One of Bashar al-Assad’s personal bodyguards has reportedly claimed refugee status in Germany, despite being involved in perpetrating heinous crimes against Syrian dissidents, even arresting and handing over members of his own family to Assad's forces to be punished for their participation in anti-regime demonstrations.

Palestinian brothers Waseem and Anas Mahmoud Muhahi have been secretly held in Syrian regime dungeons since October 2012. Both were kidnapped from Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees south of Damascus.

The Action Group for Palestinians of Syria (AGPS) reports that the whereabouts and conditions of both brothers are shrouded in mystery, adding that dozens of members of the extended family had been subjected to imprisonment and fatal torture in the Assad regime’s prisons.

Writer Adnan Al-Ziraii’s family confirmed that they had identified his photo today (above left, alongside an earlier photo of him) amongst the latest tranche of Caesar photos to be released, with the heartbreaking discovery providing verification that he had died under torture in an Assad regime prison.

A total of 14,388 people have been documented as being tortured to death in Syrian civil war since March 2011 – an average of just over four people per day - with the vast majority of these killed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to a new report from the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).

Ahead of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, SNHR, which documents violations of civil rights, prepared a special report for the Anadolu Agency on victims killed under torture in Syria

Russia has quit a United Nations arrangement that aimed to protect hospitals and humanitarian aid deliveries in Syria from being hit by the warring parties, according to a UN note to aid groups seen on Thursday.

The Russian move comes after an internal UN inquiry in April found it was “highly probable” that the Syrian regime or its allies carried out attacks on three healthcare facilities, a school and a refuge for children in northwest Syria last year.

By Zaki Kaf Al-Ghazal

The United Arab Emirates has been found to be training Syrian military intelligence officers and providing aid to the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad, reveals a report by the French-language site Orient XXI.