House arrest reports add to mystery surrounding fate of Syrian security chief

Claims about Gen Ali Mamlouk suggest he is in hospital with cancer, in trouble for secret contracts with Turkish intelligence or just doing his job as usual

Ian Black 
Middle East editor

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Mystery surrounds the fate of a senior Syrian security chief who is rumoured to have fallen foul of President Bashar al-Assad, against a background of recent rebel gains, growing Iranian influence and reports of intrigue and disarray in Damascus.

Lt Gen Ali Mamlouk, the head of the country’s national security council, was reported on Monday to be under house arrest in the Syrian capital following a rash of speculation about his whereabouts at a time of deepening crisis for the regime.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the 69-year-old was arrested on suspicion of planning a coup and talking to the opposition because he has qualms about Iran, Assad’s most loyal ally. Tehran is playing an increasingly pivotal role in Syria.

In recent days, media reports in Lebanon and across the Arab world and reports from officials in the Gulf have variously described Mamlouk as undergoing cancer treatment or being in trouble for holding secret contacts with Turkish intelligence.

Diplomats in Beirut and sources in Syria were unable to confirm the house arrest story and well-placed western officials dismissed the suggestion that he was in hospital. Last week, as the rumours swirled, Mamlouk received a visitor in his Damascus office for a one-hour meeting, the Guardian has learned.

Sana, the Syrian state news agency, insisted a few days ago that the general was doing his job as usual. It blamed the reports on “certain satellite stations that are complicit in the shedding of Syrian blood”, a lightly coded reference to the Qatar-owned al-Jazeera or the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television networks.

Arab officials said Mamlouk was being targeted because he knew too much about the 2005 assassination of the Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, or about the financial transactions of top Assad figures. “The regime may have started to get rid of people who know too much,” said one opposition source.

But sources said it seemed that the dispute between the two was personal and financial, rather than about their loyalty to the Assad regime. Stories abound of rivalry and even fighting between rival security branches.Analysts are on firmer ground with the case of Gen Rustum Ghazaleh. The head of Syria’s political security branch died last month after being attacked by men reportedly working for Gen Rafiq Shehadeh, the military intelligence chief. Syrian sources said Ghazaleh died in hospital after being assaulted with an electric cattle prod.

Syrians and independent experts insist that Mamlouk maintained good relations with Iran and that the arrest story is implausible.

“The narrative about the top Sunnis in the regime getting cold feet about working with Persians seems too neat and too manufactured,” said veteran Syria-watcher Joshua Landis. “Of course, if the wheels are falling off the regime, people will try to find a way out, but it is much more likely that they will simply defect, rather than try to pull off a coup and then negotiate a deal for the regime.

“I am sceptical of the notion that Assad regime principals, such as Ali Mamlouk, believe that they have better options than sticking with Assad, the Iranians and the hand they have been dealt. I am sure none of them particularly like the hand they have, but reshuffling the deck now would likely bring a swift and certain end.”

The Syrian rumour mill is also being fed by developments in opposition circles. The latest is the flight of Louay Hussein, leader of the Building the Syrian State group, which opposed the militarisation of the uprising and was tolerated by the regime. 

Hussein appeared on a platform on Monday with the western and Arab-backed Syrian National Coalition, which is based in Istanbul. Like the Assad clan, Hussein belongs to the minority Alawite community, but like many other Syrians he dislikes emphasising his sectarian identity.

Hussein, standing alongside the SNC president, Khaled Khoja, called for the establishment of a “national army” to fight Assad.

“If he was not of Alawite background, they would not have given him this platform,” said a former colleague. “There is a lot of pressure on the opposition to show that they have an inclusive plan.”