Monzer al-Assad had reportedly been conspiring against the regime.
BEIRUT – One of Bashar al-Assad’s cousins has been arrested upon direct orders from the Syrian president amid reports he had been conspiring against the regime.
Monzer Jamil al-Assad has been arrested in the coastal city of Latakia after “becoming involved in illegal activities,” official sources told pro-Damascus daily Al-Akhbar.
According to a report by the Lebanese newspaper published earlier in the week “dozens of military patrols have filled the streets of the city in recent days.”
The report added that news had “circulated in Latakia that these patrols came from the capital to arrest Monzer al-Assad, at the direct orders of the president.”
“The checkpoints set up by the patrols carried out intensive search procedures, looking for the wanted man who lives the Al-Ziraa neighborhood next to the university in the city’s southern suburbs.”
“This came after the Al-Ziraa neighborhood was cordoned off a few days ago, and Monzer’s house surrounded,” Al-Akhbar reported, adding that Monzer had attempted to hide from the security service members.