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20 Years of Power and $180 Million Divide Syria’s Ruling Family

A feud between President Bashar al-Assad and his cousin is laying bare the catastrophic state of the war-ravaged country’s finances.

A poster of President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo.

A poster of President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo.

Photographer: Maxime Popov/AFP via Getty Images

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On a hot July afternoon 20 years ago, Rami Makhlouf stood in a tent pitched on a central square in Damascus and extolled the virtues of his cousin, Bashar al-Assad. Days later, a referendum put an official seal on the Syrian presidency Assad inherited from his father.

Today, Makhlouf is in trouble with the law and seemingly unable to directly reach Assad, the leader who turned the businessman into Syria’s undisputed economic czar. Assad is now allowing authorities to seize his assets following a dispute with the government over $180 million.