The phone book that led us to Assad's spy chief in hiding

Following the fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, BBC journalists discovered a notebook in the abandoned Damascus apartment of Hussam Luka—a feared intelligence chief nicknamed "The Spider"—containing dozens of contacts that could potentially help locate him or uncover evidence of his crimes. Luka, accused of orchestrating torture and atrocities, vanished when the regime collapsed, and the notebook found among personal items and photographs may provide crucial leads in pursuing accountability for his alleged abuses.