Syrian President Bashar Assad faces rare dissent from a top financial ally, cousin Rami Makhlouf
BEIRUT - In the pecking order of figures close to Syria's government leaders, Rami Makhlouf operated at the top.
Arguably the country's richest businessman with an estimated fortune worth billions of dollars and first cousin to President Bashar Assad, Makhlouf moved as the ultimate insider.
That may be over.
The normally media-shy Makhlouf in recent days posted Facebook videos showing him accusing figures close to the president of Mafia-style shakedowns against his many business interests, from oil to telecommunications.
In a 15-minute video, Makhlouf appeared sitting before a stack of logs in what seemed to be a basement and peppered his comments with quotes from the Quran. He plaintively addressed Assad as "Mr. President," telling him he's tired of the staff around his cousin "putting me always in the circle of accusations ... that I'm the
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