(Eqtsad)- At the end of 2006, while preparing for the launch of al-Donia television, many employees insisted on knowing who the channel financiers were before beginning work with the channel for fear the channel was funded by a party hostile to the regime. The television channel administration initially evaded the question only to later publicly announce that the channel that six Syrian businessmen and a seventh businessman who requested that his identity and name not be disclosed under any circumstance were funding the channel. The television channel administration said it was forced to submit to the seventh businessman’s desire but it reassured everyone that he is a national figure.
Imad Griwati, Mohammed Hamsho, Omar Karkour, Ayman Jaber, Sulaiman Ma'arouf and Nabil Tohme were the six Syrian businessmen. Each of them paid 150,000 US Dollars per month, a total of 900,000 USD per month, for the television channel to work. The channel’s monthly budget was more than 1.5 million USD, so the difference between these numbers was paid for by the unknown seventh person.
Despite the television channel’s administration’s non-disclosure, it soon came to light that this seventh person was Najib Mikati. He paid the sum which is around half a million USD without having any role on the television board of directors. He also did not have any representative to follow up with the remaining partners the details of the media work and the television’s media policy. It later became apparent that the television channel’s policy is based on providing complete support for Hezbollah, and attacking Arab regimes, especially Saudi Arabia. Based on the television channel’s policy, it is natural that Mikati did not want his name to be disclosed with the channel.
In fact, Bashar al-Assad relied on Mikati, among other businessmen, at the beginning of his rule to crystallize his family economic project which depends on close and reliable people. When the cellular telephone project was launched in Syria, Bashar al-Assad found no one better than Najib Mikati to be the formal face competing with Rami Makhlouf when he entrusted Mikati with the license for MTN, the second operator. The price of this privilege was to provide absolute economic and political support for the regime.
Bashar al-Assad, in coordination with Hezbollah, was planning to find a Sunni alternative and a strong rival to the al-Hariri family in Lebanon. In the Mikati family, he found such a force as the family has economic advantages which are as important as the Hariri family. The family also have political ambitions to be Sunni political leaders, though the family’s economic endeavors take priority. Hezbollah played a further role in developing Mikati’s political ambition by making prime minister in 2011 in a move akin to a coup against Saad al-Hariri’s government.
Al-Assad’s investments in the Mikati family reaped its benefits. The first benefit came when Lebanon stood against the decision to freeze the regime’s position in the League of Arab States. Through Mikati, the regime tried to break up the Sunni community in Lebanon and create conflict within Lebanon especially in the city of Tripoli. The regime focused on Tripoli as it was one of the most prominent supporters of the Syrian revolution. The regime and Hezbollah did not succeed in this endeavor, since Najib Mikati, his brothers and his family did not work from the outset on becoming political leaders. In addition, Tripoli’s people have a long standing hatred of the regime, and they stood steadfast against the attempts to break them apart.
While Mikati failed to provide the necessary political support for the regime in some ways, but the economic role he played was much more important. The regime used Mikati, and his brother Taha Mikati, to evade the European and American economic sanctions imposed on the regime people. Through Mikati, al-Assad managed to maintain South Africa’s support, given Mikati’s large investments and relations with politicians in South Africa. Mikati also provided financial support for shabiha, regime thugs, divisions to oppress the Syrian revolution. There are indicators that the Mikati family played a significant and unannounced role in funding many of these divisions, training them and providing them with the repressive tools.
Comments About This Article
Please fill the fields below.