Walid al-Muallem: The Voice That Denied Everything

Walid al-Muallem was appointed Foreign Minister in 2006, previously having served as Syria's ambassador to the United States (1990-2000). As the Arab Spring reached Syria in 2011 and the civil war erupted, Muallem became the regime's primary international voice. He appeared at the UN Security Council repeatedly to veto resolutions, deny allegations of chemical weapons use (including after the August 2013 Ghouta attack that killed over 1,400 people), and describe opposition fighters as 'terrorists' while government forces besieged civilian populations. Following the 2013 Chemical Weapons Convention accession under US-Russia pressure, he supervised the declared handover of chemical weapons — while investigators later documented continued use of chlorine barrel bombs and sarin. He died in November 2020 of a heart attack, aged 79, still in office, still denying.