Maher al-Assad

This is in contrast to the position of Major General Suheil al-Hassan, commander of the 25th 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.

However, it was reported in 2021 that Maher was part of the Ba'athist faction that demanded the end of Iranian presence in Syria, so as to promote regional rapprochement with neighboring Arab countries.

Maher al-Assad also supervised operations of the dreaded Shabiha squads, pro-Assad Alawite paramilitaries known for sectarian attacks against Sunni civilians.

As the commander of Fourth Armoured Division, Maher is directly involved in the production, trafficking and export operations of Syria's multi-billion dollar drug empire, which mostly smuggles an illegal drug known as Captagon.

Maher al-Assad (مَاهِرُ ٱلْأَسَدِ, born 8 December 1967) is a Syrian general and commander of the Syrian Army's elite 4th Armoured Division, which together with Syria's Military Intelligence form the core of the country's security forces.

He is also a member of the Central Committee of the Ba'ath Party's Syrian Regional Branch.

At the onset of the Syrian Revolution, Maher was thought by some to be the second-most powerful man in Syria after his brother Bashar, the president.

However, his base of influence is not considered strong enough to directly defy the reign of Bashar.

Maher is considered a regime hardliner, who reportedly favored the crackdown against Damascus Spring movement and has been implicated in UN reports of orchestrating the killing of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.

Maher oversaw the brutal crackdown against Syrian protestors at Daraa, which led to US and EU announcing sanctions on him.

Maher is described by analysts as preferring Iran (as opposed to Russia) to play the largest role as the Syrian Government's main ally during the Syrian Civil War and subsequent post-war reconstruction.

Maher al-Assad was born on 8 December 1967, the youngest child of Anisa Makhlouf and Hafez al-Assad.

He was just two years old when his father became President of Syria.

Like the other children in the al-Assad family, he was raised out of the public spotlight and trained in Syria.

Maher went to the Academy of Freedom School for his secondary education and then studied business administration at Damascus University.

Following university he pursued a career in the military like his older brother Bassel.

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 the military experience and political ambition.

It was speculated that Maher's reputation as a hot-tempered person influenced the decision in favour of Bashar.

Maher al-Assad operated a number of different business projects in Lebanon with his cousin Rami 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.

Maher for a while controlled online media site Cham Press.

After Bassel's death in 1994, Maher assumed command of a brigade in the Republican Guard.

His time as brigade commander allowed him to gain valuable military experience and build personal ties with his officers.

In October 1999, he was rumoured to have shot Shawkat in the stomach during an argument.

After the death of his father in 2000, he was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel.

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 the Deir ez-Zor region, and the commander of the army's elite Fourth Armored Division which was once his uncle Rifaat Assad's Defense companies.

In June 2000, Maher was elected to the Central Committee of the Ba'ath Party's Syrian 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 lived Damascus Spring.

Three years later Maher Assad met in Jordan with Israeli businessman Eitan Bentzur, a former director-general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and offered to reopen peace negotiations with Israel without preconditions.

The offer was rejected by Arial Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel.

Maher often appeared in public with Bashar and is said to be one of his closest advisers.

He competed with Assef Shawkat, who was married to his sister Bushra al-Assad and was head of military 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.

According to Fortune Magazine, Maher benefited from the billion dollar money laundering operation at the Lebanese al-Madina bank which collapsed in 2003 at the start of the Iraq War.

Al Madina was used to launder kickback money of Iraqi officials and their partners in the illegal gaming of the UN's oil-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.

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.

The entire file on the Madina bank collapse is at the Lebanese Ministry of Justice, except for key parts that implicate Maher, which are still at the Lebanese Central Bank because people fear being killed over it.

On 23 May 2011, the EU placed sanctions for providing funding to the government which allowed violence against demonstrators during the Syrian civil war.

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.