[ad_1]
What do we know about the veteran diplomat and one of the most prominent faces of the regime, especially since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis?
Al-Muallem was born in 1941 and received his education in Syrian public schools before obtaining a BA in economics and political science from Cairo University in 1963, then joining the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs a year later.
Al-Muallem graduated from diplomatic posts and worked within Syrian diplomatic missions in various countries, including Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. He was then appointed Damascus’s ambassador to the United States in 1990 and continued in this position for nine years.
Al-Muallem took over as Foreign Minister in 2006 in a move seen as an attempt to improve Syria’s image abroad.
A leaked US State Department document dating from 2006 indicates that Al-Moallem was seen as “the most experienced, capable and understanding diplomat of the US position within the Syrian Foreign Ministry.”
Following the outbreak of anti-government protests in Syria in 2011, Al-Moallem was one of the most prominent government figures in regional and international media.
He has always blamed “external interference” for the Syrian crisis, and has called the armed opposition “terrorists”.
And he considered that Israel “supports everything that happens in the region” and that Syria is facing a “global conspiracy” led by the United States and supported by the European Union, Turkey and some members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
He repeatedly stressed that President Bashar al-Assad’s position is a “red line” and a matter that only the Syrian people decide.
He also affirmed the government’s position on rejecting international accusations that government forces use chemical weapons, saying: “No country in the world can use weapons of mass destruction against its people.”
In August 2011, the United States Department of the Treasury, along with Buthaina Shaaban, the president’s adviser, and Abdel Karim Ali, the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon, were blacklisted in the sanctions imposed on officials of the regime in Damascus in response to what it described as intensifying protests against the government.
Since then, his visits abroad have been limited to several countries, notably Russia and Iran, which support Damascus, and he has repeatedly defended the growing military role of the two countries in his country.
Al-Muallem launched an attack on the Arab League after his proposal to hand over the power of the Syrian president to his deputy and form a government of national unity in 2012, considering this a violation of Syria’s sovereignty and saying that the Arab League ` “ He is carrying out a conspiracy that was agreed abroad against Syria. ”
In an interview with the late British journalist Robert Fisk in the same year, he said that the Syrian government believes that “America is the main player against Syria and the other parties are just tools.”
He added that he believed the crisis began with “legitimate demands” that the government heeded, and then “foreign elements” hijacked the peaceful agenda.
Al-Muallem was appointed deputy prime minister in June 2012 and represented the Syrian government during peace talks organized by the Swiss city of Geneva, and throughout the years of conflict, al-Muallem remained a front for the regime, expressing his positions and was known for his calm tone.
Months ago, Al-Muallem condemned the US Caesar Act, under which financial sanctions were imposed on Syrian officials and businessmen, and it had begun to be implemented last June, considering that its objective was to influence the next presidential elections, calling it the last American weapon against their country. He reiterated that President Al-Assad “will remain in office as long as the Syrian people want him to remain.”
Al-Moallem had successfully undergone heart surgery in the Lebanese capital Beirut in 2014, and his last public appearance was last Wednesday at the opening of the refugee return conference organized by Damascus with Russian support.