Syrian regime hunts for 19 men with Assad-clan names

The Syrian intelligence services are searching for 19 men named after leaders of the Assad clan for a range of crimes.

2 min read

01 March, 2016

Bashar took power after his father passed away in 2000 [Getty]

The Syrian regime is on the hunt for 19 men named after members of the Assad family, including Hafez, Bashar and Basel al-Assad, local news website Zaman al-wsl reports.

The names appeared on a database which allegedly holds 4.2 million arrest warrants issued by the Syrian regime for a range of crimes.

Among the names are Hafez al-Assad, who is prohibited from travelling out of the country and another 25 year old with the same name, wanted for escaping mandatory military service.

Surprisingly, seven others named Basel al-Assad - the older brother of the Syrian president - are from areas such as al-Hasaka, Raqqa and Aleppo that are not loyal to the regime.

But the most peculiar name to show up on the database was Na'am li-Hafez al-Assad, which directly translated as "Yes to Hafez al-Assad".

Strangely, having a name like Mohammed Basel al-Assad son of Mohammed Hafez Assad does not get you off the hook either.

The database shows all the wanted Assads are between the ages of 24 to 45.

Basel al-Assad, the eldest son of Hafez and older brother of President Bashar, was killed in a car accident in 1994.

Hafez al-Assad's death in 2000 paved the way for Bashar to lead the country at the young age of 35.