Ex-SSRC Chief Arrested Amid Probe into Syria’s Chemical Weapons Program

Syrian authorities announced on July 15 the arrest of Ahmad Habib Ali, a former colonel and senior official tied to the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC). The Interior Ministry identified him as a chemical weapons specialist who oversaw sarin storage facilities and chemical production at Unit 417 under the ousted regime. Human rights monitors say his senior role places him within the program’s leadership rather than as a mere technical operative, elevating the arrest’s importance for accountability efforts.

Significance and calls for cooperation

Fadel Abdul Ghany, director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, said the detention is a key step toward tracing responsibility through the full political and military chain of command and stressed the need to preserve evidence and pursue prosecutions that meet standards of independence, impartiality and due process. He pointed to the OPCW’s May 2026 discovery of undeclared chemical stockpiles at multiple Syrian sites as evidence of an organized institutional program, and urged cooperation with the OPCW and other international mechanisms to support investigations and trials, as reported by SANA