General Intelligence Service (Syria)

For other uses, see General Intelligence Service (disambiguation).
General Intelligence Service (GIS)
جهاز المخابرات العامة
De facto Coat of arms of Syria
Agency overview
FormedDecember 26, 2024; 55 days ago (2024-12-26)
Preceding agency
JurisdictionGovernment of Syria
HeadquartersDamascus, Syria
Agency executive
Parent agencyPresidency of Syria

The General Intelligence Service (Arabic: جهاز المخابرات العامة Jihāz al-Mukhābarāt al-‘Āmmā), is a Syrian intelligence agency responsible for providing national security intelligence, both domestically and internationally. It was established on 26 December 2024 by the Syrian transitional government succeeding the Ba'athist regime's General Intelligence Directorate.

The current director of the GIS is Anas Khattab since 26 December 2024.[3]

History

1945–1958

As a consequence of the French Mandate of Syria that created the modern First Syrian Republic and its structures, the country's civil intelligence services owe much to the French template which shaped their early development since 1945. Civilian intelligence service called Department of General Security (Sûreté Générale) was established, and became one of the two security agencies of Syria, the other being Deuxième Bureau. After 1949 Syrian coup d'état, the Sûreté Générale became no more than an executive arm of the Deuxième Bureau. With the tenure of Abd al-Hamid Sarraj as director of the Deuxième Bureau, which lasted from 1954 to 1958, exemplified these trends. His officers became increasingly active in both Lebanon and northern Israel.[4]

1958–1963

In February 1958, the Syrian government merged with Egypt to form the United Arab Republic (UAR).[4] The union lasted until September 1961. During that union, Syrian intelligence services came under the overall authority of the Egyptian Directorate of General Intelligence with Salah Nasr as director.[5] After its secession from the UAR in 1961, the new Syrian government under President Nazim al-Qudsi reformed security sector. The Deuxième Bureau and a reformed civilian intelligence, renamed as the Internal Security Forces Command (ISFC), started their activities in Lebanon. On 15 December 1961, Col. Muhammad Hisham al-Samman was appointed as Commander of Internal Security Forces, assisted by a Committee under his presidency.[6] Along with the Kuzbari government, he pledged to establish political liberties and to disestablish emergency laws, which never came into existence. With the 1963 Syrian coup d'état, the security services adapted to the new political system of the Ba'ath Party. It was intensively trained by the Egyptian State Security on its domestic affairs such as political repression, mass surveillance, coercive interrogation techniques among others.

1963–1971

The renewed service was used in April 1964 to crackdown uprisings in Hama led by the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and backed by Egypt.[7] On 24 March 1965, Decree No. 67 put the ISFC into a military framework with link to the Interior Ministry, thus ending the civilian control.[8] After the February 1966 coup within the Ba'th Party, Salah Jadid emerged as the leader of Syria's most radical regime to date.[9] Jadid centralized control of all intelligence and security services under Col. Abd al-Karim al-Jundi, the head of the National Security Bureau of the Ba'ath Party.[10] From 1966 to 1969, Jundi further expanded the role and power of the Syrian agencies, both at home and abroad. It was during this period that their reputation for brutal ruthlessness was firmly established. Also in this period, the ISFC was organized and extensively trained by the GDR's Stasi.[11] The use of Palestinian guerrillas against Israel was core of its foreign intelligence.

1971–2024

See also: General Intelligence Directorate (Syria)

In November 1970, Hafez al-Assad ousted Jadid in what he labelled a Corrective Movement. The new system has proved to be Syria's most stable and durable since independence and has toned down the previous radicalism. Under Assad there has been a remarkable continuity among the senior personnel in the intelligence community. The General Security Directorate was established in 1971. By 1972, the new GSD was significantly modelled on the GDR's Stasi.[12] Under the government of Hafez al-Assad and Ba'ath Party, especially from 1973, agents of Syria’s GSD were a frequent visitors in East Berlin for training. According to Stasi files, the Syrians also received equipment and materials from the GDR, the last such deliveries documented up until 1990.[13] The service was in competition with Political Security Directorate in the late 20th century.[14] Maj. Gen. Ghazi Kanaan possibly headed international security of the General Security Directorate in the late 20th century. In the late 20th century, between 1998 and 2001, Maj. Gen Ali Houri was director of General Security Directorate. After Bashar al-Assad's takeover in 2000, Maj. Gen. Ali Hammoud was named as head of GID. In 2001, Hisham Ikhtiyar became the head of the General Security Directorate, replacing Ali Hammoud, who became the Minister of Interior. General Ikhtiyar was close to Bashar al-Assad's deceased brother-in-law Assef Shawkat.[14] President Bashar al-Assad in June 2005 appointed General Ali Mamlouk as commander of the General Security Directorate.[15] Six years later in April 2011, the US government imposed sanctions on Ali Mamlouk, saying he had been responsible for human rights abuses, including the use of violence against civilians. Agency had repressed internal dissent, monitored individual citizens, and had been involved in the Syrian government's actions in Daraa, where protesters were killed by Syrian security services. The next month, the EU also imposed sanctions on Ali Mamlouk, saying he had been involved in efforts to suppress anti-government protesters. A Sunni, he is said to be on good terms with all of Syria's intelligence agencies – the heads of Air Force Intelligence and the Political Security Directorate were once his assistants. He is a part of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle.[16] After the 18 July 2012 bombing of the Central Crisis Management Cell (Syria) and the death of its four key members of team, Mohammed Dib Zaitoun was named as head of the General Security Directorate.[17] The GID was dissolved along with the Ba'athist Syrian institutions in December 2024 following the collapse of the Assad regime. Anas Khattab, appointed head of Syrian intelligence said country's security institution will be restructured after all current security entities are dissolved.[18][19]

2024

The General Intelligence Service was established on 26 December 2024 by the Syrian transitional government succeeding the GID, with Anas Khattab appointed as the director.[20][21]

References

  1. ^ "تعيين أنس خطاب رئيساً لجهاز الاستخبارات العامة في سوريا". Syria TV (in Arabic). 26 December 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  2. ^ "سوريا.. أنس خطاب رئيساً لجهاز الاستخبارات العامة". Anadolu Agency (in Arabic). 26 December 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  3. ^ "Syria appoints new intelligence chief". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  4. ^ a b Podeh, Elie (1999). The Decline of Arab Unity: The Rise and Fall of the United Arab Republic. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press. p. 54. ISBN 1902210204. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  5. ^ Joseph W. Wippl (2019). "Book review". International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. 32 (2): 432. doi:10.1080/08850607.2019.1565879.
  6. ^ Oron, Yizthak (1961). Middle East Record Volume 2, 1961. Jerusalem: The Moshe Dayan Center. pp. 439. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  7. ^ Wright, Robin, Dreams and Shadows : the Future of the Middle East, Penguin Press, 2008, p.241. ISBN 1594201110.
  8. ^ "قوى الأمن الداخلي (sy)/نظام الشرطة". موسوعة القانون المشارك الجامعية (in Arabic). Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  9. ^ "Salah Jadid, 63, Leader of Syria Deposed and Imprisoned by Assad (Published 1993)". The New York Times. Associated Press. 1993-08-24. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  10. ^ Kahana; Suwaed, 2009, p. 294.
  11. ^ Rafiq Hariri and the Fate of Lebanon (2009). Marwān Iskandar. P. 201.
  12. ^ Trentin, Massimiliano (November 2021). "State-led Development: The Privileged Linkage between East Germany and Ba'athist Syria, 1965–1972". Contemporary European History. 30 (4): 581–596. doi:10.1017/S0960777321000369. hdl:11585/852257. ISSN 0960-7773.
  13. ^ "Germany's ties to the Syrian regime". 14 January 2023.
  14. ^ a b "Syrie". Retrieved 2008-09-06. [dead link‍]
  15. ^ Rabil, Robert G. (2006). Syria, the United States, and the war on terror in the Middle East. Westport (Conn.): Praeger security international. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-275-99015-2.
  16. ^ "Bashar al-Assad's inner circle". BBC News. 18 May 2011.
  17. ^ Paul Khalifeh (17 July 2019). "Syria war: Why did Assad restructure the military-security apparatus?". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  18. ^ Presse, AFP-Agence France. "Syria's New Intel Chief Vows Reforms To End Abuses". www.barrons.com. Retrieved 2024-12-29.
  19. ^ "Syria's head of intelligence says security institution to be restructured". Reuters. December 28, 2024.
  20. ^ "تعيين أنس خطاب رئيساً لجهاز الاستخبارات العامة في سوريا". تلفزيون سوريا (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 2024-12-26. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
  21. ^ "سوريا.. أنس خطاب رئيسا لجهاز الاستخبارات العامة". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 2024-12-27.