Mohammed Dib Zaitoun (; born 20 February 1951) is a former director of the Syrian General Security Directorate and a close adviser of 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 ...

. He is one of many 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 ...

for their actions against protesters participating in the Syrian civil war. On 9 July 2019, Dib Zaitoun was appointed as the Director of National Security Bureau of the Ba'ath Party. His tenure ended on 18 January 2024.

Background

Mohammed Dib Zaitoun was born in Damascus to a Sunni family. His father was a

Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

in the

Syrian Army The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the fo ...

. He was commissioned as a

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

in a Mechanized Infantry regiment in the

Syrian Arab Army The Syrian Arab Armed Forces (SAAF; ) were the combined armed forces of Syria from 1963 to 2024. They served during the rule of the Ba'ath Party in Syria. The SAAF consisted of the Syrian Arab Army, Syrian Arab Air Force, Syrian Arab Air D ...

in November 1971 after graduating from the 3-year long officer course at the Homs Military Academy. Before taking up his position as head of the General Security Directorate, he was the head of the Political Security Directorate (PSD). He took over the PSD position in 2009 after the previous head Muhammad Mansoura was removed because of his involvement in organized smuggling activity on the Syrian

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

i border. Before being head of the PSD, Dib Zaitoun had been the deputy head of the General Security Directorate during which time he was asked, along with other members of the president's inner circle, to investigate the assassination in 2008 of

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

’s Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus.

Career

At the start of the Syrian civil war, Dib Zaitoun became one of nine members of the government’s Central Crisis Management Cell which was tasked with handling the protests and the violent crack down on protesters. After the 18 July 2012 bombing of the crisis management cell and the death of four key members of the crisis management team, Dib Zaitoun was elevated to head the General Security Directorate and his previous position as head of the Political Security Directorate was taken over by

Rustum Ghazali Rustum Ghazaleh () also transl. from Arabic as Rostom Ghazale, Rustom Ghazalah, Rustom Ghazali; (3 May 1953 – 24 April 2015) was a Syrian military and intelligence officer. Early life Ghazaleh was born into a Sunni Muslim family in Qarfa, Dara ...

. The two countries appear to maintain a certain degree of cooperation, particularly in intelligence matters. In 2016, Mohammad Dib Zeitoun, the former head of Syria's General Directorate of Security, held meetings with Alberto Manenti, the former head of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

's external security agency AISE. In July 2019, General Mohamed Dib Zeitoun, the national security chief has been replaced by Major General Hossam Louka.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dib Zaitoun, Mohammed 1951 births Living people People of the Syrian civil war Syrian generals Directors of intelligence agencies Syrian Sunni Muslims Syrian individuals subject to the European Union sanctions