After the war, many buildings were destroyed. To rebuild, gravel and stones are necessary for the construction of buildings based on the cement block style used in Syria. Asma designated her brother Feras as the exclusive dealer and supplier for all gravel and stone supplies. Small family-owned businesses in the field were forced to close, and their hauling trucks were confiscated for the use of Asma's brother.
A series of fires occurred along the coast. The areas burned were scattered and not adjoined. Experts could not understand what was the cause of these mysterious fires. Later, it was revealed that Asma's office thugs had lit the fires in order to buy prime acreage at below cost from owners who could not afford to replant their olive trees.
The STD was ordered by Asma to throw out landowners from their lands and confiscate valuable pistachio farms. All of these crimes were well known in Syria, but local journalists could never have published the facts out of fear of prison, torture, and death.
After Bashar fell, the prices of some foodstuffs fell. The cost of eggs decreased by 50%, and lamb meat declined by 30%. Maher al-Assad, Bashar's brother, had made a commission on every egg sold, and lamb meat. Once the Assads were gone, natural prices could return.
Maher was tasked by Bashar and Asma with the Captagon business. This is an amphetamine manufactured in Syria for the export market, especially Saudi Arabia. Maher commanded the 4th Division in the Syrian Arab Army. His soldiers had checkpoints where they charged cars and trucks extortion fees just to pass through.
After the fall of December 8, the numerous Assad family mansions were raized by local people. Many were in the Damascus and Latakia areas. Once inside, the Captagon manufacture and storage were revealed with videos flooding social media. The Kingdom of Jordan had long complained to Syria directly and publicly about the transit of drugs from Syria through Jordan on their way to Saudi Arabia. Bashar, Asma, and Maher never paid attention to King Abdullah ignoring his demands to stop the business through his land.
Bashar's thugs were at the Customs Office. Those men would arrive at a business and begin a search, ostensibly looking for fraud or smuggling. They would often ask for paperwork on an obscure item in the place, knowing the business owner could not easily find it. Then, in a flash and flurry, they would begin confiscating things from the business, as if they owned the store. Customs officers would keep some looted items, and deliver the rest to the warehouses of the Assad family.
In one of the final customs raids in Latakia, they swooped in one morning downtown to a large store with a huge inventory of household and personal items imported from China. They took everything as if they were a professional moving company. Later, Asma's office would call the business owner and negotiate a price to sell the confiscated merchandise back to the legal owner.
On a grander scale, Assad agents would approach a successful business owner and coerce them into accepting the Assad family as a partner, but without an investment. If the businessman refused to comply, he would be arrested and possibly face death in prison. Some cleverly stalled off the process by fleeing the country. Many Syrian businessmen are in Egypt, Lebanon, and Dubai only because they were threatened in a coercive manner, and expected to bow down to the Assad family.
When the Assad regime collapsed and the Syrian people burst into the presidential palace in Damascus, they saw the luxurious lifestyle the Assad family was living, and the car garage revealed a collection of the newest and most expensive cars on earth, such as Bugatti, Maserati, and Ferrari. Included in the garage was a collection of classic old cars of priceless value.
Mohammed Jalali was the last prime minister under Bashar al-Assad's regime. "As Prime Minister, I made two million Syrian pounds, which is about $140. Ministers got one million, which is $70, civil servants made $20, and soldiers were paid only $17.50, " he said.
Jalali asked, "How can you expect someone to risk their life for their country when they're only paid $17.50?"
Now you know why the Assad regime fell so easily in less than two weeks and with very little resistance. There were no Assad loyalists left, only relatives. Minority groups who had once felt defended by Bashar had years ago turned against him after the realization of the depths of his corruption. The citizens and the army had been betrayed by Bashar, Asma, Maher, and all related to them.
By: Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator
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