Despite US-led efforts to isolate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the terrible war, the US State Department claimed Thursday that his family is likely worth $1-2 billion.
With the Assads suspected of holding assets under fictitious names or through opaque property dealings, the State Department said it could only submit a “inexact assessment” in a report mandated by Congress.
“Estimates based on open-source information generally put the Assad family net worth at between $1-2 billion,” said the publicly released part of the report, some of which was classified.
According to the State Department, the Assads run “a complex patronage structure that includes shell businesses and corporate facades that serves as a vehicle for the regime to access financial resources,” citing non-governmental and media accounts.
The president’s wife, brother, sister, cousins, and uncle, the majority of whom are under US sanctions, are included in the estimate.
The State Department stated that it did not have enough information on the president’s three children’s net worth, the youngest of whom is 17 years old.
The US Congress has led sanctions aimed at preventing Assad from going back to business as usual after regaining control of much of Syria following a decade of war that killed almost half a million people.
After widespread concerns about human rights, the United States has called for responsibility.
But most of the region is moving on, with Assad making his first official visit to an Arab country since the war began in March to the United Arab Emirates.
Aryan Jakhar works as an Editor-in-Chief at The Shining Media. Also, he is an editor at YouthPolitician (digital media situated in Taiwan). He writes his opinions on social issues at YouthKiAwaaz and also on his blogger website.
