Sanctions-hit Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf said on Sunday that security forces were arresting employees at his companies “in an inhumane way”, amid pressure on him to step down from his business empire and pay millions of dollars in taxes, Middle East Eye reported.
Makhlouf, a cousin of President Bashar al-Assad and widely considered part of the president’s inner circle, has a business empire that ranges from telecoms and real estate to construction and oil trading. He played a big role in financing Assad’s war effort, western officials have said. His wealth was estimated to be worth $5bn before the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in 2011.
The video appears to confirm the most significant power struggle within the heart of the family since Bashar took over from his late father Hafez in 2000. It also points to severe strains within the Assad government as the Syrian economy collapses and the civil war grinds on, analysts told the Washington Post.
“It’s very big,” Bassam Barabandi, a former diplomat who defected from the Syrian Embassy in Washington in 2012 told the Post. “Rami was in the inner circle from day one of Bashar’s rule. He’s built into the regime. To take him out would be like a divorce.”
“Today pressures began in unacceptable ways and the security forces, in an inhumane way, are arresting our employees,” Makhlouf said in a video in an unprecedented attack on the powerful security forces by one of the country’s most influential figures.
“Mr President (Assad), the security forces have started attacking people’s freedoms. These are your loyal supporters… The situation is dangerous and by God, if we continue, the situation of the country will be very difficult,” Makhlouf said.
Makhlouf, who belongs to Assad’s Alawite minority sect that holds political power in Syria, owes his fortune to Assad and was seen by many Syrian businessmen and others as a front man for the president and other members of the ruling family.
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