هذا التقرير متاح أيضًا بـ العربية
After surviving the war throughout the years of the revolution, a wave of sudden death is striking Syrian officers, including defected officers. Over the past few months, the deaths of prominent commanders in the Syrian army have been announced within a short span of time, due to health causes such as “heart attacks” and “sudden infarctions.”
This close timing and the similarity in the causes of death have opened the door wide to suspicions that they may have been subjected to quiet assassinations aimed at emptying the military institution of its talent. Despite the controversy, official bodies have remained silent and, as we will see, saw no need to issue any clarification, deepening the mistrust of skeptics and of those who see the deaths as a natural result of old age and accumulated suffering.
What further intensified the debate was that some of the deceased officers were defectors from the Assad regime, some of whom had returned to the military institution amid efforts by the Ministry of Defense to incorporate them into its new structure, after the ministry faced early criticism over sidelining officers and failing to make use of their expertise.
Successive deaths … skeptical parties
Noon Post tracked the names of a number of prominent officers who died recently, and their deaths collectively sparked debate on social media because of the similarity in the causes of death and their close timing.
- Brig. Gen. Hussein Abdullah al-Obeid: Commander of the 54th Division in the Syrian army and a participant in the “Deterrence of Aggression” battle, died on March 3 of a myocardial infarction, and the Ministry of Defense officially mourned him.
- Brig. Gen. Abdul Majeed Dbeis: One of the earliest defected officers and assistant chief of the Training Authority for educational facilities affairs, died on March 22 (he was buried in western rural Hama), and the Ministry of Defense also mourned him.
- Staff Brig. Gen. Zuhair Hamidi: A defected officer who died on March 22 after a sudden heart attack.
- Brig. Gen. Ali al-Radhi: A member of the “Syrian National Commission,” died on March 4 as a result of a sudden cardiac event.
- Commander Nader Mutlaq (Abu Hatem al-Eis): A commander in the 52nd Division under the Ministry of Defense, died on March 7 after a heart attack (he was buried in Kafr Zita).
- Col. Abdul Rahman Haj Bakour: An officer who defected from the Interior Ministry, died on April 14 after a heart attack in the town of Atarib.
- Commander Malek al-Jaradi: A commander in the 62nd Division under the Ministry of Defense and a former commander in Jaish al-Nasr, died on April 15 after a sudden heart attack.
- Commander Mohammed al-Shoun: A commander in the Ministry of Defense and a former commander in the Free Syrian Army, died on April 17 after a sudden heart attack in the city of Atarib.
- Brig. Gen. Ayman Yassin Sharara: A defected officer, head of the training and investigation branch in the Military Supply Authority, and a former spokesperson for the “Syrian National Army,” died on June 5.
- Brig. Gen. Jalal Ghazi Rashid: A defected officer and deputy director for checkpoints and crossings affairs in the Advisory Military Council, died on July 26, 2025 (he was buried in Qalaat al-Madiq).
- Staff Brig. Gen. Engineer Mohammed Anwar Saad al-Din: A defected officer who died on Sept. 23, 2025.
Ministry of Defense: No need for clarification
Despite the controversy created by the succession of deaths among officers and military officials, neither the Ministry of Defense nor the ministries of Interior or Health issued any statements precisely identifying the nature of these deaths or the health condition of each deceased officer individually, in order to distinguish between natural deaths and deaths resulting from sudden medical episodes.
For its part, NoonPost submitted a set of questions to the press relations office at the Ministry of Defense for comment on the matter, but the office said it did not believe such matters required an official clarification. It offered no further explanation or comment on the issue and did not answer the questions. A number of defected officers also declined to comment, including some who had returned to work at the ministry, saying they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Natural deaths
Maj. Tareq Haj Bakri, who defected from the Assad regime, said in remarks to Noon Post that talk of any party being involved in the officers’ deaths was unrealistic, noting that he himself had suffered a heart attack and undergone open-heart surgery after the fall of the regime, stressing that it was a natural medical condition.
Haj Bakri explained that what defected officers endured before liberation, along with what he described as marginalization after liberation, are factors that can cause psychological harm, but at the same time are not a direct cause of death. He said deaths had occurred among officers before liberation as well, at rates within the normal range, ruling out the plausibility of any argument alleging the involvement of any party.
Haj Bakri also pointed out that most deaths among officer cadres are among people already advanced in age, given that the youngest officer among the defectors would today be expected to hold the rank of colonel. At the same time, he stressed that the Ministry of Defense is working to bring defected officers back into service, at least to benefit from them as experts, especially those who had been active on the ground, even though many of them have reached retirement age and some do not wish to work. Haj Bakri said he himself wants to retire and not return to service.
For his part, Brig. Gen. Abdul Hadi Sari, a pilot officer who defected in 2012, said the claims circulating about parties being involved in the officers’ deaths are unrealistic. He noted that he had personally witnessed the deaths of some officers and taken part in their funerals while following their final days, such as Brig. Gen. Zuhair Hamidi, who died at home and had been ill since living in Jordan before returning to Syria.
Abdul Hadi Sari told Noon Post that most of these deaths involve officers who were already elderly, including Abdul Majeed Dbeis and Ayman Sharara, both of whom were over 65 at the time of their deaths. He ruled out any security incidents or any breach of the military institution behind these deaths, noting that there are parties lying in wait for the military institution and the armed forces because the strength of the state comes from the strength of its army. Everything being circulated about this issue, he said, does not rise to the level of actual information.
According to Sari, the new ministry is working continuously to benefit from the expertise of defected officers and incorporate them into its ranks in order to advance Syrian military capabilities and build a strong army whose nucleus and solid foundation would be formed by defected officers. In his view, this is a matter the ministry places at the top of its priorities.
As for security and strategic expert Brig. Gen. Munir al-Hariri, he told NoonPost that the officers’ deaths can be read from two angles. The first is that there are elderly officers who are susceptible to strokes. The second concerns deaths under mysterious circumstances, perhaps intended to cover up one crime with another, bury certain files related to abuses, or carry out acts of revenge that are present in the Syrian scene and could be executed by, or benefit, more than one party, such as sleeper cells from remnants of the regime, the Islamic State, or unknown actors.
Al-Hariri ruled out any Israeli role behind these deaths, saying the Israeli role is not currently influential on the Syrian scene despite Israeli support for the “National Guard” militia in Sweida.
He also said Syria is currently in the process of forming a strong army built on enormous accumulated expertise, and that the ministry needs every form of expertise, especially with thousands of defected officers who must be absorbed and placed within the circle of decision-making, particularly as the army is being built on a new doctrine and military forces require lengthy training and qualification.
On June 10, in his remarks during an inspection visit to the military academy in Homs, Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra affirmed that work is underway to build an army that will be among the strongest in the region.
Moves toward defected officers
The issue of defected officers carries major importance at the military, political and institutional levels with regard to building the emerging Syrian army, given that many of these officers possess leadership and field experience accumulated over many years, whether before defecting or afterward, when their battlefield experience took shape on the ground.
Defected officers can also play a role in filling shortages in specialized cadres, such as aviation, air defense, military engineering and logistics, given their academic understanding of the army’s structure, operating mechanisms and organizational culture. That makes them the most qualified to take on the task of building a professional, stable and cohesive military institution, in addition to training officers and establishing effective command and management controls.
After many years of military action against the ousted regime under different banners, integrating defected officers represents an extension of the process of dissolving all factions and military forces and melting them into the Ministry of Defense in order to unify military action and centralize its decision-making, without overlooking the symbolic image they embodied as an example of heroism and sacrifice, especially the earliest officers, such as Brig. Gen. Riyad al-Asaad, who founded the “Free Syrian Army” on July 29, 2011.
On July 11, 2025, the Organization and Administration Division announced the start of receiving applications from defected volunteer noncommissioned officers seeking to return to the ministry’s ranks, in a step reflecting belief in the standing of defected officers during the years of the revolution, in their authentic role within the military institution, and in the importance of restoring them to their natural place, according to what Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said at the time.
He also confirmed the start of reinstating defected officers and integrating them into army formations so that they would be a fundamental pillar of the new army and active contributors to the reconstruction process, in his words.
Out of our belief in the standing of defected officers during the years of the revolution, in their authentic role within the military institution, and in our commitment to restoring them to their natural place, we at the Ministry of Defense have begun reinstating those defected volunteers and integrating them into the formations of the Syrian Arab Army, so that they may be a fundamental pillar of the new army and active contributors to the reconstruction process.
Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra – July 11, 2025
The Syrian defense minister had announced on Dec. 17, 2025, the recruitment of 3,000 officers who had defected from the ousted regime and their return to service within the Ministry of Defense payroll.
On Jan. 4 of this year, the ministry’s Officers Affairs Administration confirmed it was continuing to receive applications from officers who had defected from the army of the ousted regime and wished to return to the ranks of the Ministry of Defense, noting that applications could be submitted at the administration building in the capital every Tuesday.
The success of this step could help build trust among military components, ensure professional discipline and make use of varied experiences within a single chain of command.
On March 29 of this year, the Ministry of Defense announced an advisory body to strengthen strategic planning and support the process of rebuilding the army. Its members included a group of high-ranking defected officers: Brig. Gen. Riyad al-Asaad, Brig. Gen. Fadlallah al-Hajji, Maj. Gen. Salim Idris, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nour Khallouf, Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Haj Ali, Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz al-Shallal and Brig. Gen. Abdul Rahman al-Sheikh. The ministry said more officers would later be added to its ranks.