A civilian police officer named Mohammad Hashem from al-Bab city in the eastern suburbs of Aleppo, who worked in the Drug Control Department, was shot dead on June 20, 2023, by one of the drug dealer’s family members while taking part in a raid on the dealer’s hideout behind the Fatima al-Zahra Mosque in a neighborhood in the west of the city. The gunman responsible has been identified as Mahmoud al-Bahaa, a brother of the targeted drug dealer, who shot Hashem dead while engaging in gunfire with the police officers during the raid.
The area is under the control of the Syrian National Army (SNA). The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) is trying to locate eyewitnesses to obtain more information about the incident. We call on the controlling forces to uphold their responsibilities for protecting civilians in their areas, to investigate this incident, and to make the findings of the investigation known to the public. Syria will never have true stability without a genuine political transition process towards democracy within a fixed timetable.