The Damascus Criminal Investigation Branch arrested the perpetrators of the armed attack that targeted the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and several members of the teaching staff inside his office at Damascus University on October 12.

The Interior Ministry said on its official channels on the evening of Friday, October 24, that it had detained three armed individuals involved in the assault inside the Faculty of Arts campus in the al-Mazzeh area (Damascus). They were identified by their initials as “A. A.,” “H. A.,” and “H. W.,” following a report the ministry received about the incident.

According to the statement, the suspects confessed during interrogation to carrying out the armed assault. They recounted how they threatened those present with weapons, citing a prior dispute related to their sister’s doctoral dissertation.

The ministry described the incident as a flagrant violation of laws and regulations within the university campus. After completing the case file in accordance with legal procedures, the detainees were referred to the Public Prosecutor in Damascus to complete legal action.

The Criminal Investigation Branch affirmed that any attack on educational institutions or their academic staff is a serious transgression that will be met firmly under the law.

Details of the assault

Armed men attacked the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Damascus University on October 12, with Enab Baladi receiving information at the time about the arrest of the assailants.

Enab Baladi’s correspondent in Damascus reported that the attackers targeted the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Ali al-Lahham, using automatic weapons and hand grenades.

The assailants threw a grenade at the dean, but it did not detonate, after which they fled his office.

A security official at the Faculty of Arts told Enab Baladi at the time that internal security personnel managed to apprehend the perpetrators and referred them to the relevant authorities for accountability.

A student witness, who requested anonymity, told Enab Baladi that as the gunmen entered the dean’s office, shouting broke out across the faculty, and students began to run upon seeing the weapons.

Since the fall of the Assad regime, the gates of Damascus University have seen laxer controls than the previously strict security procedures. Student IDs are often not required, and inspections are rarely conducted at most gates.

In September, armed men targeted Dr. Basel Zeno, a professor at the University of Aleppo’s Faculty of Medicine, outside his clinic in central Aleppo, killing him. Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba said at the time that the Internal Security Command in Aleppo Province identified the killer, who turned out to be a relative of the victim, with the motive being a family inheritance dispute. The shooting occurred in the Al-Jamiliyah neighborhood (Aleppo).

Earlier, in early June, university professor Suhail Janzir was killed by direct gunfire from an unknown assailant. Janzir had served as Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the University of Aleppo.