AFP report uncovers Maher al-Assad’s network drained Syria’s economy
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – An investigation by Agence France-Presse (AFP) has uncovered how Syria’s Fourth Division, led by Maher al-Assad, systematically drained the country’s economy through an extensive network of corruption and looting.
The report details how the Fourth Division established itself as an economic powerhouse, rivaling the state itself. While Maher al-Assad and his top officers lived in luxury, their soldiers endured extreme poverty.
AFP obtained documents revealing the division’s vast financial reach, controlling sectors ranging from the captagon drug trade and border levies to property seizures, as well as monopolies in the tobacco and mineral industries.
Among the findings was a record of cash reserves stored in a fortified room, showing an immense cash flow as of June 2024, $80 million, €8 million, and 41 billion Syrian pounds. The records also indicate that the Fourth Division routinely retained significant sums.
Kheder Khaddour, a researcher at the Carnegie Institute, described the Fourth Division as a “money-printing machine” in a country where over 90 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. He emphasized that these figures represent only a fraction of Maher al-Assad’s true wealth, much of which is believed to be hidden in Arab and African countries.
Despite facing Western sanctions, the Fourth Division’s illicit financial network remained intact, continuing to amass wealth unchecked. The investigation described it as a “state within a state,” operating independently with its own revenue streams and enforcing control through military power.
Even after the regime’s fall, the report warns, the Fourth Division’s influence endures. Loyalists of the former regime still possess hidden fortunes and weapon stockpiles. Without a successful transitional justice process in Syria, these resources could fuel a prolonged insurgency in the future.