Syria's Assad seeks to control economy, goes after cousin

On a summer day last year, presidential guards drove out of the charity organization founded by Syria’s wealthiest businessman and a close cousin of President Bashar Assad, carting away boxes of documents and computers. The confiscated data included names of thousands of militia fighters who have supported the government in the 9-year-old civil war, including salaries they received from Al-Bustan, the charity group founded by Rami Makhlouf. The incident last August was the opening salvo in a crackdown on Makhlouf’s power, signaling the beginning of the end of his role as the Assad family’s top financier.