed under the command of the army’s central command.

Meanwhile, the Damascus Securities Exchange said Monday that trading in Syriatel shares would be suspended from Tuesday until further notice.

The Syrian Telecommunications Ministry had demanded Syriatel to pay $180 million as part of its measures against Rami Makhlouf, a maternal cousin of the Syrian government President, Bashar Assad.

Since the decision, disagreements between Makhlouf and Syrian authorities have escalated.

Last month, the Ministry of Finance had also announced the seizure of Makhlouf’s assets. The Damascus Securities Exchange froze $15.2 million shares owned by Makhlouf in 12 banks, in addition to a court in Damascus issuing a travel ban against the business tycoon.

The decision affected his shares in Lebanon’s Audi Bank, Byblos Bank and Fransabank, the Jordan-based Arab Bank, and others.

The Syrian regime has also stripped Makhlouf of his privileges, such as security detail, which protected him and his palace.:

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Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)

An Israeli rights group said Monday that more than a quarter of all Palestinian prisoners currently held by Israel had contracted scabies since an outbreak was identified in May, and accused the prison authority of improper care and prevention.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said that more than 2,800 prisoners had caught the rash-like infection, with more than 1,700 still actively infected. The outbreak was seen in five different detention facilities, the group said. It was citing figures it said came from the Israel Prison Service.

The group said it filed a legal petition calling on the prison service “to eradicate the scabies epidemic,” accusing the authorities of failing “to implement widely recognized medical interventions necessary to contain the outbreak.”

It said that it halted the legal proceedings after it received a commitment from the prison service to address the outbreak. The prison service said the court had cancelled the petition because the prisons had shown they were dealing with the outbreak in a “systematic and thorough” way.

Nadav Davidovich, an Israeli public health expert who wrote a medical analysis for the group’s court proceedings, said the outbreak was a result of overcrowding in prisons and apparent neglect from prison authorities. He said such outbreaks could be prevented if prisoners were held “in more reasonable conditions.” If the first infections were treated as needed, such an outbreak could have been avoided, he said.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel also said that the Israel Prison Service had cited scabies as a reason for postponing lawyers' visits and court appearances for prisoners. It said those steps “violate prisoners’ rights and serve as punitive measures rather than public health responses.”

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prisons, has boasted about hardening conditions to the bare minimum required by law.