Member of the Syrian Coalition’s political committee Mohammed Yahya Maktabi said that the visit by head of the Assad regime’s national security Ali Mamlouk to Egypt falls within the framework of attempts to rehabilitate the Assad regime. He stressed that such attempts are doomed to fail as the regime has long lost its moral and political legitimacy in front of the whole world.
The visit to Egypt by Mamlouk came as part of serious attempts by the sides that are wishing to normalize relations and rehabilitate the head of the regime as well as to end the international isolation imposed on the regime, especially as the visit followed recent visit by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to Syria.
The Assad regime is seeking to send a message to the Arab countries and to the international community that it is still alive and can be dealt with, Maktabi said.
Recent attempts to rehabilitate the Assad regime prompted Arab and international responses, especially the visit by President Omar al-Bashir to Damascus and his meeting with Bashar al-Assad last week. The European Union warned of the move, noting that the time is not appropriate for normalization with the Assad regime or allowing its return to international organizations and bodies.
In November 2018, the French judiciary issued arrest warrants for three senior officials of the Assad regime, including Ali Mamlouk, who presides over the majority of the Assad regime’s security agencies.
Amnesty international described the French judiciary’s issuance of arrest warrants for three senior Assad regime security and intelligence officials as “an important step towards delivering justice for the countless victims of gross human rights violations carried out by the Syrian government.” It called on the international community to follow France’s lead by taking steps to end impunity in Syria and hold all perpetrators of these crimes to account.”
In 2012, Mamlouk was appointed head of the National Security Office, which oversees all the Assad regime’s security services. A senior figure in the Assad regime’s inner circle, Mamlouk’s names is on the list of European sanctions imposed on the Assad regime’s pillars. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
