Ali Mamlouk (Arabic: علي مملوك; born 19 February 1946) is a Syrian intelligence officer and special security and military advisor to PresidentBashar al-Assad. He is reportedly one of Assad's most trusted associates. From 2012 to 2019, Mamlouk served as the head of the National Security Bureau of the Ba'ath Party. On 9 July 2019, Mamlouk was appointed as the Syrian Deputy Vice President for Security Affairs.[1][2]
Early life
Ali Mamlouk was born in Al-Bahsa, Damascus into a Sunni–Circassian family on 19 February 1946.[3][4] There is another report giving his birth year as 1945.[5] His family is originally from İskenderun (Hatay, Turkey).[6] His family history goes back to Ahmed Pasha Al-Mamlouk a hundred years ago, who is buried in the Al-Mamlouk family graves in Al-Dahdah cemetery in Damascus.[7] His family also has branches in Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt.
Career
Mamlouk is said to be one of the founding officers of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence in the 1970s. He was deputy director there,[5][8] when in June 2005 President Bashar al-Assad appointed him head of the General Security Directorate.[9] In 2010, Gen. Mamlouk discussed efforts to increase co-operation between Washington, D.C. and Damascus on terrorism issues at a surprise meeting with US diplomats. He said the GID had been more successful at fighting terrorism in the region because "we are practical and not theoretical".[10]
Mamlouk is one of many officials sanctioned by the European Union for their alleged actions against protesters participating in the Syrian revolution.[13][14][15] His agency had "repressed internal dissent, monitored individual citizens, and had been involved in the Syrian government's Siege of Daraa, where protesters were killed by Syrian security services".[6] In addition, he was added to the European Union's sanction list on 9 May 2011 on the grounds that he "involved in violence against demonstrators" during the war.[4]Swiss government also put him into sanction list in September 2011.[16] On 23 April 2012, the US government imposed sanctions on him, saying he had been responsible for human rights abuses, including the use of violence against civilians.[17]
In August 2012, Ali Mamlouk was accused of trying to blow up the situation in Lebanon in agreement with Lebanese Minister Michel Samaha, who admitted to transporting explosives in his car to carry out assassinations of a list of people in agreement with Syria.[18][19] Samaha with the help of the former Lebanese Security Chief Jamil Al Sayyed "tried to carry out assassination" of Samir Geagea, Saad Hariri and Wissam al-Hassan.[20]
In May 2015, concern mounted regarding Mamlouk's whereabouts and health after not having been seen for some time, leading to comparisons with Rustum Ghazaleh who recently met a violent and unclear death.[21] In July 2015, Mamlouk visited Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Muscat in Oman and met with Saudi and GCC officials to discuss proposals for ending the Syrian Civil War.[22] In August 2015, Mamlouk visited Cairo and met President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, senior security officials. Mamlouk and his Egyptian counterparts reportedly discussed the fight against Islamic State, and against other Islamist factions, including the Muslim Brotherhood.[23]
In 2018, Maj. Gen. Mamlouk made a rare visit to Cairo to meet with his Egyptian counterpart, Abbas Kamel, director of the GIS with discussing “political, security and counterterrorism issues”.[24] Between 2021 and 2023, he held meetings with Saudi intelligence chief Khalid bin Ali Al Humaidan, the first such since the outbreak of the civil war.[25] On 18 January 2024, President Bashar al-Assad appointed Mamlouk as a national security advisor[26] and deputy vice president of the Syrian Arab Republic for security and military affairs.[27][1]
Criminal investigations
Lebanon
On 11 August 2012, Lebanon indicted Ali Mamlouk in absentia and former Lebanese Information Minister Michel Samaha for their alleged plots to assassinate Lebanese political and religious figures.[28] Lebanese judicial officials issued a warrant for Mamlouk's arrest on 4 February 2013.[29]
France
In November 2018, French prosecutors issued international arrest warrants for three senior Syrian intelligence and government officials: Ali Mamlouk, Abdel Salam Mahmoud and Jamil Hassan. The warrants brought charges including collusion in torture, forced disappearances, crimes against humanity and war crimes.[30] Four days of hearings at the Paris Cour d'assises started on 21 May 2024,[31] and on May 25 all three men were convicted in absentia of involvement in the torture and killing of two French citizens in Syria.[32][33]
