Tables Turned: Jailers in Syria's Aleppo Become Prisoners of War

July 29, 2012 from Al Jazeera English

The military intelligence headquarters in al-Bab city in the northern province of Aleppo was seen as one of the most feared and hated intelligence agencies in the province. It was notorious for the beating and torture of activists. But now, in a reversal, several members of the Syrian regime's military intelligence have become prisoners of the Free Syrian Army. They were taken captive after opposition fighters took over the intelligence building. Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught reports from al-Bab.

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Aleppo

Aleppo, located in northwestern Syria 310 kilometres from Damascus, is the largest city in Syria and serves as the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,132,100, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant.... Explore this topic

Syrian Civil War

The Syrian civil war is an ongoing armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Syrian Ba'ath Party government and those seeking to oust it. The conflict began on 15 March 2011, with popular demonstrations that grew nationwide by April 2011. These demonstrations were pa... Explore this topic

Free Syrian Army

The Free Syrian Army is an armed opposition structure operating in Syria during the Syrian civil war. Composed of defected Syrian Armed Forces personnel and volunteers, its formation was announced on 29 July 2011 in a video released on the internet by a uniformed group of dese... Explore this topic

Battle of Aleppo

Violent clashes began on 19 July in several Aleppo districts, leading to the Free Syrian Army taking control of some areas. On 24 July, for the first time since the beginning of the uprising in Syria, fighter jets bombed the city. This was part of a larger counter offensive by... Explore this topic

Al-Bab

Al-Bab is a Syrian city administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate. Al-Bab is located northeast of Aleppo and has an area of 30 km². Al-Bab has an altitude of 471 meters. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of 63,069 in 2004. The majori... Explore this topic

Military Intelligence

Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions. This is achieved by providing an assessment of available data from a wide rang... Explore this topic

Intelligence agency

An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis or exploitation of information and intelligence in support of law enforcement, national security, defence and foreign policy objectives. Means of information gathering are both overt and cov... Explore this topic

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase is dated 1660. Captor states hold captured combatants and non-combatants in cont... Explore this topic

Bashar al-Assad

Bashar Hafez al-Assad is the President of Syria and Regional Secretary of the Syrian-led branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. He has served as President since 2000, when he succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had ruled Syria for 30 years prior to his death. Al-Assa... Explore this topic

Syrian people

The Syrian people are the inhabitants and citizens of the Syrian Arab Republic. While modern-day Syrians are commonly described as Arabs by virtue of their modern-day language and bonds to Arab culture and history, they are, in fact, largely a blend of the various Aramaic, Ara... Explore this topic

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Aleppo

Syrian Civil War

Free Syrian Army

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