Bashar family brawl: President’s tycoon cousin accuses Syrian regime of endangering economy

Rami Makhlouf says regime’s fines against him will deal ‘catastrophic’ blow to cash-strapped Syria, while family members question public rift

Rami Makhlouf has posted on social media for the third time, apparently exposing a bitter rift inside the tight-lipped family (AFP)

Bashar al-Assad’s billionaire cousin, on the outs with the Damascus leadership, has released a third video lashing out at the Syrian regime, warning that any actions taken against him could be “catastrophic” to the country’s flailing economy.

It is the latest in a slew of filmed tirades Rami Makhlouf has posted on social media, apparently exposing a bitter rift inside the tight-lipped family.

Makhlouf, once thought to be Syria’s richest man and a close member of the president’s inner circle, claimed in a Sunday Facebook video that officials were forcing him to step down as head of Syria’s main mobile operator, Syriatel.

Sitting on the floor of what is likely his sprawling villa near the capital, Makhlouf insisted that the $180 million he said he was being forced to cough up in unpaid taxes was illegal.

Describing himself as a legitimate businessman he said he was forced to forfeit 120 per cent of his profits or be arrested.

“They said you have until Sunday to either comply or the company will be taken, and its assets seized,” Makhlouf said, adding that board members had also been targeted.

“Whoever thinks I will resign under these conditions, doesn’t know me.”

This is the third such message he has posted in under a month and comes just a few weeks after he accused security forces of arresting his employees in an “inhumane way”. Since then the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a monitoring group, reported that 60 managers and technicians at Makhlouf-owned businesses have been detained.

The very public spat between Mr Assad and his once-loyal cousin has split the wider family, with some relatives growing increasingly alarmed at the fracture that they fear is the start of a broader crackdown on relatives that could hurt their fortunes and damage the country’s economy.

But others like Mr Assad’s 44-year-old cousin Ribal, whose branch of the family has been a long-term rival of Bashar's, believe the public tiff may be staged.

“When people just speak about freedoms, the regime locks them up and tortures them,” Ribal told The Independent. “Even people more important than Rami have disappeared in the past. Rami is simply not brave enough to do this.”

In his video, Mr Makhlouf warned there would be a “catastrophic” blow to the economy if Syriatel, a major source of revenue for the state, collapsed.

“This company is among the most successful in Syria and in the Arab world. Damaging it would be a shame,” he said.

“We’ve had enough people escape Syria already; businessmen and investors… the state cannot rise up on its own.”

Syria has already been battered by US sanctions, a Covid-19 enforced lockdown and the impact of the financial collapse in neighbouring Lebanon, which has choked the main source of dollars into the country.

But many now fear the public fight between Makhlouf and his cousin is actually damaging the economy even more: the Syrian pound fell to a record low of 1,779 to the dollar on Sunday as the video was released.

The crackdown on Makhlouf and several Syrian businessmen close to the government in recent months followed reports that Russia, Assad’s chief military patron in the Syrian civil war, was piling pressure on the regime to root out corruption as it looks to extricate itself from the costly conflict. The president has made no comments about the videos.

Makhlouf, who holds investments in several industries including telecommunications, oil, gas, and banking, has repeatedly been accused of being the corrupt financier of the Syria regime.

He was sanctioned by the US government in 2008 as a person “benefiting from Syrian corruption”, and before the war was believed to control as much as 60 per cent of the Syrian economy.

When Syria’s uprising erupted in 2011, a lot of the anger was directed specifically at him with protesters branding him “the thief”.

His sons, who live in the UAE, have frequently posted photos of their luxury yachts, holidays and homes on social media, only feeding public fury.

Rami Makhlouf appeals directly to President Assad for help on Facebook (screenshot from Mr Makhlouf's Facebook page) (screen shot from Mr Makhlouf's Facebook page)

Makhlouf had remained a staunch member of Assad’s inner circle until December 2019 when reports emerged Syrian customs officials had seized several of his business assets citing “customs violations” including importing products like oil and gas without paying tax.

He released his first video on 30 April complaining about his treatment.

Syria experts believe Russian pressure may have forced Assad to turn on his wealthy cousin. They have pointed to a slew of unusually critical articles that have appeared in Russian state media, some even targeting Assad himself.

Bassam Barabandi, a former Syrian diplomat who defected in 2012, said that the fact Makhlouf has turned to Facebook to air his grievances indicates his channel to Assad has been closed.

Writing for the Centre for Global Policy with Syria expert Faysal Itani, he said that the sustained targeting of Mr Makhlouf’s business empire indicates he has serious domestic enemies, among them Assad’s own wife Asma.

Asma al Assad heads several powerful charities, which are in direct competition with Makhlouf’s own groups.

One of Makhlouf’s now-deleted Facebook posts, which focused on Assad family’s Alawite community, sparked a slew of sectarian comments from people who lashed out at Asma al-Assad, a Sunni.

“Some from the family genuinely believe Assad is after Rami and that the government is very serious about it,” said Ribal, whose extended family has been based in Europe since his father Rifaat, Syria's controversial former vice president, left the country in 1984 after leading a failed coup against Bashar al-Assad’s father Hafez.

“[But others] cannot believe Assad would allow him to [say] things against Asma, it has left many confused and worried.”

People more important than Rami have disappeared in the past. Rami is simply not brave enough to do this

President Assad's cousin Ribal

He believes that Makhlouf would only post such videos with the consent, or even the orders of the regime, and says sources within Syria have told him Makhlouf is living in a villa located just 10km from Damascus and nearby several military bases.

Ribal said the fight might be staged as a means of resisting Russian pressure on the regime to make concessions to the opposition, such as rooting out corruption.

“Assad is not willing to give anything; his mentality is why should we give up any power? He can point to these videos and tell the Russians they cannot push so much as the consequences are disastrous.”

Ribal said the regime and Makhlouf know that he won’t be able to hold on to all of his monopolies when Syria shifts into a “post-war” scenario, where a constitution will be drafted and opposition groups nominally allowed to participate in political life.

“He has registered his companies as foreign investors which allowed him to take all the profit he made in Syrian pounds out of the country in USD for the past 20 years,” Ribal added.

“He has made billions, why would he risk his life to fight over $200 million?”