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The new interim Syrian government says it will hunt down and punish senior security officials and others, but concern is growing about attacks on former low-level members of the Assad regime’s forces.
Jan. 15, 2025, 5:03 a.m. ET
Bashar Abdo had just returned home last month after four years in the Syrian military when a mob of neighbors and others armed with guns and knives swarmed his family’s front door and accused him of being a thug for the ousted regime.
His sisters and sister-in-law tried to block the crowd as he hid. But people stormed in and found Mr. Abdo, 22, in the kitchen. They stabbed him before dragging him outside, even as his sister, Marwa, clung to him. There, he was shot.
The account, shared by Mr. Abdo’s family, was confirmed by local police in the northwestern city of Idlib. Video footage widely shared on Syrian social media and verified by The New York Times captured the gruesome scene that followed: As Ms. Abdo gripped his lifeless body, neighbors continued to kick him. She begged them to stop, saying he was already dead.
“This is your fate,” one man yelled. Other verified video footage shows a crowd shouting expletives after Mr. Abdo’s body was tied by the neck to a car and dragged through the streets. It is not clear who filmed the video.
Ms. Abdo recalled those moments in an interview with The Times four days later. She vowed revenge, a sign of the growing threat of a cycle of violent retribution in a new Syria.
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