عميل الأسد السابق ومخلوف ينفقان ملايين لإشعال ثورات على الساحل السوري!

Reuters revealed today (Friday) details of a troubling conspiracy being orchestrated from exile in Moscow, where former military intelligence chief of Bashar al-Assad's regime, General Kamal Hassan, and Assad's cousin billionaire Rami Makhlouf are spending millions of dollars in conflicting efforts to build combat forces aimed at leading an uprising on the Syrian coast.

According to Reuters, the two men are competing for control over a network of 14 underground command rooms filled with weapons and ammunition, built in the final days of the dictatorship, in addition to secret weapons caches.

Meanwhile, the new Syrian government, headed by Ahmad al-Shara, a former Assad agent and childhood friend of the new president, Khaled Ahmad, is working to neutralize these plans by convincing Alawite soldiers and civilians that their future lies with the new Syria.

After the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December 2024, who fled to Russia where he settled in exile, some prominent figures from his inner circle refused to surrender to the loss of power.

Kamal Hassan, who managed the military detention system notorious for extorting families and oversaw the transfer of mass graves to conceal the regime's crimes, is one of the most prominent of these figures. Rami Makhlouf, on the other hand, has controlled Syria's economy for over two decades, owning a business empire in telecommunications, construction, and tourism, valued at over a billion dollars according to British government estimates.

Makhlouf supported the Syrian army during the civil war that erupted in 2011, but fell out of favor with the family in 2019, leading to the confiscation of his businesses and placing him under house arrest for years.

Makhlouf fled to Lebanon on December 8, 2024, while his brother Ihab was killed near the border during an escape attempt, carrying millions of dollars in cash.

Today, they live in Moscow, Hassan in a luxury villa, and Makhlouf in a private floor of Radisson hotels under heavy guard.

Hassan sees himself as a military leader sending voice messages expressing his anger over the loss of his influence, describing ambitious visions for ruling the Syrian coast, which is considered the base of the Alawites, who make up a 10% Muslim minority of the population, historically linked to the Assad family.

Details of the Conspiracy

Reuters, based on interviews with 48 individuals with direct knowledge, and financial and operational documents, as well as voice and text messages, revealed that the two men and other factions are funding over 50,000 potential fighters, most of whom are Alawite, to win their loyalty in the Syrian coast and Lebanon.

Hassan claims to control 12,000 fighters, while Makhlouf claims to lead 54,000, divided into 80 battalions in Homs, Hama, Tartus, and Latakia, according to internal documents.

However, field leaders confirmed that these numbers are exaggerated, and that salaries are meager (20 - 30 dollars per month for each fighter), with many receiving money from both sides without issue, amid the extreme poverty faced by thousands of former Alawites in the army or government jobs.

Makhlouf has spent at least 6 million dollars on salaries since March 2025, through two prominent Syrian officers: Suhail Hassan and Qahtan Khalil, who manage the transfer of funds from Lebanon, the UAE, and Russia.

He has also attempted to provide weapons from hidden caches dating back to the Assad era, and discussions with smugglers to purchase new ones, but delivery has not been verified.

As for Hassan, he has spent 1.5 million dollars on 12,000 fighters and created a fake charity called "Developing Western Syria" to gain Alawite support, in addition to recruiting 30 former hackers to launch cyberattacks on the new government, where data from the ministries of communications and health was sold on the dark web for 150 - 500 dollars.

The grand prize is control over 14 underground command rooms along 180 kilometers of the coast, equipped with AK-47s, grenades, computers, solar power, and maps.

Two officers and a regional governor confirmed their existence, and photos seen by Reuters showed their contents.

Initial plans in January 2025 outlined a paramilitary force of 5,780 fighters, but this was not implemented, and the rooms are operational but inactive.

A commander monitoring them said, "This network is Treasure Island, and they are all ships trying to reach it."

Syrian Government Response

Tartus Governor Ahmad al-Shami warned that the authorities are aware of the plans, but they are weak and ineffective, and the command rooms have been significantly weakened since the "liberation."

Damascus sent Khaled Ahmad, who became a paramilitary leader for Assad and then defected, to persuade the Alawites to integrate.

Researcher Ansar Shahoud, who has studied the dictatorship for over a decade, stated: "This is an extension of the power struggle in the Assad regime, but the goal now is to find an alternative to him and control the Alawite community."
These plans come amid rising sectarian tensions, following the failure of an Alawite uprising in March 2025 in rural Latakia, which resulted in the deaths of 1,500 civilians at the hands of government forces, daily raids, and kidnappings.

Major protests erupted on November 25, 2025, in Homs and the coast, demanding independence and the release of detainees, led by a cleric opposed to the two men.

There are fears that an uprising could destabilize the new government, which is supported by the United States and regional powers, and ignite new sectarian violence in a country that has been ravaged by a 14-year civil war. However, the odds are slim: the two men are rivals, their hopes for Russian support are fading, and the Alawites fear retribution.

As for the Lebanese interior and the Russian foreign ministries, they did not respond to requests for comment, while an Emirati official confirmed his country’s commitment to preventing the illegal uses of its territory.