Dhu al-Himma Shalish
| Dhu al-Himma Shalish ذو الهمة شاليش |
|
|---|---|
| Head of Presidential Security | |
| President | Bashar al-Assad |
| Prime Minister |
Riyad Farid Hijab Wael Nader al-Halqi |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | Syrian |
| Political party | Ba'ath Party |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 Syria
|
| Rank | Major General |
Dhu al-Himma Shalish (Arabic: ذو الهمة شاليش) is the first cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and head of presidential security. He is part Bashar al-Assad's inner circle.
Dhu al-Himma Shalish was born sometime around 1950 in the town of Qardaha in Latakia to an Alawi family. His mother was the sister of Hafez al-Assad. The Shalishs through Dhu al-Himma maintain a significant level of influence in the Syrian government and economy and are comparatively as influential as the Makhloufs who are the family of Hafez al-Assad’s wife.
Shalish owns SES International, which is active in the construction and automobile import sectors. He is also the brother of Riyad Shalish, who is the director of the government construction firm the Military Housing Establishment, which during the 1990s he managed to transform into his own company. He subsequently made a fortune on construction and contracting deals in Syria involving large scale projects financed by other Arab states. It is also reported that the Shalishs have engaged in a number of illicit activities including smuggling and money laundering.
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 Iraq.
Prior to the war in Iraq, the Syrian government awarded Shalish's SES International exclusive rights on contracts to supply the Iraqi market with goods from construction materials to detergent. SES then sold the contracts to Syrian and foreign companies for a substantial profit. Dhu al-Himma Shalish is also reported to have received a significant amount of the $580 million USD in Iraqi assets that the Syrian government illegally paid out to Syrian claimants in 2003.
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