Mon Mar 03 09:00:04 UTC 2025: ## Assad’s Fourth Division: A Regime of Plunder and Violence Revealed
**Damascus, Syria** – Abandoned bases of the Syrian military’s elite Fourth Division, once the domain of Maher al-Assad, the younger brother of the toppled president, reveal a vast and brutal economic empire built on the suffering of the Syrian people. Documents obtained by AFP expose a network of corruption and profiteering that flourished during the country’s 14-year civil war.
The Fourth Division, operating from a mountaintop complex outside Damascus, amassed a staggering fortune through a range of illicit activities. These included the seizure of homes and farms, the looting of bombed-out buildings for scrap metal, extortion at checkpoints, protection rackets for oil tankers (some operating in jihadist-controlled areas), and control over the tobacco and metals trades.
Internal documents show the division held tens of millions of dollars and euros in readily available cash, a mere fraction of their likely total wealth, which experts suspect is stashed abroad. This wealth accumulation stands in stark contrast to the widespread poverty in Syria, where over 90 percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day.
The Fourth Division’s involvement in the multi-billion dollar captagon drug trade, previously reported by AFP, is further substantiated by the newly discovered documents. The division’s influence permeated all aspects of Syrian life, acting as a “state within a state” largely immune to Western sanctions.
The luxurious lifestyles of Maher al-Assad and his associates, including Ghassan Belal, head of the division’s powerful Security Bureau, are highlighted by documents detailing extravagant spending and the shipment of luxury cars overseas. This contrasts sharply with the desperate plight of ordinary soldiers who were reduced to begging on the streets.
While Maher al-Assad escaped to Russia after the fall of the Assad regime, his lavish mountaintop headquarters, complete with underground tunnels and vaults, now stands looted. The documents left behind detail the extent of the division’s financial dealings, implicating sanctioned businessmen in their operations.
Experts warn that despite the Fourth Division’s apparent collapse, its legacy of violence and financial power poses a significant threat to Syria’s future. The division’s vast wealth and potential hidden weapons caches could fuel future insurgency if the country’s transition to a new government fails to address the underlying issues of inequality and injustice. The lingering threat of violence against minorities, particularly Alawites, further compounds the concern.
First Piper 