The beginning of the end for Rami Makhlouf started when his aunt, Anisa Makhlouf, the mother of Bashar Al-Assad, passed away. This resulted in the leadership in the Republican Palace shifting from Anisa Makhlouf to Asma Al-Assad, who seems to be working on restructuring the Syrian economy.
Iraqi leader Muqtada al-Sadr uses the term “pulling the ear” as a threat to his opponents, and indeed his loyalists have begun practicing direct and public violence against his critics.
