The Researcher Muhsen AlMustafa at the Omran Center for Studies, speaking to Alhurra about the fate of senior Assad regime officers who went into hiding after the regime’s fall, said that some of these officers fled to countries such as Russia, Libya, and Iraq, or to areas controlled by the SDF, while others returned to their original regions to hide or prepare to flee later. Although they do not currently pose a major threat, he warned of the potential escalation of their danger in the future, especially in the coastal regions and the rural areas of Homs and Hama.

He noted that some security campaigns are portrayed as targeting the Alawite sect, while in reality they are directed against remnants of the former regime without sectarian or regional discrimination, warning against the use of such rhetoric to fuel divisions. AlMustafa outlined three possible scenarios for the escalation of the threat: receiving external support from regional actors such as Iran, exploiting internal security chaos, or playing on sectarian tensions in areas of former regime influence. He stressed the importance of taking strict measures, including border control, intensifying intelligence work, and strengthening national reconciliation to ensure the stability of the new Syria and prevent the return of the former regime’s influence.