A seemingly insignificant notebook, left behind in the luxurious apartment of one of the most notorious officials of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Damascus, served as the starting point for a months-long BBC investigation that ultimately led to Moscow.
Hossam Louka, known in Syria by the nickname “Spider,” was one of the most powerful heads of Assad’s intelligence services and is accused of murder, torture, and a series of other crimes. After the regime’s fall in December 2024, he disappeared without a trace.
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A few days later, armed men who entered his abandoned luxury apartment in Damascus found designer clothes, documents, medals, certificates, and dozens of photographs of him. Among them were many copies of a photograph in which Luca appeared to be smiling broadly while shaking hands with Assad.
In a corner of the living room, however, a simple notebook was also found. Written on its pages were the names and phone numbers of people from various walks of life: doctors, shop owners, military personnel, relatives, and individuals who appeared to belong to “The Spider’s” broader network of contacts.
The “Spider” of Homs
Luka’s name had been linked to the violent suppression of the uprising against Assad from the early years of the Syrian civil war.
As the local head of the Political Security Directorate in Homs, he was in charge of dealing with the rebels in the city. Residents still remember his phone number spray-painted on walls. The message circulating was that anyone wishing to leave the besieged areas could call that number to ensure safe passage.
Some are said to have actually managed to escape. Others, according to testimonies gathered by the BBC, called and were never heard from again.
Luka was given the nickname “Spider” because of the extensive network of collaborators and informants he is said to have built, even within rebel groups. “He was everywhere,” said residents of Homs, while a former rebel described him as a “diabolical genius” and an extremely cunning man.
The massacre and the 17 dead children
One of the most serious incidents linked to Luka’s name is the so-called “Id Massacre” in September 2015, also known as the “Massacre of the Children.”
An attack on the al-Waer neighborhood of Homs resulted in the deaths of 28 people, including 17 children and four women, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.
Among the victims was seven-year-old Wael, the son of Mohammad Tuakli. His father described to the BBC how he found the children dead in the very spot where they had been playing just moments earlier.
According to a Syrian activist group and an opposition media outlet at the time, Luca was involved in selecting the regime’s targets in the area that day.
His rise through Assad’s power structure continued, and by the time the regime collapsed, he had reached the top of the General Security Directorate, one of Syria’s most powerful intelligence agencies. From this position, he exercised strategic control over the country’s detention policy during a period when thousands of people were sent to Syria’s notorious prisons. Among them was Sednaya Prison in Damascus, which became known as the “human slaughterhouse.”
The notebook and the 155 phone numbers
After the notebook was discovered, BBC journalists photographed all of its pages and began checking the 155 phone numbers one by one. Only 51 appeared to still be active.
Initial attempts to make contact were unsuccessful. Those who answered either hung up as soon as they heard who was calling or denied knowing Luca.
The investigation continued on the ground in Syria. A BBC reporter even made medical appointments with doctors on the list in an attempt to gather information. A doctor in Aleppo reluctantly admitted that he had treated Luca, but then asked the reporter to leave.
Another doctor in Damascus revealed that he had accompanied Luca’s mother on a medical trip to Russia.
The Bodyguard Who “Broke” the Silence
The first significant development came months later. A former security guard at Luca’s apartment building gave reporters the phone number of a man who, he said, was Luca’s personal bodyguard.
The man claimed that Louka had assured his associates that he would remain in Damascus to defend it as rebel forces approached the capital in December 22024.
By the early hours of the following morning, however, he had disappeared. According to his former bodyguard, he had taken a large sum of money from the safe in his office with him.
He then gave the BBC the phone number of Luka’s driver, who believed he had driven him out of Damascus on the night of his escape.
Luka’s Russian phone number and voice
The trail eventually led to Lebanon and from there to Russia. A high-ranking source in the Lebanese government told the BBC that Luka had passed through Lebanon using “a valid Russian passport, but under a different name” and had then flown to Russia.
Another person from the notebook gave reporters a phone number that they claimed belonged to Luka. The number had a Russian area code.
To confirm his identity, this person called Luka in the presence of the BBC and asked him questions whose answers, according to the journalists, only he could know. The man on the other end of the line answered immediately and correctly.
In a subsequent call, the reporters managed to speak with him directly.
“I can’t take any risks by talking on the phone where I am,” Luka told them. When asked if Russia was forbidding him from speaking, he replied, “I can’t speak. I can’t explain. You have to understand,” and then hung up the phone.
He was located on the outskirts of Moscow
The BBC subsequently obtained a second phone number reportedly used by Luka, which was linked to social media and messaging apps. Within a day, the journalists managed to track him down in two suburban areas on the outskirts of Moscow.
In a subsequent phone call, when the man who answered was told that the BBC was on the other end of the line, he immediately hung up. He also did not respond to a text message sent to him shortly afterward asking about the charges against him.
Syria is seeking his extradition
The new Syrian government has already taken legal action against him. Syria’s attorney general, Hassan al-Turba, told the BBC that Luca has been charged with “intentional homicide, torture, and death resulting from torture.” A national arrest warrant has been issued against him, and Syrian authorities are working to locate and extradite him.
His presence in Russia, however, drastically reduces the chances of him returning to Syria soon to stand trial, as Moscow has been the Assad regime’s most important international ally. The Russian government did not respond to the BBC’s questions regarding Luca’s presence in the country and the possibility of his extradition.
For the victims’ families, however, the call for justice remains. Mohammed, who lost his seven-year-old son in Homs, still hopes that Luka and other high-ranking regime officials will one day be held accountable for their alleged crimes. “Wael was just a seven-year-old boy. All he cared about was playing and having fun,” he told the BBC.
Source: Proto Thema
