Turkish court arrested pro-Assad journalist Hüsnü Mahalli on Thursday for insulting Turkish state officials on his social network account.

Mahalli, who is of Syrian Turkmen origin and has long settled in Turkey, was detained by the Turkish National Police's Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Department on the grounds of insulting Turkish officials and statesmen.

Police officers searched his home, retaining some digital equipment for further investigation.

Mahalli had lastly praised the Assad regime's advances in eastern Aleppo against opposition-held pockets, and cheered massacres operated by Assad and the Iran-backed Shiite militias against eastern Aleppo residents. He also referred to Aleppo citizens as terrorists.

Mahalli had started his journalism in career in Turkey as the representative of the Assad regime's Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), and he is currently accredited as a journalist for SANA.