Former Syrian minister Tlass dies in France

His defection in 2012, following the unrest in Syria, was seen as a blow to Al Assad regime

Syrian General Mustafa Tlass passed away at a French hospital yesterday morning, his family said.

According to sources, Tlass fell and broke his hip last week, and was transferred to a hospital in Paris for surgery.

However, due to the presence of a pacemaker in his heart, the surgery was postponed to ensure his vital signs and heart were stable. He later died in hospital. His son, Firas Tlass, declared his father’s death on his Facebook page.

Tlass was considered very close to the late Syrian President Hafez Al Assad. He held the post of defence minister and deputy prime minister from 1972 to 2004.

Tlass defected from the Syrian army in 2012 following the outbreak of Syrian events. Since then, he’s been living in Paris along with his son Manaf.

Tlass was a Republican Guard military commander. He is the son of a former defence minister and possibly the most senior Sunni in a power structure dominated by the Alawite minority.

In 2012, he escaped from the Syrian city of Rastan to Turkey with the help of the Maher Noaimi Brigade of the rebel Free Syrian Army, according to reports then quoting Syrian journalists with the opposition.

Tlass had said then that he was not going to join the opposition, but a US official felt that even if he had joined the insurgency, the impact would be “significant”.

His departure was regarded as a stunning blow to the then embattled Al Assad regime.

“He’s an inside confidante of Al Assad. So it counts that even an insider thinks it’s time to go,” one Western official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said then.