Steven Sahiounie, Journalist and political commentator
While the people were starving, Bashar al-Assad and his British-born wife, Asma Akhras, were living a lavish lifestyle siphoning off the national treasury to their private bank accounts and pockets.
The fear that kept Syrian journalists in silence disappeared at the same moment Bashar al-Assad fled Damascus on December 8. Syrians can finally speak and write without fear of being tortured, thrown in prison, or killed for exposing Bashar and his Assad family in its reign of terror over the Syrian people since 2000.
Bashar was raised in privilege and power, but it was his London-born wife, a JP Morgan financial specialist, who took corruption to an unprecedented level. Bashar might have lasted years longer as president, had it not been for the over-the-top corruption instigated by his wife alone. Asma was never the victim, and history may recall it was the Syrian First Lady who brought down the Assad family in total to its knees, and forced dozens of Assad families to flee into the night to face a lifetime of exile. Meanwhile, Asma lies in a million-dollar mansion in Moscow while dying of Leukemia.
Asma set up an NGO, the Syria Trust for Development (STD), to portray the Assad regime as humanitarians. The UN alone donated $130 million, and the international donor funds came pouring into Asma’s office, which she alone controlled. The cash and donations were hoarded and distributed in a pattern that rewarded those loyal to the regime and to Assad family members.
In the aftermath of the 7.8 earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria, planeloads of international aid began arriving at the Damascus airport. Asma alone controlled the storage and distribution. Assad loyalists, regardless of their wealth, were rewarded with the supplies. Next, the corrupt officials Asma had hired hoarded stockpiles of the free aid, some of which expired while in storage, and some were sold to merchants.
The needy Syrian people were not the recipients of humanitarian aid. Asma and Basher fed themselves off the starving farmers and others without a source of income.
International humanitarian aid groups and watchdog knew what Asma was doing and had published many reports concerning her corruption.
Asma, through her right-hand businessman, known as Abu Ali Khader, monopolized cell phone imports, sales, and accessories. Her company was named “EmmaTel”, as she had been called “Emma” by friends in the UK where she was born and raised. By threat of arrest, or prohibitive taxes, Asma prevented any competition from other businesses in cell phone sales.
Bashar and Asma placed over 100% taxes on any cell phone bought in Syria, including any cell phone bought from her exclusive company. For example, any iPhone sold around the world costs between $1,000 to $1,500; however, in Syria, it would cost about $3,000. The added profit was to pay for the Assad luxury at the expense of the people.
Bashar and his Assad family got telecommunication companies to come to Syria. SyriaTel was owned by Rami Makhlouf, the son of Bashar’s maternal aunt. In the year 2019, a war broke out between Asma and Rami over the SyriaTel business.
Rami’s worth was estimated to be worth billions of dollars. Asma threw Rami under house arrest in Damascus, confiscated the entire company and profits, and every other asset he owned.
Tarif Akhras, the paternal uncle of Asma, was designated the exclusive importer of sugar, wheat, and other staple items. The Assad family and their associated families were in Syria only to strip the country of its bones and profit from the suffering of the people.
Asma formed a security branch, reporting to her personally, which was tasked with business shakedowns. Key successful businessmen were identified, then Asma’s thugs would arrest them and place them in detention. They would be forced to remain locked in a hotel room for a period of time, which was the psychological aspect of her evil plan. After a time, sometimes up to one month, the man would be given a demand in dollars and told they could go home if they summoned the proscribed amount to her office.
In another shakedown, successful real estate developers in Latakia and other coastal locations were publically listed as accused of corrupt practices, such as paying bribes to get a building permit. The developers were forced by the Assad regime to pay bribes to get almost any document or procedure accomplished. If they had paid bribes, it was because it was a standard operating procedure to do business. Knowing this was the system, Asma’s office exploited the situation to bring 36 Latakian developers into court for public shaming, and to force them into paying a ‘fine’ which was, in reality, an extortion payment. The money retrieved never went into helping the poor or maintaining infrastructure, instead, it went back into the designer purse of Mrs. Asma Assad.
The Assad dynasty is a family affair. Asma’s brother Feras Akhras isn’t named Assad, but she made sure he got his share of the Syrian pie at the expense of the people. After the Kurds and the US troops confiscated the oil and gas fields in the northeast of Syria, the people suffered from a severe electricity shortage. Most homes were receiving electricity in just three intervals of 30 minutes each per day. Gasoline was also short, so gas-powered generators could not be used. Chinese imported solar panels and batteries were in demand to fill the electricity needs. Syrian businessmen were prohibited from importing those items, as Asma designated her brother Feras as the exclusive importer of solar panels and batteries.
The Syrian oil production prior to 2011 was approximately 400,000 barrels per day. The profits made from export sales of the crude did not come back into the treasury but were deposited directly into private Assad bank accounts. Bashar inherited this process from his father’s days of corruption.
After the war, many buildings were destroyed. To rebuild, gravel and stones are necessary for the construction of buildings based on the cement block style used in Syria. Asma designated her brother Feras as the exclusive dealer and supplier for all gravel and stone supplies. Small family-owned businesses in the field were forced to close, and their hauling trucks were confiscated for the use of Asma’s brother.
A series of fires occured along the coast. The areas burned were scattered and not adjoined. Experts could not understand what was the cause of these mysterious fires. Later, it was revealed that Asma’s office thugs had lit the fires in order to buy prime acreage at below cost from owners who could not afford to replant their olive trees.
The STD was ordered by Asma to throw out landowners from their lands and confiscate valuable pistachio farms. All of these crimes were well known in Syria, but local journalists could never have published the facts out of fear of prison, torture, and death.
After Bashar fell, the prices of some foodstuffs fell. The cost of eggs decreased by 50%, and lamb meat declined by 30%. Maher al-Assad, Bashar’s brother, had made a commission on every egg sold, and lamb meat. Once the Assads were gone, natural prices could return.
Maher was tasked by Bashar and Asma with the Captagon business. This is an amphetamine manufactured in Syria for the export market, especially Saudi Arabia. Maher commanded the 4th Division in the Syrian Arab Army. His soldiers had checkpoints where they charged cars and trucks extortion fees just to pass through.
After the fall of December 8, the numerous Assad family mansions were raised by local people. Many were in the Damascus and Latakia areas. Once inside, the Captagon manufacture and storage were revealed with videos flooding social media. The Kingdom of Jordan had long complained to Syria directly and publically about the transit of drugs from Syria through Jordan on their way to Saudi Arabia. Bashar, Asma, and Maher never paid attention to King Abdullah ignoring his demands to stop the business through his land.
Bashar’s thugs were at the Customs Office. Those men would arrive at a business and begin a search, ostensibly looking for fraud or smuggling. They would often ask for paperwork on an obscure item in the place, knowing the business owner could not easily find it. Then, in a flash and flurry, they would begin confiscating things from the business, as if they owned the store. Customs officers would keep some looted items, and deliver the rest to the warehouses of the Assad family.
In one of the final customs raids in Latakia, they swooped in one morning downtown to a large store with a huge inventory of household and personal items imported from China. They took everything as if they were a professional moving company. Later, Asma’s office would call the business owner and negotiate a price to sell the confiscated merchandise back to the legal owner.
On a grander scale, Assad agents would approach a successful business owner and coerce them into accepting the Assad family as a partner, but without an investment. If the businessman refused to comply, he would be arrested and possibly face death in prison. Some cleverly stalled off the process by fleeing the country. Many Syrian businessmen are in Egypt, Lebanon, and Dubai only because they were threatened in a coercive manner, and expected to bow down to the Assad family.
When the Assad regime collapsed and the Syrian people burst into the presidential palace in Damascus, they saw the luxurious lifestyle the Assad family was living, and the car garage revealed a collection of the newest and most expensive cars on earth, such as Bugatti, Maserati, and Ferrari. Included in the garage was a collection of classic old cars of priceless value.
Mohammed Jalali was the last prime minister under Bashar al-Assad’s regime. “As Prime Minister, I made two million Syrian pounds, which is about $140. Ministers got one million, which is $70, civil servants made $20, and soldiers were paid only $17.50, ” he said.
Jalali asked, “How can you expect someone to risk their life for their country when they’re only paid $17.50?”
Now you know why the Assad regime fell so easily in less than two weeks and with very little resistance. There were no Assad loyalists left, only relatives. Minority groups who had once felt defended by Bashar had years ago turned against him after the realization of the depths of his corruption. The citizens and the army had been betrayed by Bashar, Asma, Maher, and all related to them.
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist.
