Hints and tips:
...They did not have connections to the Syrian merchant elite loyal to Assad’s father Hafez....
...Mr Makhlouf, whose aunt was married to Hafez al-Assad, founder of the dynasty, has prospered mightily from the crony capitalism the junior Assad nurtured under the guise of opening up a state-dominated economy...
...Alawite sect and has dominated Syria since Mr Assad’s father Hafez seized power in 1970....
...But not all the Makhloufs have flaunted their wealth. Little has previously been known about the fortune of Hafez Makhlouf ....
...Bashar and his wife Asma, a British-Syrian former banker, returned to Damascus where Hafez put him through military training....
...Makhlouf, deputy director of the General Intelligence Directorate....
...Sharaa was the foreign minister of Hafez al-Assad, Syria’s ruler for 30 years, from whom Bashar inherited his presidency....
...Little known to the nation during Hafez’s rule, but belongs to the Makhlouf family, which has established itself as the financier of the regime. Maher al-Assad Brother....
...One business expert said that disgruntlement over the family’s economic involvement had grown since Mr Assad succeeded his late father Hafez as president in 2000....
...In 1982, tens of thousands of its residents were killed by troops of the then-president Hafez al-Assad after an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood....
...In April Mr Makhlouf had to pay $1bn into the central bank. Capital flight is accelerating....
...Since May, the region, which is the poorest in Syria, has seen increasing protests, and activists say the authorities have pre-emptively removed a statue of Hafez al-Assad, the current president’s father...
...Other players thought to be members of the inner circle are Rustom Ghazali, former head of intelligence in Lebanon, and the president’s cousin Hafez Makhlouf, deputy director of the General Intelligence...
...Mr Assad’s brother-in-law, Asef Shawkat, is deputy chief of staff, and his cousins Hafiz Makhlouf and Atif Najib are also senior military figures....
...His regime, inherited in 2000 from his father Hafez al-Assad who seized power in a 1970 coup, evidently believes overwhelming force will end a clamour for reform that has risen to a piercing cry of freedom...
...They have been burning down not only Ba’ath party offices but local outlets of businesses owned by Rami Makhlouf, cousin to the Assads and billionaire beneficiary of their rule....
...In 2008 Washington banned US companies and individuals from doing business with Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of the president, citing him as a beneficiary and facilitator of corruption....
...Rami Makhlouf, an Assad cousin, has emerged as perhaps the most powerful businessman and is said to have input into political decisions....
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