A wall painted with a damaged drawing of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is pictured in the al-Qadam neighbourhood in Damascus, Syria, March 26, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

June 21 (Reuters) – Syria’s security forces have detained Wassim al-Assad, a cousin of toppled leader Bashar al-Assad, state news agency SANA said on Saturday.

Wassim al-Assad was sanctioned by the United States in 2023 for leading a paramilitary force backing Assad’s army and for trafficking drugs including the amphetamine-like drug captagon.

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Bashar al-Assad was toppled by an Islamist-led rebel insurgency in December and fled to Moscow. Most of his family members and inner circle either fled Syria or went underground.

Syria’s new security forces have been pursuing members of the former administration – mainly those involved in the feared security branches accused of rights abuses.

Rights groups have called for a fully-fledged transitional justice process to hold them to account.

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