Hidden within a drab Damascus shopping center, at the end of an unlit fourth-floor hallway, is the unmarked office of Shorouk for Protection, guarding and Security Services. A sign informs visitors that the hallway is monitored by cameras.
This is no ordinary security company. During Syria’s civil war, the United Nations paid Shorouk at least $11 million to provide security services to protect U.N. offices, from its de facto headquarters at the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus to regional hubs.
Now, internal Shorouk documents reveal that the company was secretly owned by the intelligence services of former President Bashar Assad’s regime. Even as the United Nations poured money into the firm, those intelligence services were engaged in a violent campaign to crush any opposition to Assad.
In other leaked memos, the Syrian regime’s intelligence officers strategized on how to ensure Shorouk maintained its U.N. contracts. Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad wrote that this effort was important because the personnel for Shorouk and other security firms were monitoring U.N. employees for Assad.Human Rights Watch and another NGO,the syrian Legal Development Program,warned the united Nations in 2022 about Shorouk’s multiple reported links to the Assad regime. The United Nations responded that the contracts did not violate U.N. standards and continued to hire Shorouk for two more years.
The memos from Mekdad and Assad’s intelligence officers come from a trove of more than 134,000 records obtained by German broadcaster NDR and reviewed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. These files form the basis for the Damascus Dossiera new inquiry by ICIJ and 25 media partners in 20 countries. The project exposes the Assad regime’s vast apparatus for the detention, torture and murder of Syrian citizens. The investigation also offers an unprecedented look into how the Assad regime profited from U.N. contracts – and later pressured the institution to keep the money flowing after Shorouk’s ties to the regime were exposed.Shorouk’s general manager,wael al-Haou,said in an email to ICIJ that the information showing Shorouk’s ownership by the intelligence services was “incorrect and inaccurate.” He added that Shorouk had never been owned by any state institution, and said in a subsequent interview that it was owned by himself and two other individuals. He did not provide their names.
But in internal Shorouk documents, obtained by ICIJ separately from the Damascus Dossier files, al-Haou sent a check to Assad’s intelligence services for what he said was its profit share in the company, and in another memo described Shorouk as “owned and controlled” by the intelligence services.
The U.N. contracts with Shorouk, which operated under several names, were signed in the midst of Syria’s bloody civil war. What began as a peaceful uprising in 2011 had by then devolved into armed conflict between the Assad regime and its opponents that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Syrians and drew in military forces from the United States, Russia and Iran. The Assad regime used brutal tactics to
U.N. Contracts in Syria Allegedly Funded Assad’s Intelligence Directorate
Data reveals that Shorouk, a security contractor, was the primary provider for the U.N. Development Programme in Syria from 2015 to 2024. The U.N. country team stated these contracts weren’t solely for U.N. premises, but also secured shared offices for multiple U.N.agencies in Damascus,with requests for proposals seeking guards to inspect all individuals and vehicles entering facilities.
Together, while U.N. agencies contracted with Shorouk, United Nations reports documented war crimes committed by the Syrian General intelligence Directorate, allegedly funded by those same contracts. A 2023 U.N. report detailed torture of Syrian civilians by the directorate’s officers, including the use of electric shock.A 2015 report documented rape and sexual torture of prisoners by directorate officers. Anwar Raslan, a directorate officer, was convicted in Germany in 2022 of crimes against humanity, including torture and sexual violence.
The United Nations has faced criticism for what human rights groups describe as a compromise with the Assad regime. During the Syrian civil war, authorities allegedly redirected aid from opposition areas and steered U.N. contracts towards regime loyalists. Reports indicate U.N. agencies hired friends and political associates of Assad, including family members of Foreign Minister Mekdad.
In response to inquiries, the U.N.country team affirmed full compliance with procurement processes and claimed “enhanced due diligence” had been conducted on Shorouk, finding no verifiable evidence of ownership by Assad’s intelligence services. However, the team acknowledged the “highly complex” operating environment in Syria and “extremely limited market options” for critical services.
during the 2022 bidding process, the Assad regime revoked licenses of other security firms, leaving U.N. agencies with onyl two options meeting U.N.standards: Shorouk and ProGuard, another reportedly regime-linked company. Both were classified as “high-risk” suppliers.
Assad’s intelligence services secretly worked to ensure that United Nations contracts continued to flow to Syrian private security firms linked to the regime, even as the country descended into civil war and the firms’ owners allegedly profited from the conflict, according to a cache of internal documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
The documents, from Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate (GID), reveal a coordinated effort to pressure the U.N. to maintain its relationship with companies like Shorouk for Protection, Guarding and Security Services, which provided security for U.N. facilities and personnel. the GID feared that losing these contracts would cut off a vital source of revenue for the regime and allow the U.N. to operate without Syrian oversight.
The intelligence services argued that Syrian security firms were essential to monitoring U.N. activities and preventing espionage. They warned that if the U.N. hired foreign security contractors, it would be unable to monitor its own staff, some of whom, they alleged, were providing intelligence to opposed agencies.
The GID’s strategy involved a combination of pressure and deception. Senior intelligence officers recommended emphasizing to U.N. officials that they had no choice but to rely on Syrian companies, threatening to block visas for foreign security personnel or to deny approval for Syrian employees hired by foreign firms. They also recommended lying to the U.N. about the firms’ connections to the regime,claiming they were independent private enterprises.
The U.N. country team in Syria told ICIJ it had no record of these communications and was unaware of any attempts by Syrian officials to influence the awarding of contracts. Though, U.N.records show that contracts awarded to Shorouk in 2023 and 2024 – the final two years of the Assad regime – were worth more than in any previous years.
The documents also reveal concerns within the regime about the potential for the U.N. to uncover the firms’ ties to the government. The GID instructed the companies to take “thorough security precautions” to conceal the identities of their employees, notably security personnel.
Faisal Mekdad, then Syria’s foreign minister and now vice president, wrote in a memo that the companies “serve as a safeguard against any suspicious activities” by U.N.employees. He argued that allowing non-Syrian security contractors to operate “out of sight of the relevant authorities” would be a security risk.
ICIJ contacted Shorouk’s general manager, Wael al-Haou, who said the company had no knowledge of the GID memos and that its guards “have certainly not and will not spy on” U.N. officials. The U.N. country team told ICIJ it had not identified any incidents of monitoring by Shorouk or other firms.