Russia Expands its Presence to Syrian-Jordanian Border

Gunmen settle their status at the center in Nassib. (Getty Images)
Gunmen settle their status at the center in Nassib. (Getty Images)
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Russia Expands its Presence to Syrian-Jordanian Border

Gunmen settle their status at the center in Nassib. (Getty Images)
Gunmen settle their status at the center in Nassib. (Getty Images)

Russian troops and the Syrian regime established a center for settling the status of gunmen, the wanted, and military deserters and handing over their weapons in Nassib town.

The agreement, based on the settlement agreement proposed by the state in August, started in Nassib near the Jordanian border in the southern Daraa province.

The center implements the new Russian map agreement for the settlement areas in southern Syria, which includes handing over light and medium weapons in the region.

The previous agreement in 2018 allowed former opposition fighters to keep their weapons.

Local sources in Nassib said a security committee of the regime arrived at the center to implement settlements. It will work with the Russian police and local forces from residents affiliated with the Military Security department.

The agreement includes several areas on the border, which are considered areas of influence affiliated with the former commander of the Yarmouk Army, Imad Abu Zureik.

Abu Zureik has been in charge of these areas within the military-security apparatus since the settlement agreement in 2018.

The Daraa province has witnessed in recent days similar settlement operations, starting from the Daraa al-Balad neighborhood.

Previously, the Ninth Division al-Sanamayn, located north of Daraa, met with the security committee of the regime and the Russian forces in coordination with Abu Zreik, who heads a group working for the military security in these areas.

The meeting included officials from Nassib, Umm al-Mayathen and al-Taibah.

The Nassib crossing is strategically located on the Damascus-Amman International Highway and it recently reopened following an agreement between the Jordanian and Syrian governments.

It is one of the most critical areas of the military security’s influence and boasts a large group of volunteers, who are affiliated with Abu Zureik.

Abu Zureik returned from Jordan after the reconciliation agreement in 2018 and formed affiliated groups working for the military security, namely in Nassib, Umm al-Mayathen and al-Taibah.

Informed sources said the Russian map would include Giza and al-Mutaiyah in the eastern countryside of Daraa. The agreement was reached following a meeting with local notables from Daraa al-Mahatta on Saturday.

They added that the new agreement includes areas adjacent to the Jordanian border, including the police stations within the administrative boundaries of Daraa.



Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics

Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
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Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics

Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)

A Syrian doctor who had practiced in Germany was sentenced to life in prison by a German court on Monday for crimes against humanity and war crimes after he was found guilty of torturing dissidents in Syria.

The 40-year-old, identified only as Alaa M. in accordance with German privacy laws, was found guilty of killing two people and torturing another eight during his time working in Syria as a doctor at a military hospital and detention center in Homs in 2011 and 2012.

The court said his crimes were part of a systematic attack against people protesting against then-President Bashar al-Assad that precipitated the country's civil war.

Assad was toppled in December. His government denied it tortured prisoners.

Alaa M. arrived in Germany in 2015, after fleeing to Germany among a large influx of Syrian refugees, and became one of roughly 10,000 Syrian medics who helped ease acute staff shortages in the country's healthcare system.

He was arrested in June 2020, and was handed a life sentence without parole, the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt said in a statement.

The defendant had pleaded not guilty, saying he was the target of a conspiracy.

German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to seek trials for suspects in crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world.

They have targeted several former Syrian officials in similar cases in recent years.

The plaintiffs were supported by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.

ECCHR lawyer Patrick Kroker called Monday's ruling "a further step towards a comprehensive reckoning with Assad's crimes".

Judges found that the doctor caused "considerable physical suffering" as a result of the torture inflicted on his victims, which included serious beatings, mistreating wounds and inflicting serious injury to the genitals of two prisoners, one of whom was a teenage boy.

Two patients died after he gave them lethal medication, the court statement said.

Monday's ruling can be appealed.