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AFP
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Rami Makhlouf has posted three videos online in a month, complaining about his treatment
In his most recent video, shared on Sunday, Rami Makhlouf stares at the lens, speaking quietly, almost whispering some sentences.
His beard is whiter than in the photographs of his pomp, when he radiated wealth and power, counting his billions as the money man not just of the regime, but of his family, which is about the same thing.
Makhlouf has not lost the sheen of wealth. He is a man who will never be poor, rare in Syria where the UN says 80% of the population live in poverty, almost 10 million do not have enough to eat and half have lost their homes because of the war.
He lives in a valley beloved of Syria’s super-rich on the road out of Damascus heading towards Beirut.
In the videos Makhlouf’s jacket looks expensive and Italian, as he sits in a corner of his home in front of an artfully stacked pile of olivewood ready for next winter.
But if what he says in the videos is correct – and this week he offered the world his third – the power has gone.
He was reputed to take a commission on every serious business deal in Syria, the reason why some called him Mr Five Percent.
Rare rebuke
Rami Makhlouf is a first cousin, on the maternal side, of President Bashar al-Assad. They’re about the same age, in their early 50s, and were childhood friends.
Makhlouf was seen as a staunch supporter of the regime who rarely spoke in public about family, or politics, or his business.
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AFP
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The EU imposed sanctions on Rami Makhlouf in 2011, saying he “bankrolled” the Assad regime
In an interview with the New York Times in 2011, when the war was gathering pace, he said that Syria’s ruling elite – the Assads, the Makhloufs and a few close associates – would fight until the end: “They should know when we suffer, we will not suffer alone.”
All that turned out to be true, but his other promise was that they would stay united. His videos show that has not happened.
On social media he has posted a prayer asking God to end the injustice he is suffering, as well as the three videos which contain criticisms of the regime. Such posts would land most Syrians in jail.
On 3 May, he said: “Mr President, security apparatuses have started to infringe on people’s freedom. Those are your people, your supporters.”
Lavish lifestyles
Makhlouf is involved in oil and construction, but his main money-spinner is his control of Syria’s biggest mobile networks.
His companies are accused of owing $180m (£147m; 165m euros) in back taxes. For a man of his means, that is not a lot of money. Even his son Mohammad, who is based in Dubai, is described as a billionaire in gushing online profiles.
As his sons took down photos from Instagram that celebrated their lavish lifestyles, Makhlouf shared on Facebook a correspondence that claimed to be an offer to pay what wa