Damascus Security Forces Issue Order to Arrest Gaddafi’s Daughter-in-Law

General view shows Damascus, Syria. Reuters file photo
General view shows Damascus, Syria. Reuters file photo
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Damascus Security Forces Issue Order to Arrest Gaddafi’s Daughter-in-Law

General view shows Damascus, Syria. Reuters file photo
General view shows Damascus, Syria. Reuters file photo

An official directive has been issued by security forces in Damascus to arrest the daughter-in-law of former Libyan dictator Muammar Al-Gaddafi, who has been accused of deliberately running over policemen and pedestrians in the Syrian capital on Sunday night.

The order for Aline Skaf’s arrest follows a media scandal erupting over an influential figure stepping in to rescue her from arrest on the night of the incident.

Media outlets have reported that an unknown influential figure in Syria personally intervened to disperse internal security forces that surrounded the crime scene at the Chiekh Saad neighborhood, where Skaf rammed into three policemen and two civilians in a four-wheel drive vehicle.

“No one cares for the innocent victims, all that matters is that Gaddafi’s daughter-in-law remains happy that there is someone to support her,” an angered resident of Chiekh Saad complained to Asharq Al-Awsat.

“When we heard the sound of the shooting, we thought that it was a pursuit of terrorists, and it did not occur to us that the case involved a drunk woman cursing the police, security forces and a senior official in the country,” they recounted from the night of the incident.

“Despite all that, she went unpunished,” they added cynically, noting that the poor who do not enjoy clout in the country do not even dare to raise their voices at authorities.

Opposition news site “Voice of the Capital” published a number of pictures of the accident that shook Damascus, showing “a woman ramming through crowds and running over at least three policemen, two civilians, and motorbikes, while driving carelessly in the Mazzeh neighborhood, near the 14th buildings.”

Local sources confirmed that the vehicle was a four-wheel drive and was accompanied by an escort vehicle.

After the escort tried to use weapons to open the road, the security cordon was tightened and forcibly stopped Skaf’s car. Skaf was screaming and cursing hysterically.



Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel’s new defense minister said Friday that he would stop issuing warrants to arrest West Bank settlers or hold them without charge or trial — a largely symbolic move that rights groups said risks emboldening settler violence in the Israeli-occupied territory.

Israel Katz called the arrest warrants “severe” and said issuing them was “inappropriate” as Palestinian militant attacks on settlers in the territory grow more frequent. He said settlers could be “brought to justice” in other ways.

The move protects Israeli settlers from being held in “administrative detention,” a shadowy form of incarceration where people are held without charge or trial.

Settlers are rarely arrested in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has spiraled since the outbreak of the war Oct. 7.

Katz’s decision was celebrated by far-right coalition allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. National Security Minister and settler firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir applauded Katz and called the move a “correction of many years of mistreatment” and “justice for those who love the land.”

Since Oct. 7, 2023, violence toward Palestinians by Israeli settlers has soared to new heights, displacing at least 19 entire Palestinian communities, according to Israeli rights group Peace Now. In that time, attacks by Palestinian militants on settlers and within Israel have also grown more common.

An increasing number of Palestinians have been placed in administrative detention. Israel holds 3,443 administrative detainees in prison, according to data from the Israeli Prison Service, reported by rights group Hamoked. That figure stood around 1,200 just before the start of the war. The vast majority of them are Palestinian, with only a handful at any given time Israeli Jews, said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked.

“All of these detentions without charge or trial are illegitimate, but to declare that this measure will only be used against Palestinians...is to explicitly entrench another form of ethnic discrimination,” said Montell.