Dispute between Government, Makhlouf Deepens Syria's Economic Woes

A man watches a Facebook video posted by Syrian businessman Rami Makhlouf in Damascus on May 11, 2020. (AFP)
A man watches a Facebook video posted by Syrian businessman Rami Makhlouf in Damascus on May 11, 2020. (AFP)
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Dispute between Government, Makhlouf Deepens Syria's Economic Woes

A man watches a Facebook video posted by Syrian businessman Rami Makhlouf in Damascus on May 11, 2020. (AFP)
A man watches a Facebook video posted by Syrian businessman Rami Makhlouf in Damascus on May 11, 2020. (AFP)

Concerns over the economy increased in Damascus as the result of the dispute between the government and businessman Rami Makhlouf.

The latter warned of an “economic meltdown” in the event that his company, Syriatel, collapsed.

The government’s Telecommunications and Postal Regulatory Authority had informed two of Makhlouf’s companies, Syriatel and MTN mobile phone, to pay about 234 billion Syrian pounds to the state treasury as a penalty, after failing to meet a deadline to pay hundreds of millions in dues.

The businessman, who for decades had the country’s most prominent economic pillars, is facing a series of measures that would affect his shares in the state-owned Syrian Telecom Company (Syriatel), the country’s biggest mobile phone company.

Makhlouf published on Facebook on May 10 a letter from Syriatel to the government saying the company was ready to pay immediately “a first instalment to be determined on the basis of the liquidity available to the company.” He also criticized the Telecommunications and Regulatory Authority for posting a statement that contradicts his letter.

In response, the Authority issued a document on May 16, signed by five managers of Syriatel Mobile Telecom, in which they declared their approval of the Authority’s requests, but noted that Makhlouf had refused to give them the green light to proceed with the agreement.

Syria’s security bodies had launched a campaign of arrests earlier this month targeting dozens of employees of companies affiliated with Makhlouf, and stormed his house in Yaafur.

In a video on social media, the businessman implored his cousin, President Bashar Assad, to “intervene and put an end to the security services’ operations” and the release of his employees and managers.

Amid the dispute, anxiety mounted in the Syrian street over an economic deterioration, in parallel with the strict health measures imposed by the government over the coronavirus outbreak, which have compounded unemployment and poverty.



Lebanon Detains Several People on Suspicion of Firing Rockets at Israel

A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Detains Several People on Suspicion of Firing Rockets at Israel

A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)

The Lebanese military said it has detained a group of people linked to firing rockets into Israel last month.

In a statement issued late Wednesday night, the army said it had detained several people, including a number of Palestinians, who were involved in firing rockets in two separate attacks toward Israel in late March that triggered intense Israeli airstrikes on parts of Lebanon. Lebanon’s Hezbollah group denied at the time it was behind the firing of rockets, The Associated Press reported.

The army said that a vehicle and other equipment used in the rockets attacks were confiscated and the detainees were referred to judicial authorities. The army said it had carried out raids in different parts of Lebanon to detain the suspects without giving further details.

On Thursday, the state-run National News Agency reported that Gen. Rodolph Haikal briefed a weekly cabinet meeting about the security situation along the border and the ongoing implementation of the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

Three security and one judicial official told The Associated Press that four Palestinians linked to the Hamas group are being questioned.

A Hamas official told the AP that several members of the group were detained in Lebanon recently and released shortly afterward adding that they were not involved in firing rockets into Israel. He said in one case authorities detained a Hamas member who was carrying an unlicensed pistol.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Hezbollah started launching attacks on Israel a day after the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023 with the Palestinian militants’ attack on southern Israel. The war that left more than 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused wide destruction ended in late November with a US-brokered ceasefire.

Since the ceasefire went into effect in late November, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes that left dozens of civilians and Hezbollah members dead.

On Tuesday, the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said that at least 71 civilians, including 14 women and nine children, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since a ceasefire took effect.