Abdul Fattah Qudsiyeh (; born 1953) is a Syrian former military officer and the former deputy director of the Syrian National Security Bureau. He was also a close adviser to former Syrian President

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

Early life

Qudsiyeh was born in

Hama Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one o ...

in 1953.

Career

Qudsiyeh was a major general. He served in the special forces and was the head of the

Air Force Intelligence Directorate The Air Force Intelligence Directorate () was an intelligence service of Ba'athist Syria from 1970 until 2024, owing its importance to Hafez al-Assad's role as the Air Force commander. Despite its name, it was mainly involved with issues other t ...

of Syria. He also served as the head of the Syrian Military Intelligence Directorate from 2009 to July 2012. After the National Security headquarters bombing in July 2012, he was appointed as the deputy director of the National Security Bureau which became headed by

Ali Mamlouk Ali Mamlouk (; born 19 February 1946) is a Syrian intelligence officer and special security and military advisor to President Bashar al-Assad. He is reportedly one of Assad's most trusted associates. From 2012 to 2019, Mamlouk served as the hea ...

. Qudsiyeh was replaced by

Rafiq Shahadah Rafiq Shahadah (, born 1956) is a retired Syrian Army major general. He was head of the Military Intelligence Directorate and the chief of staff of the Syrian Army's operations in Eastern Syria. Early life Shahadah was born in Jableh, Latakia ...

as general director of the military intelligence.

Sanctions

Since 9 May 2011, Qudsiyeh is one of several officials sanctioned by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

.State funeral for three Syrian officials as Assad’s inner circle shrinks
''The Daily Star'' 21 July 2012 He was added to the European Union's sanction list on the grounds that he "involved in violence against the civilian population" during the Syrian civil war. He was also sanctioned by the United States and the Swiss government.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qudsiyeh, Abdel-Fatah 1953 births Living people People of the Syrian civil war Syrian generals Syrian Alawites People from Hama Syrian individuals subject to U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions Syrian individuals subject to the European Union sanctions