1. Walid Mohi Edine al Muallem was a Syrian diplomat and Ba'ath Party member who served as foreign minister from 2006 to 2020 and as deputy prime minister from 2012 to 2020.
20 Facts About Walid Muallem
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Walid Muallem was born into a Sunni family on 13 January 1941 in Damascus.
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Walid Muallem received primary and secondary education in public schools from 1948 to 1960, then obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Cairo University in 1963.
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Walid Muallem began his career at foreign ministry in 1964 and served in Syrian missions to Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Spain and the United Kingdom.
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Walid Muallem served as Syria's Ambassador to Romania from 1975 to 1980.
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Walid Muallem served as Syria's ambassador to the United States from 1990 to 2000, and was present at the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
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Walid Muallem was then named as assistant foreign minister in 2000.
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Walid Muallem was appointed deputy foreign minister in 2005 and given the Lebanese file by president Bashar al-Assad.
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Walid Muallem was appointed as minister of foreign affairs on 11 February 2006 during a cabinet reshuffle in which his predecessor Farouk al-Sharaa became vice-president.
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Walid Muallem was involved in Israeli-Syrian negotiations, both before and during his tenure as foreign minister.
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Early on in the Syrian civil war, Walid Muallem held frequent press conferences with Syrian media and Arab outlets.
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In October 2012, after United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Syria to show compassion in light of the growing humanitarian crisis, Walid Muallem spoke at the United Nations and blamed the United States, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar for "aid[ing] terror" and "blatant interference" in Syria's affairs, mainly by supplying rebel groups with arms and money calling for Bashar al-Assad to step down.
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Walid Muallem called Western concerns over chemical weapons use "a joke" and a pretext for an Iraq War-like campaign.
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Later that month, Walid Muallem rejected calls by Ban to declare a unilateral ceasefire, insisting that governments that "finance, train and deliver weapons to the armed groups, notably Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey" be stopped.
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In January 2014, Walid Muallem participated in the Geneva II Conference on Syria at Montreux.
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Walid Muallem described the opposition as traitors and terrorists in his initial speech while accusing a number of states of supporting terrorism and deliberately attempting to destabilize Syria.
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In February 2016, after Saudi Arabia was planning to send its troops to Syria in order to fight against the Islamic State, Walid Muallem warned that any foreign army soldiers who enter Syria without government consent would "return home in wooden coffins".
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Walid Muallem was married to Sawsan Khayat and had three children, Tarek, Shatha and Khaled.
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Walid Muallem died on the morning of 16 November 2020, at the age of 79, at Shami Hospital in Damascus.
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The cause of his death was not disclosed, but Walid Muallem had been suffering from heart problems for years.