Position: Former Vice President for Security Affairs
Association: Assad Regime
Loyalty: Bashar al-Assad
Most Notorious Crimes:
Oversaw the systematic repression of peaceful protests and widespread crimes against humanity in Syria, including mass arrests, torture, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings (2011–2024).
Profile
Up to the fall of the Assad regime in 2025, Ali Mamlouk was one of the most powerful figures in Syria’s security apparatus and a long-time confidant of Bashar al-Assad who played a central role in building and managing Syria’s repressive intelligence services. Mamlouk helped establish the Air Force Intelligence Directorate (AFID) and served as head of its Investigations Branch before eventually becoming the agency’s director. In 2005, he was appointed head of the General Intelligence Directorate (GID), becoming the first Sunni official to hold this post. During his tenure, he expanded surveillance methods to repress public freedoms in Syria.
In 2012, following the outbreak of mass protests, Assad appointed Mamlouk as head of the National Security Bureau, a position that gave him overarching authority over all four of Syria’s main intelligence agencies: AFID, GID, the Military Intelligence Directorate (MID), and the Political Security Directorate (PSD). In 2019, he was promoted to Vice President for Security Affairs, a post he held up until December 2024.
From the early onset of the brutal repression of the Arab Spring peaceful protests in March 2011, Mamlouk was directly involved in orchestrating the violent suppression of peaceful demonstrations. He coordinated intelligence agencies in a campaign of mass arrests, torture, disappearances, and killings targeting activists, journalists, doctors, humanitarian workers, and civilians across Syria. He bears command responsibility for widespread and systematic crimes committed by the security services, including torture and the deaths of tens of thousands of detainees.
The European Union, United States, and other countries have sanctioned Mamlouk for his role in atrocities against Syrian civilians. In November 2018, French prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant for him and three other senior Syrian officials on charges including collusion in kidnapping, torture, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Hearings at the Paris Cour d’assises began on May 21, 2024, and on May 25, Mamlouk was convicted in absentia for complicity in the torture and killing of two
French citizens in Syria.
Identity
Full Name: Ali Mamlouk (علي مملوك)
Date of Birth: 19 February 1946
Place of Birth: Damascus, Syria
Nationality: Syrian
Career Timeline
1970s–1980s: Early career in Syria’s Air Force Intelligence Directorate (AFID).
1990s: Helped establish AFID’s Investigations Branch; later became its director.
2005: Appointed Director of the General Intelligence Directorate (GID), the first Sunni to hold the role. Expanded surveillance and repression across Syria.
2012: Became Head of the National Security Bureau, coordinating all four intelligence services: AFID, GID, Military Intelligence Directorate (MID), and Political Security Directorate (PSD).
2019 – 2024: Appointed Vice President for Security Affairs, effectively overseeing Syria’s security apparatus until the fall of the Assad regime in 2024.
Crimes & Responsibilities
Ali Mamlouk is one of the chief architects of Syria’s security state and is directly implicated in:
- Repression of Peaceful Protests (2011–2012): Oversaw the intelligence agencies’ response, which included mass arrests, torture, disappearances, and extrajudicial killings.
- Command Responsibility: As head of the National Security Bureau, Mamlouk bore responsibility for coordinated crimes committed by all four intelligence directorates.
- Systematic Torture: Detainee abuse under his command included electric shocks, beatings, starvation, sexual violence, and denial of medical care. Tens of thousands of deaths in detention have been documented.
- Disappearances & Mass Graves: Intelligence branches under his authority were directly linked to the mass disappearance of Syrians, later uncovered in Caesar photographs and mass grave sites near Damascus.
Legal Proceedings & Sanctions
France
2018: International arrest warrant issued by French prosecutors (for crimes against humanity and war crimes, including kidnapping and torture of dual nationals).
2024 (May 25): Convicted in absentia by the Paris Cour d’assises for complicity in torture and killing of French-Syrian citizens Mazzen and Patrick Dabbagh.
Sentence: Life imprisonment.
Germany
Under investigation by federal prosecutors under the principle of universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity committed in Syria.
Lebanon
2012: Lebanon indicted Ali Mamlouk in absentia alongside former Lebanese Information Minister Michel Samaha for their alleged plots to assassinate Lebanese political and religious figures. Lebanese judicial officials issued a warrant for Mamlouk’s arrest in 2013.
Potential ICC Case
While Syria has not been referred to the International Criminal Court due to Russian and Chinese vetoes at the UN Security Council, Mamlouk is listed in UN Commission of Inquiry reports and could face future international prosecution.
European Union (2011)
Listed for violent repression of civilians.
United States (OFAC)
Sanctioned for human rights abuses.
United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland
Subject to parallel sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans.
Current Status / Whereabouts
Last Public Appearance: April 2024 in Moscow, meeting Russian officials.
Reported Escape (Late 2024): After Assad’s fall, reports indicate he fled Syria through Iraq, later resurfacing in Russia.
Lebanon Rumors: Some sources claimed he was sheltered in Hezbollah-controlled areas of Beirut (Dahieh), but Lebanese authorities deny his presence and have circulated his photo at border points.
Most Likely Location: Russia, under Kremlin protection.
