Ali Mamlouk

Ali Mamlouk, born on 19 February 1946 in Damascus, is a Syrian intelligence officer who served as national security advisor to former president Bashar al-Assad and is reportedly one of Assad's most trusted associates. He headed the General Security Directorate from 2005, then the National Security Bureau from 2012 to 2019, was appointed deputy vice president for security affairs on 9 July 2019 and national security advisor and deputy vice president for security and military affairs on 18 January 2024, and remained inside the security establishment until the fall of the regime on 8 December 2024. ^{1 2}

Ali Mamlouk was born in the al-Bahsa quarter of Damascus into a Sunni family; another report gives his birth year as 1945. His family traces back to Ahmed Pasha al-Mamlouk, who lived about a century ago and is buried in the family graves in the al-Dahdah cemetery in Damascus, and the family has branches in Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt. ^{1 2}

Mamlouk is said to be one of the founding officers of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence in the 1970s, and became its deputy director. In June 2005 President Bashar al-Assad appointed him head of the General Security Directorate. In 2010 he discussed counter-terrorism cooperation with US diplomats at a surprise meeting in Damascus, saying his directorate had been more successful at fighting terrorism in the region because "we are practical and not theoretical". He was said to be on good terms with all of Syria's intelligence agencies; the heads of Air Force Intelligence and the Political Security Directorate had once been his assistants. ^{1 2}

In July 2012, following the Damascus security headquarters bombing, it was announced that Mamlouk would head the National Security Bureau with the rank of minister, overseeing the entire security apparatus, with former military intelligence chief Abdel-Fatah Qudsiyeh as his assistant. On 9 July 2019 he was appointed deputy vice president for security affairs, and on 18 January 2024 Assad appointed him national security advisor and deputy vice president for security and military affairs. ^{1 2}

During the war he undertook security diplomacy: in July 2015 he visited Jeddah and Muscat to meet Saudi and Gulf officials about ending the civil war; in August 2015 he visited Cairo and met President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and senior security officials to discuss the fight against the Islamic State and the Muslim Brotherhood; in 2018 he met his Egyptian counterpart Abbas Kamel in Cairo; and between 2021 and 2023 he held meetings with Saudi intelligence chief Khalid bin Ali al-Humaidan, the first such meetings since the outbreak of the war. ¹

This section should be read as an account of positions and accusations reported by the sources, not as the museum's judgement on them. The English and Arabic encyclopaedia articles carried these positions, and the museum has not reviewed the original statements of the parties.

International sanctions: the European Union added Mamlouk to its sanctions list on 9 May 2011 on the grounds that he was "involved in violence against demonstrators"; it said his agency had repressed internal dissent, monitored individual citizens and been involved in the government's siege of Daraa, where protesters were killed by the security services. Switzerland sanctioned him in September 2011. On 23 April 2012 the United States imposed sanctions on him, saying he had been responsible for human rights abuses, including the use of violence against civilians. He was also sanctioned by Australia, Canada, Japan, Monaco and the United Kingdom. ^{1 2}

The Lebanon charges: in August 2012 Mamlouk was accused of trying to blow up the situation in Lebanon in agreement with former Lebanese information minister Michel Samaha, who admitted transporting explosives in his car to carry out assassinations of a list of figures. On 11 August 2012 Lebanon indicted Mamlouk and Samaha in absentia for allegedly plotting to assassinate Lebanese political and religious figures, and Lebanese judicial officials issued a warrant for his arrest on 4 February 2013. ^{1 2}

The French trial: in November 2018 French prosecutors issued international arrest warrants for three senior Syrian officials — Mamlouk, Abdel Salam Mahmoud and Jamil Hassan — on charges including collusion in torture, forced disappearances, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Hearings at the Paris Cour d'assises began on 21 May 2024, and on 25 May 2024 all three men were convicted in absentia of involvement in the torture and killing of two French citizens in Syria. ^{1 2}

The fall of the regime and his fate: the English article records that Mamlouk learned of the regime's collapse from a phone call around 4 a.m.; that as he tried to flee toward the airport his convoy was ambushed, though he escaped unharmed; and that he then took refuge at the Russian embassy, from which Russian officials guarded him to the Hmeimim base and helped him reach Russia safely. Another account, carried in the Arabic article, reports that he fled to Lebanon with Hezbollah's help and settled in Beirut's southern suburbs. ^{1 2}

The cited sources publish no details of his family life, and the museum does not publish family detail beyond what understanding his work needs. The article notes that in May 2015 concern mounted over his whereabouts and health after he had not been seen for some time, leading to comparisons with Rustum Ghazaleh, who had recently met a violent and unclear death. ¹

For two decades Mamlouk stood at the centre of the Syrian security state: a founding officer of Air Force Intelligence, head of the General Security Directorate, overseer of the whole apparatus, and finally the president's closest security advisor — a career that also carried his name into foreign sanctions lists and courtrooms. ¹

• The defined sources cited above, registered in data/source/.
• Later translations and revisions of this article require periodic review with clear update dates.