MeTransparent Exclusive
Syrian authorities, recently, released
Mustapha Setmariam Nasar al-Suri, a native Syrian with a Spanish passport who had been placed on the State Department’s “Rewards for Justice” list in 2004 with a $5 million reward posted for his capture.
Al-Suri had been captured in Quetta (Pakistan) in 2005 and handed over to the CIA, which seems to have handed him, unofficially, to Syrian authorities in the context of “security cooperation” between the US agency and its Syrian counterparts. Neither the US, Syria or Spain, ever admitted to the detention of Al-Suri in a prison in the syrian city of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey.
Jihadi sources who revealed the news to MeTransparent said the release could be a warning to signal Syria’s willingness to put an end to all “security cooperation” with the U.S. His release could be a warning to the CIA, or even the Obama Administration, of the possible security repercussions of the fall of the Assad regime. Sources warned Al-Suri was not the only “al-Qaida” associate detained in Syria. Other suspects had been extradited to Syria by Germany and, probably, other countries.
Sources, however, speculated that, even if released, Al-Suri must be under strict control of Syrian Intelligence. Syrian authorities could not, simply, allow such a precious (and dangerous) bargaining chip to slip away. His release could be a part of a stratagem to use Al-Suri to get information about armed rebel groups now active in rebel bastions. Al-Suri had been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s “Armed Vanguard” which fought the Syrian Army in the city of Hama in 1982. He later, travelled to Jordan, Iraq, Spain and the U.K. before heading to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Though considered an associate of al-Qaida, Al-Suri had taken an oath of allegiance to Mulla Omar in the years preceeding the Septmeber 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. His relations with Bin Laden were, often, less than cordial due to his inflated ambitions.
