Bashar al-Assad's cousin blames former regime for massacres

Rami Makhlouf, former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's cousin, blamed on Sunday the officers of the Assad regime's Fourth Division for the killing of more than a thousand people in Syria since Thursday.

Clashes in Syria started in Thursday after forces loyal to the Assad regime ambushed members of the Syrian security forces, killing several people. Following this, hundreds of Alawite civilians were killed, raising the number of people killed from both sides to more than 1,000. Although Assad loyalists are not behind the majority of the killings, Makhlouf blamed them because the executions against Alawites that followed came in reaction to the initial ambushes.

Regarding the killing of Alawite civilians, he said "Horrific and massacres, systematic humiliation and video clips that they are proud of [showing] how they torture, slaughter, fire bullets from the feet to the head, and then suddenly stop fighting to perform the Maghrib prayer and break their fast, and then resume! ... And after all this torture and killing, the bodies are left in the streets and forbidden to be buried! After all these horrible scenes, we saw something even worse: Some of the martyrs' bodies lying in the streets had been stripped of many of their organs."

Makhlouf asked the officers of the Fourth Division: “What did you do to our people? Didn't you expect after what you did to the security personnel that the reaction would be very violent? Why did you implicate these poor civilians with you and exploit their need for money, since they lost their civilian and military jobs, and deluded them that you controlled the area and needed them to guard it? You received the money, and our people paid in blood, humiliation and hunger.” 

The Syrian Army's Fourth Division, led by Bashar's younger brother Maher al-Assad, was primarily tasked with securing Damascus and protecting the regime from any significant threat. However, during the Syrian war, this division turned into an army that deployed its forces across various regions of Syria.

Addressing former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Makhlouf said, “Wasn't it enough for you to destroy the country, divide it, destroy its army and economy, starve its people, and on top of all that, you fled with money that, if distributed to the people, would have ended hunger and poverty?”

He also addressed the people of coastal Syria saying “I warned everyone against any stupid move that might lead the community to slaughter and abuse ... We feel your suffering and pain and the loss of your loved ones in the most horrible ways. We have made a great effort to stop these massacres by any means necessary. Now, and most importantly, we are working seriously and at the highest level of coordination to find radical solutions that prevent the recurrence of such events, ensure security and safety for all our people in these areas and prevent all these abuses and violations.”

Finally, he said he would hopefully "restore all civilian and military persons who were expelled from their jobs."

In 2020, the Syrian government ordered the confiscation of assets belonging to Makhlouf, as well as those of his wife and children. Once at the heart of al-Assad’s inner circle, billionaire Makhlouf has quarreled with the authorities over funds the government claimed were owed by his mobile phone company, Syriatel.