Hassoun called for areas of his own home city of Aleppo to be 'annihilated' during Syria's civil war [Getty[
Sheikh Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, the former Grand Mufti of Syria, was arrested by Syrian security forces at Damascus International Airport on Tuesday after trying to leave the country for Jordan, according to reports
The controversial former Sunni religious authority was scheduled to visit Amman to receive surgery and was already in the VIP lounge at the airport before he was taken away by security personnel, activists have said. He was said to have disguised himself as a disabled man, although The New Arab cannot independently verify the reports.
It was later confirmed that an arrest warrant had been issued for him by the Public Prosecutor's Office, with alleged photos emerging online of Hassoun blindfolded during his detention. His whereabouts is currently unknown.
Hassoun served as Syria's Grand Mufti - the country's highest Sunni Islamic authority, responsible for issuing formal legal opinions and advising on Islamic law - from 2005 until 2021, when then President Bashar al-Assad abolished the position. He had reportedly been detained and released by Syrian security forces after Assad's fall.
The cleric is a highly controversial figure in Syria due to his strong support for the Assad regime during its bloody crackdown on peace protesters as part of the Syrian revolution in 2011, and subsequent mass war crimes in the civil war that followed.
During the war, which claimed at least 500,000 lives, most at the hands of Assad's forces, and in which around 120,000 people were detained—many executed or left to die in custody—Hassoun remained unwavering in his support for Assad.
Hassoun was widely viewed as a Sunni figurehead for the Assad regime, criticised for lacking genuine religious or intellectual authority.
In addition to his vociferous support for Assad, he frequently hosted foreign delegations sympathetic to the regime, including far-right European politicians, and justified genocidal atrocities committed against Myanmar's Rohingya minority by Assad's Chinese allies.
In 2017, it emerged that the cleric was one of three men, along with Assad, who signed execution orders for thousands of anti-Assad detainees exterminated at the notorious Saydnaya Prison. If this can be proven, the cleric could face charges of crimes against humanity.
Hassoun went into hiding after Syrian rebels captured the country in December 2024, but was seen in Aleppo last month.
In videos shared on social media, angry Syrians surrounded Hassoun's car during the encounter. One person filming the incident confronted him as the "Mufti of Barrels," a reference to Assad's devastating use of barrel bombs on civilians - including in Hassoun’s hometown of Aleppo - and the cleric's apparent endorsement of these brutal tactics on state television.
Many Syrians had taken to social media calling for Hassoun to be held responsible for his support for the Assad regime.