Ali Mahmoud Abbas

Lieutenant General Ali Mahmoud Abbas (; born 2 November 1964) is a Syrian senior military officer and politician who served as the 18th Minister of Defense of Syria, succeeding Ali Abdullah Ayyoub. He is a Sunni Muslim.

Early life and education Abbas was born in 1964 in Efra, Rif Dimashq. He joined the Homs Military Academy, specialization of armored vehicles in 1983. He graduated with the rank of lieutenant on October 7, 1985.

Minister of Defense On 28 April 2022, Presidential Decree No. 115 was issued naming General Ali Mahmoud Abbas as Minister of Defense replacing Ali Abdullah Ayyoub. During the 2023 Homs drone strike Abbas was in attendance at the graduation ceremony but left before the attack. He later visited the Abdul-Qader Shaqfa Military Hospital where several of the casualties were brought.

Sanctions In June 2023, Abbas was sanctioned by the United Kingdom for "the systematic use of sexual and gender-based violence against civilians."

Regime collapse and escape Amid the Hama offensive in early December 2024, Abbas defended the army's withdrawal as a "tactical redeployment to preserve civilian lives." In a televised address, he stated that the Syrian army would overcome the challenges, accusing opposition forces of spreading "false propaganda" and using AI-generated videos to fabricate orders and statements from the military leadership.

During the fall of the al-Assad regime on 8 December 2024, Abbas joined other senior officials, including Qahtan Khalil and Ali Ayyoub, on a Syrian Air Yak-40 jet that departed Damascus International Airport for the Russian-controlled Hmeimim Air Base, from where they were later flown to Moscow under Russian military protection.