Syria official seen with Assad after arrest claim

Syria’s security services chief Ali Mamlouk attends a meeting between President Bashar Assad and an Iranian official, after a newspaper claimed he was under house arrest for plotting a coup.

Mamlouk’s presence at the meeting, reported by the official news agency SANA, comes after Britain’s Telegraph newspaper said the top regime official had been sidelined.

SANA says Mamlouk was among the attendees at the meeting between Assad and the head of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, Alaedin Boroujerdi.

The news agency and the official social media accounts of the Syrian presidency also publish a photo of the meeting, showing Mamlouk in attendance and seated next to Assad.

The Telegraph had reported on Monday that Mamlouk, who heads the powerful National Security Bureau, was under house arrest after being accused of contacting countries that back Syria’s opposition, as well as exiled members of the Syrian regime.

It is almost unheard of for Syrian media to report on Mamlouk’s activities and publish photos of him, suggesting his presence was a direct rebuttal of the claims of his arrest.

Mamlouk’s presence at the meeting also appeared particularly symbolic as the Telegraph had said Mamlouk was angry about the growing influence of Iran in Syria.

Tehran is a key ally of Assad’s embattled regime, and has dispatched military advisers to guide his forces against an uprising that began in March 2011.

— AFP