THE hunt is on for Assad’s sadistic brother “The Enforcer” who killed nearly 2,000 people in a gas attack and ran drug factories.
Maher Hafez al-Assad was known as the most cutthroat within the Assad family, with his own father believing he would be too erratic to lead Syria.
Bashar al-Assad’s sadistic brother Maher is infamous for killing hundreds of people[/caption]
Maher pictured next to his brother Assad (right)[/caption]
Since 2011, Maher has been dubbed as Assad’s “enforcer” – siding the tyrant in orchestrating the major government crackdown in March that year.
This included the first poison gas attack in the war – dubbed the Ghouta chemical attack – that was referred to as the worst war crime of the century.
The US said it killed 1,429 people – 426 of which were children.
Two opposition-controlled areas in the suburbs around the capital Damascus were struck by rockets containing the deadly chemical agent sarin.
After inspectors from the United Nations Mission inspected the horrific site where the attacks occurred, they concluded there was “clear and convincing evidence” that sarin was used.
Tyrant Bashar al-Assad’s forces were blamed for the attack by the Arab League and the European Union.
At the time, the Commander in Chief of all Syria’s armed forces was Assad – but Syria’s elite forces under him were commanded by his younger brother Maher.
Maher was head of the Republican Guard – which was responsible for the defence of the Damascus and the Commander of the elite Fourth Armoured Division.
This contributed in forming the core of Syria’s security forces – up until the collapse of Assad’s regime a mere few days ago.
He favoured the crackdown against the the Damascus Spring – when political and social debate in Syria reached its boiling point after the death of President Hafiz al-Assad in 2000.
Maher has also been named in UN reports and implicated of orchestrating the killing of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.
In 2011, when the major government crackdown began, Maher was feared by the masses, with the President tyrant’s brother considered to be a regime hardliner.
As well as heading the Republican Guard and the Fourth Division, Maher exercised great control over Syria’s intelligence service that was feared by many.
Unlike other areas of the Syrian military that were made up of conscripts, Maher chose elite troops who wouldn’t hesitate to carry out his terrifying orders – no matter what they were.
Therefore the power-hungry brother had control of the three main pillars of the Syrian security who were all loyal to him.
Sitting with such authority meant, at one point, he held more power and influence than President Assad.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights claims that since the government crackdown of 2011, over 157,000 people remain under arrest or have been forcibly disappeared.
This includes a shocking 5,274 children and 10,221 women.
Many claim this is mainly the doing of Maher – who made it his mission to crush the uprisings.
At the time, Former US Ambassador to Syria Richard Murphy told media: “Maher is spoken of as tough, mean or cruel depending on who you talk to.
Maher has been dubbed as Assad’s “enforcer” since 2011[/caption]
The young Assad brothers (pictured first and second from top left) with their parents and siblings[/caption]
“He is seen as the ‘enforcer’ for the regime, the one who oversees the dirty work of the regime.”
During the Syrian civil war, video footage was captured which activists and watchers claim shows Maher shooting unarmed protesters himself, the LA times reports.
The protesters were demanding the fall of the Assad government in a suburb of Damascus.
And soldiers who turned on Maher claim they were given orders by him to use brutal – and fatal – force against unarmed protesters.
One defecting sniper said that during the protests in the southern city of Daraa, they were “ordered to aim for the head or heart from the beginning.”
They added: “We were not given specific numbers but told to kill as many as possible as long as there were protests.”
His bloodthirsty tendencies began to be recognised by the world, and after he continued to oversee the deadly crackdown of Syrian protests, the US and European Union announced sanctions against him.
Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Maher’s actions during the uprising neared “savagery” and pressured Assad to rid Maher from command of the military and send him into exile.
In April 2011 the US placed sanctions on Maher for being a facilitator of human rights violations in the country.
And two weeks later the EU too sanctioned the bloodthirsty brother for being the principal overseer of violence against demonstrators during the Syrian uprising.
Throughout the years following, Maher continued to work alongside his brother in exercising brutal control of Syria.
And, as the commander of the Fourth Armoured Division, he directly involved himself in the production, trafficking and export operations of Syria’s multi-billion dollar drug empire, smuggling mostly Captagon.
Where is Assad?
by James Halpin, Foreign News Reporter
OUSTED Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has fled to Moscow for Russian protection after rumours swirled when his private jet vanished off radar.
Assad’s 24-year rule over Syria ended in dramatic fashion after rebel forces stormed Damascus in a surprise offensive that began on November 27.
Assad quickly fled Syria with his family, a Kremlin source told Russian state media.
TASS said: “Russian officials are in contact with representatives of the armed Syrian opposition, whose leaders have guaranteed the safety of Russian military bases and diplomatic institutions on the territory of Syria.”
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that humiliated Assad had stepped down as president, fled the country, and begged for a “peaceful transfer” of power.
Rumours into Assad’s whereabouts and life previously swirled when a flight vanished off radar just as opposition forces stormed Damascus – sparking rumours it had been shot down.
A Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport and flew towards Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect.
The flight made an abrupt U-turn over Homs and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off radar.
Captagon is a co-drug of amphetamine and theophylline – and is believed to be used by the regime – until Assad was overthrown -to exert pressure on the Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia.
Maher looked to reintegrate Syria into the Arab world which would have secured concessions, allowing Assad’s regime to keep its position after over a decade of conflict.
Maher’s elite Fourth Division, Air Force Intelligence and the Republican Guard have been relied on for the production and distribution of Captagon, according to COAR.
Local militias and foreign armed groups of various affiliations were also relied on, reports claim.
It was evident to the US and UK just how advanced the network was, leading to sanctions being imposed on certain Syrian individuals involved in the trade in March 2023.
The US Department of Treasury accused Maher and his Fourth Division of financing “illicit revenue-generation schemes, which range from smuggling cigarettes and mobile phones to facilitating the production and trafficking of Captagon”.
The Syrian regime denied involvement in the drug’s production and distribution to the Gulf states.
In November 2023 France issued an arrest warrant for Maher on charges of complicity in crimes against humanity and complicity in war crimes – which the country upheld in June 2024.
Following the Syrian opposition offensives that led to Assad to be overthrown and exiled, Maher’s whereabouts remain unknown.
