Damascus – Action Group
The Syrian Ministry of Interior announced the renaming of the security branch formerly known as the “Palestine Branch” in Damascus to the “Special Tasks Department,” a move that comes as part of the restructuring of security institutions following the fall of the previous Syrian regime.
In an official statement, the ministry said the decision aims to close a chapter associated, as it described it, with files of arbitrary arrest, torture, and gross human rights violations. It asserted that the use of the name “Palestine” in past decades was exploited to mask security practices unrelated to the Palestinian cause.
The statement added that the renaming is part of separating state institutions from the legacy of the former security apparatus and preventing the exploitation of national and patriotic symbols and issues to justify violations or provide them with political cover.
The “Palestine Branch” is considered one of the most notorious security branches affiliated with the Syrian Military Intelligence Directorate, although its original mandate was to monitor Palestinian activities inside and outside Syria. It was established during the 1960s in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict and to monitor Palestinian factions, before gradually transforming into a security agency with broad powers.
In the decades that followed, the branch’s responsibilities expanded to include the persecution of Syrian and Palestinian political opponents and activists, and it gained widespread notoriety as one of the detention centers most associated with torture and ill-treatment. Its name appeared in dozens of testimonies and human rights reports documenting violations against detainees of various nationalities, including large numbers of Palestinian refugees in Syria.
With the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011, the branch’s name resurfaced in testimonies from survivors and families of detainees and missing persons. Human rights organizations documented cases of arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, and torture attributed to it, making it a symbol of the repressive policies pursued by the former regime.
The decision to change its name comes at a time when Syria is witnessing increasing discussions about security sector reform, holding those responsible for violations accountable, and uncovering the fate of tens of thousands of detainees and missing persons, including hundreds of Syrian Palestinians whose fate remains unknown to this day.