The Director of the Syrian General Intelligence participated in the Arab Intelligence Forum in Cairo last week despite being on the US sanctions list since September 2020 due to the Caesar Act.
The Arab Intelligence Forum, which was held on November 9, is the first of its kind in the region, according to what was described by Egyptian media outlets, with the participation of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and a number of heads of Arab intelligence services, and in the presence of the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Ahmed Aboul Gheit. The participants discussed many vital files, foremost of which is the latest developments in Afghanistan, according to al-Modon news site.
Husam Muhammad Louka appeared in the forum through a photo that collected a large number of Arab intelligence chiefs.
On September 30, 2020, the Treasury Department took action against Louka, the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate.
The Treasury Department said those who continue to stand with the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad further enable its corruption and human rights abuses.
Louka is a longtime leader within the Syrian regime’s security apparatus. In 2010, Louka was appointed Assistant Head of the GID. Since the Syrian revolution broke out in March 2011, Louka has held several high-ranking positions in both the Syrian Political Security Directorate and the GID, including as Head of the Political Security Branches in Homs and Hama. While working in Homs, Louka reportedly committed a number of massacres and was responsible for the torture of detainees in his department. In 2015, Louka was accused in press reporting of participating in the so-called “Eid massacre” in the al-Waer neighborhood, where a children’s playground was bombed and 19 people, including 14 children, were killed. Louka has been serving in his current position as Head of the GID since July 2019.
The European Union put Louka on the sanctions list since 2012.
In recent months, several Arab countries have begun to engage with the Syrian government, including Egypt, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Emirati foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed, visited Damascus on Tuesday and met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
In September, energy ministers from Egypt, Syria and Lebanon convened and agreed to a US-brokered deal that would see the transportation of Egyptian gas through Jordan and Syria into Lebanon for electricity generation, a further sign of bringing Damascus back into the regional mix.
Syria remains unstable and crippled by poverty and western sanctions, but Assad is in control of most of the country, making him a viable ally in the region despite the previous animosity between himself and Arab leaders.
A major obstacle, however, is the US, which passed the Caesar Act, a piece of legislation designed to make it difficult for the Syrian government to trade with the outside world and engage in reconstruction efforts.
Syria's war has killed nearly half a million people and displaced millions since it began with the brutal repression of anti-regime protests in 2011. (Zaman al-Wasl with MEE, al-Modon)
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