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Episode details

World Service,11 Aug 2020,17 mins

A family rift in Syria

Business Daily

Available for over a year

Why does the President of Syria seemingly want to destroy his cousin Rami Makhlouf? President Bashar al-Assad of Syria seems hell-bent on unseating his first cousin, and Syria's richest man, from his multi-billion dollar holdings. But Rami Makhlouf, is defying the President to his face. What's going on, what's at stake for Syria? Ed Butler speaks to the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen. Plus he asks Ayman Abdel-Nour, a former economic advisor to the Syrian ruling party who knew Bashar al Assad at university, what he thinks is going on. (Picture: Syrian businessman Rami Makhlouf; Credit: Louai Beshara/Getty Images)

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