Thread:
#Damascus source view on the #Makhlouf saga:
“Rami's issues are with Maher Al-Assad and his frontmen, not with the first lady”
Source speculated that the much-publicised spat may be resolved in coming days, though he clarified that this isn't based on any concrete info
Going back to Aug 2019, he explained that in order for Maher to rid of #Makhlouf and replace him in the shadows without much popular backlash, he had to first isolate him from his support base. Therefore, his charities and the Boustan paramilitary forces had to be neutralised.
However, completely shutting down an organisation distributing aid, helping and hospitalising citizens would have incurred the wrath of the people against authorities and those perceived behind the clampdown. Therefore, the charity should still operate but under “new management”.
Asma’ Al-Assad’s office, the unofficial #Syria ‘ministry of social assistance’, was most qualified to run things uninterrupted. “The goal was to keep dispensing aid even if entire Bustan staff were sacked”. In + details, the source was effectively describing a corporate takeover
He believes that the timing to move against Rami’s backbone was chosen because it was thought that the support of his popular base and beneficiaries had peeled away and therefore backlash isn’t expected. [A look on pro-gov FB groups, however, provides a very different picture]
“And that’s the same mechanism used now to take over the Telecom sector. Who’s the next best qualified party to run #MTN and #Syriatel should its owner and directors be suddenly and summarily dismissed? The Telecom Ministry, of course” he added.
"I believe the real instigator here is none of other than Maher. He’s been scheming for a long time.
Asma is just a smokescreen.
Abu Ali Khodr, the Qaterjis, their associates are patsies: Cardboard men built up from nothing, readily expendable when things turn sour"
His ending statement reminded me of the rise and fall of the #Jaber Brothers, a story not too dissimilar to #Makhlouf.
Tycoons, friends of Maher & the 4th Div, married into Al-Assad's clan. All it took was vanity and 1 official decree 4 their business and military realm to vanish
Will probably add something about the fall of the Jaber brothers later today.
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