Dhu al-Himma Shalish

Background Dhu al-Himma Shalish was born in 1951, in the town of Qardaha in Latakia to an Alawi family. His mother was the sister of Syria's former president Hafez al-Assad. The Shalishs were also reported to have engaged in a number of illicit activities including smuggling and money laundering.

Iraqi activity In June 2005, Dhu al-Himma and his nephew, Asef Isa Shalish, and their company, SES International Corporation, were sanctioned by the United States government for procuring defense-related goods for Saddam Hussein in violation of former sanctions against Iraq. According to the United States Treasury Department, SES helped the former Iraqi government access weapons systems by issuing false end-user certificates to foreign suppliers that listed Syria as the final country of destination.

SES International then transshipped the goods to

Syrian civil war Dhu al-Himma Shalish played an important role in containing the unrest during the Syrian civil war. On 24 June 2011, the European Union sanctioned him along with a number of other Syrian government officials for their role in the violent repression of protesters during the early stages of the civil war. His influence within the president's inner circle was believed to have increased since the beginning of the uprising. It was reported that he was a key financier and organiser of the pro-Assad militia groups known as the shabiha.

Before the Syrian civil war, Shalish and his immediate family were poorly regarded by the Assads but they were reportedly elevated into the inner circle because they were willing to do the dirty work and because there were only so many family members.

Prior to 2019, Shalish acted as the head of the presidential security for Bashar al-Assad, but on June 12 of that year he was removed from his position and put under house arrest, as part of the Assad regime's internal power struggles. Shalish died at his home on May 14, 2022. A cause of death was not specified, but some of his supporters protested outside of his home, alleging foul play.