Syria militias go after former regime soldiers, spies

Security forces of the new de facto authorities in Syria continued their search for militants affiliated with ousted President Bashar Assad in the city of Homs on Friday, officials said.

The forces over the past few weeks have raided and arrested security officials who they said worked under Assad's notorious web of intelligence and security branches.

Officials said they detained Assad loyalists who refused to turn in their weapons over to the new authorities.

On Thursday, state media reported, citing a military official, that the new de facto authorities led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham had set up centres in Syria’s third largest city for former soldiers and militants to hand over their weapons, similar to other parts of Syria.

In early December, a lightning insurgency took out the decades long rule of Assad in less than two weeks.

HTS have since run much of war-torn Syria under the de facto rule of its leader Ahmad al-Sharaa.

In a show of force, the security forces were seen firing into the air as they were deployed in alleyways in Homs.