Syrian media mogul Rami Makhlouf, cousin of President Bashar al Assad, released a video on Sunday announcing that government officials have ordered him to step down as chairman of mobile operator Syriatel, the latest episode in a fight of clans within the ruling elite in Syria. In this video, Makhlouf promises to resist these pressures and ensures that he will not resign, even if these officials have threatened to withdraw Syriatel's license and seize his assets if he does not comply.
The Damascus authorities did not immediately comment.
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Rami Makhlouf, once considered one of the members of the inner circle of Bashar al Assad and the most powerful businessman in Syria, has an empire ranging from telecoms to real estate, construction and public works. oil. It has played a crucial role in the funding of the Syrian war effort since the start of the civil war in 2011 and it is the target of American and European sanctions.
His video message, the third he has broadcast in less than a month, reflects deep divisions within the Alawite minority who control power in Syria. According to some experts, it could be the greatest tensions since Rifaat el Assad tried to depose his brother and president Hafez, the father of Bashar al Assad, in 1984.
Makhlouf has already accused the security forces this month of arresting its employees in an "inhuman manner" , an unprecedented attack on the authoritarian regime in place in Damascus by one of the most influential figures in the country. In a statement posted on Facebook, the businessman said that officials, whom he did not name, had ordered him to comply, failing which "the license will be revoked" . "They said I had until Sunday to comply or the company would be taken and its assets seized," he adds.
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Rami Makhlouf believes that the collapse of Syriatel would be a “catastrophic” blow to the Syrian economy. In his message, the media tycoon, whose rise dates back to the 2000s, also attacks those he calls war profiteers.
The Syrian pound fell to a record low of 1,750 for the dollar on Sunday, for fear that this dissension at the highest level would further plunge the country's economy, already hit by the tightening of American sanctions and the crisis in Lebanon, the main source of dollars for Syria.
