In his most recent cabinet reshuffle, Bashar al-Assad appointed Major General Mohammed Khalid Rahmoun as interior minister, replacing Mohammed al-Sha’ar in that post.
Rahmoun, who came from Khan Shikhoun in Idlib, has been the head of the Political Security Division since 2017 and was the head of the Air force Intelligence Branch in Harasta since 2011.
According to the testimonies of a number of those released from the Air Force Intelligence branch in Harasta, Rahmoun personally supervised the torture and killing of detainees between 2011 and 2017, so that Harasta Brach was named as the ” Branch of Death”.
Rahmoun also participated in leading raids and arrests in Damascus and Rif Dimashq between 2011-2012, especially in the areas of Qaboun, Arbin, Duma and Barzeh.
The US Treasury Department named Rahmoun in 2017 on its sanctions lists within 17 other people as responsible for targeting the Eastern Ghouta with chemical weapons in 2013.