Syria names new security service chief

DAMASCUS - Agence France-Presse

A file picture dated April 26, 2005 shows the former head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon, General Rustom Ghazali. AFP photo

Syria has named General Ali Mamluk as the new head of its national security office in a shakeup of the security services after a bombing killed four top regime figures last week, a security source told AFP on Tuesday.
 
"General Ali Mamluk, who was head of state security, is becoming the head of the bureau of national security, with the rank of minister, overseeing the entire security apparatus," the source said.
 
"He will report directly to President Bashar al-Assad," the source added.
 
General Rustom Ghazali, the former director of military security in Damascus, has been named chief of political security, the source said, replacing Deeb Zaytun, who will take over Mamluk's former post as head of state security.
 
The shake-up follows a July 18 attack, claimed by rebel forces battling Assad's regime, which targeted the government's security leadership.
 
The attacked killed Defence Minister Daoud Rajha, Assad's brother-in-law Assad Shawkat, national security chief Hisham Ikhtiyar and Hassan Turkoman, head of the crisis cell set up to tackle the uprising against the regime.