U.S. Justice Department sentences Syrian to 42 months for hacking on behalf of Assad regime

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday that a 42-month prison sentence was handed down to Ahmed Omar Agha, 32, who was accused of taking part in hacking campaigns carried out on behalf of the regime of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

The department said in a statement that Agha, in cooperation with other co-conspirators, hacked Western media outlets, commercial firms, non-governmental organizations and government entities belonging to the United States and its allies, with the aim of "disseminating propaganda on behalf of the former Syrian regime."

The department added that the hacking group known as the "Syrian Electronic Army" was run by close associates from Bashar al-Assad's inner circle.

Assistant Attorney General John Aizenberg said Agha used his hacking skills to serve the Assad regime, noting that this was intended to prevent coverage of the regime's atrocities, intimidate its opponents and incite members of the U.S. military to refuse military orders.

Among the group's most notable operations, the department said, was the 2013 hacking of an American news agency's account on Twitter (now X), where a false tweet was posted claiming then-President Barack Obama had been injured after two explosions at the White House.

The department noted that "Agha's actions caused a sudden collapse in the U.S. stock market, resulting in a temporary loss of $136 billion in the value of stocks listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average."

The indictment said Agha was also known by the alias "TH3 PRO," and that another defendant in the case, Firas Dardar, remains at large.

The third defendant, a Syrian named Peter Romar, was handed over to the United States and pleaded guilty in September 2016 to charges related to hacking.