A member of the security forces of Syria’s new authorities walks in the compound of the Fourth Division’s Security Bureau on the outskirts of Damascus on December 21, 2024. © Bakr Alkasem / AFP Investigation by Rouba El Housseini . Additional reporting by Bakr Alkasem and Maher al-Mounes. From a Bond villain lair in the rugged heights overlooking Damascus, the all-seeing eye of a notorious Syrian military unit gazed down on a city it bled dry. Many of the bases of the elite Fourth Division formerly run by toppled president Bashar al-Assad’s feared younger brother Maher now lie looted. But papers left strewn behind reveal how the man they called “The Master” and his cronies wallowed in immense wealth while some of their foot soldiers struggled to feed their families
