An investigation reveals the details of the murder of retired Colonel Mohamed Kheiro Khalouf and the fate of intelligence officer Mohamed Khalouf

A video that has been shared on social media and by Arab news outlets shows the killing of a man during a raid in Aleppo. The outlets sharing the video say that the man in the footage was an intelligence officer for Assad's regime and used to run the "Branch 235" Palestine security office in Damascus. They claim he was killed while trying to escape. Some also say that a fighter named 'Shamil Ghazi' was the one who killed him.

Verify-Sy team conducted an extensive investigation into the incident, which included contacting the victim's family and acquaintances, examining the scene of the incident, and speaking with a fighter who was present at the scene when the incident occurred. The investigation also involved communication with a source close to Major General Mohamed Azou Khalouf, who was an officer in Assad's intelligence services and a former head of the Palestine security branch.

The Spread of Misinformation

The video depicting the killing of retired officer Mohamed Kheiro Khalouf spread widely, not just on social media but also on well-known news stations such as Al Arabiya and Al Mashhad TV. The misinformation extended to mischaracterizing the victim, describing him either as a 'criminal' or a 'high-ranking officer in Assad's regime,' as some publishers of the misinformation claimed.

Circumstances, Location, and Timing of the Incident  

The incident occurred at noon on Friday, November 29, 2024, coinciding with the entry of the military operations forces into Aleppo— the military operation concluded with liberating Syria from Assad dictatorship. The recorded footage shows a fighter, who had a camera attached to his body, approaching the victim.  The victim then asked the fighter for help to escape the area, saying: 'I am a colonel, my son, I need to escape.' 

The fighter asked whom he wanted to flee from, to which the victim replied, 'From the gunmen (a term used by the ousted Assad regime to refer to the Syrian military opposition).' The fighter then opened fire, killing him with seven shots, saying, 'Gunmen, you pig.' The video also shows two other fighters who were with the gunman who killed the victim.

By matching the landmarks of the video's filming location with Google Maps, it was determined that the recording was made in the “New Aleppo” neighborhood, across from the Ahmad Aswad Primary School, in the People's Association area. 

Verify-Sy, in cooperation with a volunteer from the Truth Guards program, obtained a video recording and photos from the scene of the incident. Below, you will find a comparison between the recording, Google Maps, and the photos obtained by Verify-Sy from the incident location.

In a conversation with Verify-Sy, the victim's nephew commented on his uncle's behavior in the video, suggesting that the victim might have believed that the armed individuals in the area were affiliated with Assad's regime or its security elements. 

Consequently, his uncle asked for help using language that he thought would align with their perspective, employing the terminology that Assad's forces and media use to describe armed opposition fighter

Testimony from a Fighter of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham Regarding the Incident

Verify-Sy was able to reach a fighter who witnessed the killing of the retired officer, Mohamed Kheiro Khalouf. The fighter, belonging to Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, confirmed that the incident took place in the afternoon on Friday, November 29, 2024, during storming the city of Aleppo by 'Military Operations Administration'.

The fighter, who preferred to remain anonymous, stated: “During the battles in Aleppo, we encountered many military officers who either confronted us or tried to flee in civilian clothes. When the man approached my colleague, he himself disclosed that he was one of those officers attempting to escape from “the gunmen” (a term used by the ousted Assad regime to refer to the Syrian military opposition) , leading my colleague to believe he was indeed an officer from Assad’s forces and shot him based on that assumption.  We did not have specific instructions on how to handle such cases; it was up to the fighter’s judgment to decide on the battle scene how to act on the battlefield under these circumstances.” 

The witness noted that his colleague, who killed Mohamed Kheiro Khalouf, later sustained a leg injury during clashes with Assad's forces in Aleppo.

The witness denied that his colleague, Shamil Ghazi, was the one who killed the man, confirming that Shamil Ghazi was present and had received the video from his colleague who fired at the victim, and then posted it on his Telegram channel, but later deleted it on the orders of military leaders in Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham.

Some versions of the recording that spread on social media were labeled with 'Shamil Ghazi,' a fighter within the ranks of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, who was also present during the incident of the killing of Mohamed Kheiro Khalouf.

Who is Retired Police Colonel Mohamed Kheiro Khalouf

Retired Police Colonel Mohamed Kheiro Khalouf was born on September 9, 1958, in the village of Fatira in the western countryside of Ma'arat al-Numan. He served in the police force until mid-2012, with his last posting in Deir ez-Zor as a police officer. According to sources close to the victim and his acquaintances in the village of Fatira, Khalouf requested early retirement from the Minister of Interior in 2011 before reaching the mandated age and was granted early retirement after submitting a medical report in 2012. The same sources indicate that in 2011, Khalouf was kidnapped along with his son and nephew in the Al-Bashaa neighborhood and was released three days later after his family paid a ransom to the kidnappers.

Khalouf frequently visited his village, Fatira, which was under the control of opposition forces until early 2020 when Assad's forces took over Ma'arat al-Numan, turning Fatira into an uninhabited conflict zone. During his visits, he was summoned at least twice for questioning by 'Jabhat al-Nusra,' the name that Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham was known by at the time. According to sources, Mohamed Kheiro Khalouf was well-known to the members of the organization in the area. He was also detained once at one of the opposition faction's checkpoints in Deir ez-Zor and released after a few hours as his involvement with the Syrian security forces in suppressing protesters at that time could not be proven.

The victim's nephew states that no one has reached out to his family to hand over the body, and the family does not know whom to contact regarding this matter. Meanwhile, the fighter who witnessed the incident stated that he does not know the fate of the body because he and his colleagues left it at the scene after seven bullets ended his life.

 

Who is Mohammad Azou Khalouf, the Officer in Assad's Intelligence Services?  

According to a source close to Mohammad Azou Khalouf, he is originally from Asal al-Ward in the Damascus countryside and began his rise as a high-ranking intelligence officer in Assad's regime with support from his father-in-law, General Mahmoud Al-Shaqqah. He served in Tripoli, Lebanon, as a colonel during the Syrian military presence there until 2004 under the command of General Jame Jame. During that time, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.  

Khalouf’s name appeared on the list of suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, and he was interrogated by investigator Detlev Mehlis. With the onset of the Syrian revolution, he was promoted to Major General, and in 2014, he took over the management of the Palestine Branch. 

Upon reaching retirement age, he remained in his position for an additional six years by order of Bashar al-Assad and was retired in the past year, 2024. It has been difficult to Verify-Sy the duties Khalouf performed after the Syrian army's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2004 until 2009, though a source close to him suggested that he was working in Latakia during that period

Although Syrian laws prohibit retired or discharged officers from leaving Syria until five years after the end of their service, Khalouf traveled to Qatar after his retirement, where a family member resides. He was able to travel due to the status he held with his leaders.

Mohammad Azou Khalouf has been listed on British, European, and Canadian sanctions lists for crimes he participated in during his tenure as head of the Palestine Branch between 2009 and 2014.  

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