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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syrian Kurds captured al-Hassan |
| 2005-03-01 |
| Syrian Kurds seized Saddam Hussein's half-brother in northeast Syria and handed him to Iraqi Kurds before he was taken into custody by Iraq's security forces, government sources in Baghdad say. Sabawi Ibrahim, a former spy chief and senior adviser to Saddam, was captured in the Syrian town of Hasakah, about 50 km (30 miles) from the Iraqi border, the sources said on Monday. Iraq's government announced his capture on Sunday but did not say when, where or how he was caught. It is unlikely that Syrian Kurds, who are closely watched by the Syrian authorities, would dare get involved in any such operation without at least a green light from Damascus. "He (Ibrahim) was in Hasakah. The Kurds there captured him and handed him to Iraq's Kurds in the north," a senior source in an Iraqi ministry told Reuters. "Then Iraqi security forces, working with multinational forces, went to the Kurdish area and took him into custody." Kurdish officials were not immediately available to comment. Iraq's Kurds enjoy extensive autonomy in Iraq and have their own security forces. They have links to Kurdish populations living in neighbouring Syria, Turkey and Iran. Ibrahim, who was born to the same mother as Saddam, was number 36 on the U.S. military's list of 55 most-wanted people in Iraq. A $1 million (520,000 pound) bounty was offered for his arrest. A former head of Iraq's feared Mukhabarat domestic security service, he was repeatedly accused by Iraqi officials in recent months of financing and directing Iraq's insurgency from Syria. Damascus denied the accusations. On Sunday, Iraqi government sources said Syrian authorities, under pressure from the United States, were involved in handing over Ibrahim, but would not specify the role they had played. "The Syrian authorities, because of the tremendous pressure on them, did something about Ibrahim," a senior Baghdad government official said on condition of anonymity. "Having so many problems on their plate at the moment, the Syrians were willing partners in this, but the Americans and we were also involved," the official said. Syrian authorities in Damascus had no comment on Monday on the affair. The U.S. military also would not comment. More information on Ibrahim's capture had been expected at a news conference in Baghdad on Monday, but Iraq's minister of state for national security, Kassim Daoud, proved circumspect. "He was arrested under special circumstances," Daoud told reporters. "We decline to give any details at this time ... for security reasons and to finish our job," he said, indicating that accomplices of Ibrahim's were being sought. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 In either case, it looks the same in the won-lost score. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-03-01 11:15:46 AM |
| #3 What about the other 28? Did they fall off a truck or something? Or were they lounging in Latakia when the Syrians felt the need to bag and tag 'em? |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-03-01 11:15:02 AM |
| #2 May be that the Syrian authorities took credit after the fact. |
| Posted by: Sobiesky 2005-03-01 2:59:26 AM |
| #1 It is unlikely that Syrian Kurds, who are closely watched by the Syrian authorities, would dare get involved in any such operation without at least a green light from Damascus. Alternatively the Syrian government's writ does extend beyond the large towns and Kurds control the countryside and picked him up at a check point. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-03-01 2:19:13 AM |