Rustum Ghazaleh
{{short description|Syrian intelligence officer (1956–2015)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| office = Head of Political Security Directorate
| president = Bashar al-Assad
| primeminister = Riyad Farid Hijab
Wael Nader al-Halqi
| predecessor1 = Mohammed Dib Zaitoun
| successor = Nasser al-Ali
| term_start = 25 July 2012
| term_end = 24 April 2015
| office1 = Head of the Military Intelligence Directorate Branch 227 (Rif Dimashq)
| president1 = Bashar al-Assad
| term_start1 = 2005
| term_end1 = 25 July 2012
| office2 = Head of Military Intelligence in Lebanon{{cite journal|last=Nassif|first=Daniel|title=Major General Ghazi Kanaan|journal=Middle East Intelligence Bulletin|date=January 2000|volume=2|issue=1|url=http://www.meforum.org/meib/articles/0001_l5.htm|access-date=7 July 2012}}
| president2 = Bashar al-Assad
| primeminister2 =
| predecessor2 = Ghazi Kanaan
| successor2 = Position disestablished
| term_start2 = December 2002
| term_end2 = 30 April 2005
| birth_date = {{birth date|1953|5|3|df=y}}
| birth_place = Qarfa, Daraa Governorate, Syria
| death_date = {{death date and age|2015|04|24|1953|5|3|df=y}}
| death_place = Damascus, Syria
| placeofburial =
| placeofburial_label =
| placeofburial_coordinates =
| nickname =
| native_name = {{nobold|رستم غزالة}}
| nationality = Syrian
| allegiance = {{flag|Ba'athist Syria}}
| branch = Syrian Arab Army
| serviceyears = 1973–2015
| rank = 30px Lieutenant general
| servicenumber =
| unit = 112th Mechanized Brigade
Military Intelligence
Political Security Directorate
| commands = Syrian Forces in Lebanon
| battles = Lebanese Civil War
Syrian civil war
| battles_label =
| awards =
| relations =
| laterwork =
| signature =
| party = Ba'ath Party
}}
Rustum Ghazaleh ({{langx|ar|رستم غزالة}}) also transl. from Arabic as Rostom Ghazale, Rustom Ghazalah, Rustom Ghazali; (3 May 1953 – 24 April 2015) was a Syrian military and intelligence officer.
Early life
Ghazaleh was born into a Sunni Muslim family in Qarfa, Daraa Governorate, on 3 May 1953.{{cite news|title=List of natural and legal persons|url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:016:0001:0032:EN:PDF|access-date=9 February 2013|newspaper=Official Journal of the EU|date=19 January 2012}}{{cite journal|last=Harris|first=William|title=Bashar al-Assad's Lebanon Gamble|journal=Middle East Quarterly|date=Summer 2005|volume=XII|issue=3|pages=33–44|url=http://www.meforum.org/730/bashar-al-assads-lebanon-gamble|access-date=17 March 2013}}
Career
The son of a member of the Ba'ath Party since 1950, Ghazaleh joined the Syrian Arab Army as a first lieutenant and platoon commander of a mechanized infantry (BMP-1) unit in 1973, just in time for the Yom Kippur War but did not see frontline combat. He later trained in artillery and military intelligence in the Soviet Union in 1976. As a Major and Lieutenant Colonel, he was an artillery spotter, a company commander, and a commander of a mechanized battalion during the Lebanese Civil War between 1978 and 1990. Between 1980 and 1981 during the Battle of Zahleh, as a Major he was the Adjutant and Aide to the Commander of the 47th Mechanized Brigade. Transferring to Military Intelligence, between 1984 and 1986, he headed the Occupation Administration of Akkar District, and between 1986 and 1988 he was Commander of Syrian Occupation Administration in Baalbek District while simultaneously commanding a Mechanized Battalion. In 1990 he was promoted to Colonel and Commander of Syrian Occupation Administration in the entire Bekaa Valley. He was appointed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December 2002 to succeed the late Ghazi Kanaan as head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon.{{cite book|author=William Harris|title=Lebanon: A History, 600-2011|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jY4ImTGnamUC&pg=PA262|access-date=10 March 2013|date=19 July 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-518111-1|pages=267}}{{cite journal|last=Knudsen|first=Are|title=Precarious peacebuilding: Post-war Lebanon, 1990-2005|journal=CMI Working Paper|year=2005|volume=2|url=http://bora.cmi.no/dspace/bitstream/10202/103/1/Working%20paper%20WP%202005-12.pdf|access-date=17 March 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213221743/http://bora.cmi.no/dspace/bitstream/10202/103/1/Working%20paper%20WP%202005-12.pdf|archive-date=13 December 2013}} He frequently traveled to the Bekaa valley where he had a residence and his headquarters in Anjar, and has been accused of involvement in the Bekaa drug trade and other smuggling ventures.{{cite web|last=Pan|first=Esther|title=Syria's Leaders|url=http://www.cfr.org/syria/syrias-leaders/p9085|work=Council on Foreign Relations Backgrounders|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations|access-date=12 August 2011|archive-date=28 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028142012/http://www.cfr.org/syria/syrias-leaders/p9085|url-status=dead}}
In 2004 according to sources and Lebanese journalist and former minister, May Chidiac, he sent her a death threat via a Lebanese political figure saying he would “drink her blood.”{{Cite web |last=Admin |first=S. C. |date=2022-11-15 |title=Chidiac: Assad is Stupid Criminal; Hezbollah his Partners in Assassinations |url=https://en.etilaf.org/all-news/news/chidiac-assad-is-stupid-criminal-hezbollah-his-partners-in-assassinations |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=Syrian National Coalition Of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces |language=en-US}}
In early 2005, the killing of Rafik Hariri led to intense pressure on Syria. Ghazale's and Kanaan's foreign assets were frozen by the United States for their role in the alleged occupation of Lebanon and other suspected irregularities.{{cite news|last=Jehl|first=Douglas|title=U.S. Freezes Assets of Syrian Officials Active in Lebanon |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/international/middleeast/30cnd-syria.html?hp&ex=1120190400&en=93607b5cb6c5d0a3&ei=5094&partner=homepage|access-date=16 July 2010|newspaper=The New York Times|date=30 June 2005}} Syria eventually withdrew its 15,000 man strong army. Ghazaleh relocated to Syria. However, some Lebanese and foreign observers alleged that Syria keeps interfering with Lebanese politics through parts of its intelligence apparatus left behind in the country; Syria denies the charges. Kanaan later allegedly committed suicide.
In September 2005, Ghazaleh was questioned on the Hariri assassination by United Nations investigator Detlev Mehlis. In December 2005, former Syrian vice president Abdul Halim Khaddam accused Ghazaleh of political corruption, dictatorial rule in Lebanon and of threatening Hariri prior to his death.{{cite news|url=http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/01/full_text_of_kh.php|title=Full text of Khaddam's interview with Arabiya|date=8 January 2006|newspaper=Ya Libnan LLC|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090107060816/http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/01/full_text_of_kh.php|archive-date=7 January 2009|access-date=11 August 2011}} After the withdrawal from Lebanon little was heard of him. However, at the beginning of the protests in Daraa, Ghazaleh was sent by Bashar al-Assad to assure locals of the president's good intentions. He reportedly told them: "We have released the children" – a reference to several teenagers who were arrested for writing anti-government graffiti inspired by the events in Egypt and Tunisia. In May 2011, the European Union said Ghazaleh was head of military intelligence in Damascus countryside (Rif Dimashq) governorate, which borders Daraa governorate, and was involved in the repression of dissent in the region. He is considered part of Assad's inner circle.{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13216195|newspaper=BBC|title=Bashar al-Assad's inner circle|date=18 May 2011}}
On 24 July 2012, Ghazaleh was appointed chief of political security.{{cite news|title=The former head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon, General Rustom Ghazaleh, named chief of political security|url=http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/former-head-syrian-military-intelligence-lebanon-general-rustom-ghazali-named-chief|access-date=18 December 2012|newspaper=Al Jazeera|date=24 July 2012|location=Rayaq|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402120127/http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/former-head-syrian-military-intelligence-lebanon-general-rustom-ghazali-named-chief|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|title=Rustom Ghazaleh Named Chief of Political Security|url=http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/47652|access-date=4 February 2013|newspaper=Naharnet|date=24 July 2012}} He allegedly opposed to the prominent role played by Hezbollah and other foreign fighters (in particular Iranians) in the Syrian civil war, a stance which led to him being attacked by the bodyguards of the pro-Iranian Lt. Gen Rafiq Shahadah in early 2015.{{cite web|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Mar-07/289965-rustom-ghazaleh-leaves-hospital-after-beating.ashx|title=Rustom Ghazaleh leaves hospital after 'beating'|work=The Daily Star Newspaper – Lebanon|date=7 March 2015}}
Death
Ghazaleh was severely beaten by the bodyguards of Lt. Gen. Rafiq Shahadah over a disagreement the two had regarding Iranian involvement in the 2015 Southern Syria offensive, with news emerging two months later that Ghazaleh had died on 24 April 2015 after complications from a severe head wound which resulted in him having been clinically dead for several weeks prior.{{cite web|title=Restrictive measures against Syria|url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:218:0020:01:EN:HTML|publisher=EURLex|access-date=17 December 2012|archive-date=7 January 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130107152937/http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:218:0020:01:EN:HTML|url-status=dead}}{{cite journal|url=https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Apr-24/295615-former-syrian-intelligence-chief-in-lebanon-rustom-ghazali-has-died-media-sources.ashx|title=Ex-Syria spy chief in Lebanon Rustom Ghazaleh has died|journal= The Daily Star|date= 24 August 2015|access-date= 24 April 2015|quote= He did not say when Ghazaleh passed away, but that medical sources told him the ex-spy chief had been clinically dead for weeks, following a severe head injury suffered about two months ago.}}
A figure close to Syrian government officials claimed the argument had been over fuel smuggling, while a Lebanese journalist suspected that Ghazaleh was "gotten rid of" due to the role he could have played in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.{{cite web|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/world/middleeast/syria-remains-silent-on-intelligence-officials-death.html?_r=0&referrer=|title= Syria Remains Silent on Intelligence Official's Death|work= The New York Times|last= Barnard|first= Anne |date= 25 April 2015|access-date= 25 April 2015}} Saad Hariri stated that Ghazaleh had contacted him the day before he was beaten, wanting to appear on television to announce details regarding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, while an analyst claimed Ghazaleh had seen the end was near for the Syrian government and wanted to defect.{{cite web|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/811ea916-edb3-11e4-987e-00144feab7de.html|title=Intelligence tsar takes Assad secrets to grave|work=The Financial Times|last=Solomon|first=Erika|date=3 May 2015|access-date=3 May 2015|quote= That has led some to speculate that Ghazaleh planned to defect. Boumonsef points to the recent rebel advances in northern and southern Syria. "People love rumours and don't notice the big picture: the regime is unravelling from within." [...] Saad Hariri said Ghazaleh was beaten the day after making contact with Lebanese authorities. "Rustom Ghazaleh called us before his death and wanted to appear on television and announce something we don't know," he said}} Syrian government media failed to report Ghazaleh's death.{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUKKBN0NG0GH20150425?irpc=932|title=Syria's former spy chief dies in unclear circumstances – source|publisher=Reuters |last1=Karouny|first1=Mariam|last2=Suleiman al-Khalidi; editing by Ralph Boulton|first2= Suleiman|editor=Ralph Boulton|date=25 April 2015|access-date=26 April 2015}}
References
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Category:Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region politicians
Category:Directors of intelligence agencies
Category:People from Izra District
Category:People of the Lebanese Civil War
Category:People of the Syrian civil war