Rami Makhlouf, the maternal cousin of Bashar Assad, shot a Facebook video criticizing the new taxes of the Syrian regime and attempts to seize his assets, breaking the customary silence on regime circles.
Makhlouf, the owner of a Syrian telecommunication company, said he started to receive threats against his companies from government circles. He added that aside from the tax payments, 50% of his company’s income is already going to the regime.
In December, the Assad regime took the exceptional step of freezing Makhlouf’s and several other Syrian businessmen’s assets with accusation over “customs violations,” and charging him millions of dollars in fines. Experts indicated that the move came after severe economic drawbacks the Assad regime faced due to continuous civil war.
Also, in a report published this week, Bloomberg asserted that Russia has grown increasingly impatient with Assad amid the oil-price collapse and the coronavirus pandemic, accusing him and his entourage of being corrupt.
