Syrian General Intelligence Branch 251
{{Short description|Internal branch of Syrian General Intelligence Directorate}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
'Syrian General Intelligence Directorate (GID) Branch 251 ({{langx|ar|إدارة المخابرات العامة الفرع الداخلي (251)}}), also known as internal branch or Al-Khatib branch,{{Cite web |title=Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria - Report on Khateeb Branch- State Security |url=https://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/reports/khatibbranch |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=www.vdc-sy.info}}{{Cite web |date=2020-04-29 |title=Torture and death: Life in al-Khateeb detention center |url=https://syriadirect.org/torture-and-death-life-in-al-khateeb-detention-center/ |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=Syria Direct |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title='Physical evidence' of killings presented at Syrian officials' trial in Germany |url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syria-war-trial-germany-branch-251-torture |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=Middle East Eye |language=en}} was the unit of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate under the Assad regime concerned with internal security. It has been responsible for security in the Damascus region.{{Cite web |date=2019-10-30 |title=Two Syrian Intelligence Officers Charged with Committing Crimes Against Humanity |url=https://syrianobserver.com/security/53949/two-syrian-intelligence-officers-charged-with-committing-crimes-against-humanity.html |access-date=2022-05-08 |website=The Syrian Observer}} Branch 251 operates Al-Khatib prison, a detention and torture center located in the Muhajreen neighborhood in central Damascus.
Anwar Raslan, the former Syrian colonel who was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison in Germany, commanded a unit in Branch 251.{{Cite web |date=2022-01-12 |title=German court to issue verdict against former Syrian intelligence officer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/12/german-court-expected-to-accuse-assad-regime-in-syria-of-torture |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}
United States Department of Treasury Sanctions
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria identified Branch 251 and Al-Khatib prison as a facility controlled by the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate where death in detention and torture have occurred.{{Cite web |title=Treasury Sanctions Syrian Regime Prisons, Officials, and Syrian Armed Group |url=https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0292 |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=U.S. Department of the Treasury |language=en}} Branch 251 was designated pursuant to Executive Order 13572 (E.O. 13572), which blocks property of certain properties with respect to Human Rights Abuses in Syria, as being owned or controlled by the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate. The head of Branch 251, Ahmed Al-Dib, was designated pursuant to E.O. 13572 for being a senior official of the Syrian GID and subject to US Treasury sanctions.
List of heads
- Mohammed Nasif Kheirbek (1963–1999){{cite journal |last=Zisser |first=Eyal |date=September 1995 |title=The Succession Struggle in Damascus |url=http://www.meforum.org/264/the-succession-struggle-in-damascus |journal=The Middle East Quarterly |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=57–64 |access-date=8 June 2011}}{{cite journal |last=Bar |first=Shmuel |year=2006 |title=Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview |url=http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Comparative Strategy |volume=25 |issue=5 |page=425 |doi=10.1080/01495930601105412 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723214138/http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2011 |access-date=15 May 2011 |s2cid=154739379}}
- Bahjat Suleiman (1999–June 2005){{cite web |title=SyriaComment.com |url=http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/syriablog1/2005/06/bahjat-suleiman-moved-along-with-other.htm |access-date=5 November 2014}}
- Fouad Nasif Kheirbek (June 2005 – 2011){{cite book |last=Phares |first=Robert G. Rabil; foreword by Walid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M18Jj0bMMl0C&pg=PA215 |title=Syria, the United States, and the war on terror in the Middle East |publisher=Praeger security international |year=2006 |isbn=9780275990152 |location=Westport (Conn.) |page=215}}
- Tawfiq Younes (2011–2016),{{Cite web |title=Tawfiq Younes |url=https://blacklist.pro-justice.org/criminal/tawfiq-younes/ |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=Pro Justice |language=en-GB}} the European Union sanctioned him for "being involved in violence against the civilian population during the Syrian uprisings".{{cite journal |year=2011 |title=Joint Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria and repealing Regulation (EU) No 442/2011 |url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0887:FIN:EN:HTML |journal=EuroLex |volume=52011PC0887 |access-date=10 March 2012}}
- Ahmed Al-Dib (2016–8 December 2024), sanctioned by the United States Treasury for leading Syrian General Intelligence Directorate Branch 251, has been implicated in reports of arbitrary detention and torture of detainees since at least 2011.