General Talal Makhlouf, Assad's cousin who suppressed Syrians, makes settlement

Major General Talal Makhlouf, the former commander of the Republican Guard and cousin of the deposed head of the regime, Bashar al-Assad, conducted a settlement in the "Baath Party" building (formerly) that was seized by the Military Operations Department in the Syrian capital, Damascus, southwest of Syria.

The Al-Watan newspaper broadcast a video clip of the settlement operations conducted by the Military Operations Department for officers and personnel who were in the ranks of Assad's forces in front of the "Baath Party" branch building in the capital, Damascus. Among the officers was Major General Makhlouf, the former commander of the "105th Brigade" (Republican Guard), who is on the sanctions lists and accused of committing war crimes.

Makhlouf, 66, joined the Syrian army at an early stage, and rose through the ranks and positions very quickly as a result of his belonging to the "Makhlouf" family, from which "Anisa Makhlouf", Bashar al-Assad's mother, descends, in addition to his closeness to "Bassel al-Assad", as he joined him in the leadership engineering course.

With the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011; Makhlouf was the commander of the 105th Brigade (Republican Guard) with the rank of brigadier general, an offensive brigade of the Republican Guard brigades, and Syrian activists accuse him of suppressing and killing unarmed protesters participating in peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins in Douma and Harasta in the Damascus countryside, as well as in Nawa town in the southern Daraa province.

Makhlouf was mentioned in the Human Rights Watch report, issued on December 15, 2011, under the title “By All Means: Individual and Command Responsibility for Crimes against Humanity in Syria.”

According to testimonies from fighters from the 105th Brigade, which Makhlouf commanded, he ordered the shooting of demonstrators, examples of killing orders documented by Human Rights Watch.

At the end of 2011, Switzerland issued a sanctions list in which Brigadier General Makhlouf was among 19 military and civilian figures at the time.

Makhlouf has also been subject to sanctions by the British government since 2015, as well as sanctions by the US Treasury since the beginning of 2017, according to a list published by the US Treasury that includes 17 officials in the Syrian regime, and six other entities affiliated with the Syrian regime, for their role in the Syrian regime committing brutal crimes against the Syrian people.