Major General Maher Hafez al-Assad مَاهِرُ ٱلْأَسَدِ | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Native name | مَاهِرُ حَافِـظِ ٱلْأَسَد |
| Nickname(s) | The Chief[1] |
| Born | (1967-12-08)8 December 1967 (age 57) Damascus,Syria |
| Allegiance |  Ba'athist Syria |
| Service |  Syrian Army |
| Years of service | 1988–2024 |
| Rank |  Major General[2][3][4][5][6] |
| Commands | |
| Battles / wars | |
| Spouse(s) | Manal al-Jadaan |
| Relations | Hafez al-Assad (father)Bushra al-Assad (sister)Bassel al-Assad (brother)Bashar al-Assad (brother)Majd al-Assad (brother)Jamil al-Assad (uncle)Rifaat al-Assad (uncle) |
Major GeneralMaher Hafez al-Assad (Arabic:مَاهِرُ ٱلْأَسَدِ,romanized: Māhir al-ʾAsad, born 8 December 1967) is a Syrian former military officer who served as commander of theSyrian Army's elite4th Armoured Division, which, together with Syria'sMilitary Intelligence, formed the core of theBa'athist regime's security forces untilits collapse in 2024.[7][8] He is the younger brother of formerSyrian presidentBashar al-Assad, and also was a member of the Central Committee of theSyrian Ba'ath Party.[9]
At the onset of theSyrian Revolution, Maher was thought by some to be the second-most powerful man in Syria after his brotherBashar, the president.[10][11] Maher is considered a regime hardliner, who reportedly favored the crackdown against theDamascus Spring movement and has been implicated inUN reports of orchestrating thekilling ofLebanese Prime MinisterRafic Hariri.[11]
Maher oversaw the crackdown against Syrian protestors atDaraa, which led to the US and the European Union announcing sanctions against him.[11] Maher is described by analysts as preferringIran (as opposed toRussia) to play the largest role as theSyrian Government's main ally during theSyrian Civil War and subsequent post-war reconstruction. This is in contrast to the position of Major GeneralSuheil al-Hassan, commander of the25th Special Mission Forces Division who has gained much influence as a result of his activities during the Syrian Civil War, who was reported as preferring Russia.[12][13][14][15] However, it was reported in 2021 that Maher was part of the Ba'athist faction that demanded the end ofIranian presence in Syria, so as to promote regional rapprochement with neighboring Arab countries.[16]
Maher al-Assad also supervised operations of theShabiha squads, pro-Assad Alawite paramilitaries known forsectarian attacks againstSunni civilians.[17] As the commander of Fourth Armoured Division, Maher is directly involved in the production, trafficking and export operations of Syria's multi-billion dollardrug empire, which mostly smuggles an illegal drug known asCaptagon.[a]
In the aftermath of the2024 Syrian opposition offensives, which led to thefall of the Assad regime and the exile of his brother Bashar,Reuters reported that Maher had fled toRussia viaIraq.[23]
Maher al-Assad was born on 8 December 1967, the youngest child ofAnisa Makhlouf andHafez al-Assad. He was just two years old when his father becamePresident of Syria. Like the other children in theal-Assad family, he was raised out of the public spotlight and trained in Syria.[24][25]
Maher went to the Academy of Freedom School for his secondary education and then studied business administration atDamascus University.[24][25] Following university, he pursued a career in the military like his older brotherBassel.
When Bassel died in a car crash in 1994, Maher was mentioned as a possible successor to Hafez, but in the end, Bashar succeeded his father even though he lacked both military experience and political ambition. It was speculated that Maher's hot-tempered reputation influenced his father's decision in favour of Bashar.[26]
Maher al-Assad operated a number of different business projects in Lebanon with his cousinRami Makhlouf. Shmuel Bar argues that there was a split between the two of them, because the Makhloufs were worried that they were going to be made the scapegoats of an anti-corruption propaganda campaign.[27] Maher for a while controlled online media site Cham Press.[28]
On 23 May 2011, the EU placed sanctions for providing funding to the government which allowed violence against demonstrators during theSyrian civil war.[7] According toFortune Magazine, Maher benefited from the billion-dollar money laundering operation at the Lebanese al-Madina bank which collapsed in 2003 at the start of theIraq War. Al Madina was used to launder kickback money of Iraqi officials and their partners in the illegal gaming of the UN'soil-for-food programme. Sources put the amount transferred and laundered through al-Madina at more than $1 billion, with a 25 percent commission going to Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies; among the recipients of this money was Bashar Assad's brother Maher.[29]
Al Madina bank records indicate that Maher's office manager, Khalid Qaddur, was transferred at no cost a Beirut apartment valued at $2.5 million, a transfer that investigators believe was intended to put it under Maher's control.[30] The entire file on the Madina bank collapse is at theLebanese Ministry of Justice, except for key parts that implicate Maher, which are still at theLebanese Central Bank because people fear being killed over it.[29] On 23 June 2011, the EU placed sanctions on Maher's office manager, Khalid Qaddur, for providing funding to the government which allowed violence against demonstrators during the Syrian uprising. Similar sanctions were also placed on Ra'if al-Quwatli, another business associate of Maher.[31]
After Bassel's death in 1994, Maher assumed command of a brigade in the Republican Guard.[24] His time as brigade commander allowed him to gain valuable military experience and build personal ties with his officers.[32] After the death of his father in 2000, he was promoted from major to lieutenant-colonel.[24] Maher subsequently became commander of the Republican Guard, a 10,000 strong unit whose loyalty is said to be guaranteed by the significant share of revenue that it receives from the oil fields in theDeir ez-Zor region, and the commander of the army's elite4th Armoured Division which was once his uncleRifaat Assad'sDefense companies.[33][34]
In June 2000, Maher was elected to the Central Committee ofthe Ba'ath Party'sSyrian Regional Branch and subsequently was influential in persuading his brother Bashar during the first few months of his rule to put an end to the political openness of the short livedDamascus Spring.[35] Three years later Maher Assad met in Jordan with Israeli businessman Eitan Bentzur, a former director-general of theIsraeli Foreign Ministry, and offered to reopen peace negotiations with Israel without preconditions. The offer was rejected byAriel Sharon, thePrime Minister of Israel.[36]
Maher often appeared in public with Bashar and is said[by whom?] to be one of his closest advisers. He competed withAssef Shawkat, who was married to his sisterBushra al-Assad and was head ofmilitary intelligence, for influence in the Assad government. Maher was opposed to Shawkat's marriage to his sister Bushra, and had Shawkat imprisoned on several occasions to keep them apart.[37] In October 1999, he was rumoured to have shot Shawkat in the stomach during an argument.[24] Assef survived, and the two were said to have good relations then. Bashar, Maher, and Assef were said to form the inner circle of power in the Assad government.[26]
Both Shawkat and Maher al-Assad were mentioned in a leaked draft version of theMehlis report as suspects in the 2005 murder of formerLebanesePrime ministerRafik Hariri. According to the draft version, "one witness of Syrian origin but resident in Lebanon, who claims to have worked for the Syrian intelligence services in Lebanon, stated that approximately two weeks after the adoption of Security Council resolution 1559, Maher Al Assad, Assef Shawkat, Hassan Khalil, Bahjat Suleyman and Jamil Al Sayyed decided to assassinateRafik Hariri."[38]
In 2008, Maher was in charge of putting down a prison revolt inSednaya Prison, where 400 soldiers had been kidnapped by the prisoners. Around 25 people out of 10,000 inmates were killed during the crackdown.[39] Human rights groups had unverified video footage that purportedly shows Maher taking photographs with his mobile phone of the dismembered bodies of prisoners after the riot.[40] Maher's sister-in-law, Majd al-Jadaan, who lives in exile in Washington DC, claims that the individual in the video footage is Maher.[41] In 2016 and 2017, there were conflicting reporting regarding Maher's rank, whether he was abrigadier general ormajor general.[3][4][5][6]
In April 2018, he was made the head of Syria's elite4th Armoured Division, which oversees, amongst other things, the activities of the armedAlawite militia known as theShabiha.[42] He had previously been the commander of the 42ndbattalion within the division.[43]
Since the beginning of the Syrian uprising in mid-March 2011, Maher's troops have played a key role in violently suppressing protests in the southern city ofDaraa, the coastal city ofBanias, the central province ofHoms and the northern province ofIdlib.[44] TheLos Angeles Times reported that video footage existed, which activists and observers claimed showing Maher personally shooting at unarmed protesters, who were demanding the fall of the Assad government in theBarzeh suburb ofDamascus.[45] Defecting soldiers under Maher's command reported they were given orders by him to usedeadly force against unarmed protesters. One defecting sniper reported that during the protests in Deraa: "We were ordered to aim for the head or heart from the beginning. We were not given specific numbers but told to kill as many as possible as long as there were protests."[46]
Prime Minister of Turkey,Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stated that Maher's actions during the Syrian uprising approached "savagery", and he pressured Bashar al-Assad to remove Maher from command of the military and to send him into exile.[44] TheUnited States on 27 April 2011 placed sanctions on Maher for being a facilitator ofhuman rights violations in Syria.[47] Two weeks later, on 10 May 2011, theEU sanctioned Maher for being the principal overseer of violence against demonstrators during the Syrian uprising.[7] TheArab League issued a list of nineteen Syrian officials banned from travelling to Arab countries and whose assets were being frozen by those countries. Among those named were Assad's brother, Maher al-Assad, his cousin and telecom magnate Rami Makhlouf, as well as military and intelligence figures.[48]
On 2 December 2011, Maher was also placed on a travel ban.[citation needed]
Maher al-Assad's role became more significant following the assassination of the Syrian defense minister, high-ranking security officials and Assef Shawkat on 18 July 2012.[49] After a four-day siege by the opposition forces from 18 to 22 July 2012, the 4th Armoured Division, commanded by Maher, swept through three rebel-held districts of Damascus.[50]
In August 2012, Saudi newspaperAl-Watan claimed that Assad was willing to step down and that his brother Maher had lost his legs in the18 July 2012 Damascus bombing, allegedly quoting the Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov.[51] The information was immediately denied in Russian media.[52] The daily then released an audio of the claimed conversation, but the voice reportedly did not sound like Bogdanov's.[53] Other sources, including a Western diplomat, said they had heard Maher lost a leg.[54][55]
A July 2013 report by a pro-government website stated that Maher was commanding troops in the Aleppo and Homs theatre of operations.[56]
On November 30, a new rebel coalition, spearheaded by the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), carried out a surprise attack, across Syria over 11 days, sweeping through major cities on the way to conquer Syria andoverthrewing Assad regime. This significant development faced minimal resistance from the Syrian army.[57]
Since thefall of the Assad regime in December 2024, Maher is presumed to be in hiding.[58]Reuters reported that Maher had flown a helicopter to Iraq before proceeding to Russia, having been failed to be informed by his brother Bashar of his own departure to Russia.[59]
As commander of both the eliteRepublican Guard andFourth Armoured Division, Maher is reputed as the most "thuggish" and ruthless person within the Assad family.[27] He is widely perceived as a hardline loyalist who finishes the "dirty work" for the regime.[60] Dominic Waghorn ofSky News described him as the “psychotic, deranged brother who has personally overseen much of the regime's reign of terror”.[61]
A 2005 UN report accused Maher of being personally involved in theassassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. Maher's infamous Fourth Armoured Division was responsible for launching brutal crackdowns on the protestors of Daraa, killing many civilians, which led to the spread of anti-government demonstrations across the country during the events of theSyrian Revolution.[60]
Maher plays the central role in coordinating Syrian regime's production of illegal drugs and its trafficking to foreign countries. Syria has the World’s largestcaptagon production. According toJordanian journalist Salah Malkawi:
Commanders of militias, security agencies, military forces are involved in the drug smuggling operation. The drugs cannot reach these areas without passing through dozens of barriers and checkpoints that fall under the Fourth Division, which is under the leadership of Maher al-Assad, the brother of theSyrian president... I’ve spoken to several (smugglers). They have received military training … using war tactics … to carry out sophisticated raids.[21]
In April 2011, United States PresidentBarack Obama issuedExecutive Order 13572 blocking property of Maher al-Assad with respect to human rights abuses and brutal crackdown on protestors in Syria.[62]
In March 2023,United States andUnited Kingdom issued further sanctions against Maher al-Assad and his associates, alongside other drug barons, for their involvement in Syria's narcotics industry and trafficking ofCaptagon.US Department of Treasury accused Maher al-Assad and his Fourth Division for financing "illicit revenue-generation schemes, which range from smuggling cigarettes and mobile phones to facilitating the production and trafficking of Captagon".[63][64][65][18]
In April 2023, European Union imposed sanctions on individuals and firms associated with Maher and his Fourth Armoured Division for its war crimes, torture and facilitation of Syria's illicit drug trade.Assad regime was designated as the main actor that facilitated the trafficking of Captagon to European ports.[66] The sanctions document published byCouncil of the European Union stated:
The Fourth Armoured Division is responsible for the violent repression of the civilian population. The Fourth Armoured Division also profits form the war economy, especially the trafficking in Captagon. Captagon trade has become a regime-led business model, enriching the inner circle of theregime and forming its lifeline.[67]
On 20 August 2012, rumours surfaced that Maher, who had not been seen since 18 July 2012 Damascus bombing, succumbed to his injuries afterRT reported that a senior Syrian military official died in a hospital inMoscow.[68] After the report was released, Syrian state media denied it was true.[68] A member of the pro-oppositionSyrian National Council, Mohammad Mahzeh, claimed he and other members were 100% certain it was true, and Maher was the Syrian military official who died in Moscow.[68]
However, on 10 October 2012, Abdullah Omar, a defected Syrian journalist, toldCNN that Maher was treated in Russia but returned to the presidential palace, where al-Omar said that Maher had lost his left leg in the bombing and also the use of his left arm.[69]
A photo of Maher Al-Assad with singerGeorge Wassouf from June 2014 was published by a Lebanese TV presenter, confirming that he is alive.[70]
On 15 November 2023, France issued an arrest warrant for Maher al-Assad on charges of complicity in crimes against humanity and complicity in war crimes. The charges are related to chemical attacks in the town of Douma and the district ofEastern Ghouta in August 2013 which killed more than 1,000 people.[71]
TheAl-Assad family is affiliated with theAlawite syncretic Muslim sect which splintered off from earlyShi'ism. Maher is married to Manal al-Jadaan, a Sunni woman with whom he has two daughters and one son.[41][72] His marriage to a Sunni woman, like his brother Bashar,[27] strengthened his business connections with theSunni elite.[42]
According to theGlobalPost Maher is considered by those who know him to be too hot-tempered to be an effective ruler.[41] In addition, The GlobalPost said that Maher caused his sister-in-law, Majd al-Jadaan, to leave Syria in August 2008 due to ongoing disagreements.[41]
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help){{cite web}}:|author= has generic name (help){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Media related toMaher al-Assad at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
