Syrian authorities have arrested a former officer, identified as ex-colonel Ahmed Habib Ali, who is accused of being a chemical weapons specialist responsible for sarin gas depots and the manufacturing of chemical weapons under the former President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The arrest was announced by the Interior Ministry on Wednesday.

Ali is alleged to have overseen sarin gas storage facilities and chemical manufacturing within Unit 417, a chemical weapons site located near Damascus. The ministry stated he was among the officers who supervised the production of approximately 20 bombs, each weighing 250kg (550lb) and loaded with sarin gas. These bombs are accused of being used in attacks on Syrian cities and towns in 2013 and 2017.

The detention of Ali comes shortly after Syria's reinstatement into the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The watchdog had previously revoked Syria's voting rights in 2021, following findings that its air force had deployed sarin and chlorine gas against its own population. The most devastating chemical attack occurred in August 2013, when the Syrian army was accused of using gas on rebel-held areas, resulting in over 1,400 deaths, according to US intelligence and human rights organizations.

Despite Syria's commitment to relinquish its chemical arsenal during the civil war, particularly under the threat of US military action, Damascus has faced accusations of conducting four more sarin and chlorine attacks on opposition towns between 2014 and 2017. Ali's arrest is part of a broader initiative by authorities to detain former officials from the al-Assad era.

In April, Syria's judiciary initiated public trials for several former officials. The charges in these proceedings include allegations amounting to war crimes, linked to the suppression of the 2011 uprising. Since the fall of al-Assad in December 2024, numerous individuals have been arrested in connection with crimes committed during the 13-year civil war.

These developments follow a period of significant political change in Syria, including the removal of Syria from the list of state sponsors of terrorism by the Trump administration. Concurrently, efforts are underway to facilitate the return of displaced Syrians and refugees, with nearly 1.8 million displaced Syrians and 780,000 refugees having returned home one year after al-Assad's fall, as of December 2025.

The ongoing legal actions and arrests aim to address accountability for past actions during the conflict. The future implications for Syria's international relations and its commitment to chemical weapons conventions remain a subject of international scrutiny.

Further investigations are expected to shed more light on the extent of involvement of other officials and the specifics of the alleged chemical weapons program.