Her father is on the sanctions list. The United Nations employs the daughter of Bashar al-Assad's intelligence chief in one of its offices

The British newspaper "Financial Times" revealed that the United Nations has employed the daughter of Major General Hossam Louka, head of the General Intelligence Department of the Syrian regime, in one of its offices operating in the area controlled by the Bashar al-Assad regime, which sparked a wave of anger among Syrians on social media.

The newspaper had conducted an investigation on the operations of the UN organization in the areas controlled by the Syrian regime, which included reference to its cooperation with its security services, and its provision of funding to the regime indirectly.

The British newspaper enumerated examples of this, including the imposition of the system on United Nations employees to stay in the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus;

He is one of the businessmen close to Assad, who are covered by Western sanctions, and who paid huge sums of money for this residence.

The Syrian regime also forces international aid agencies to exchange dollars at the rate of the Syrian Central Bank, which is much lower than its price in the parallel market, so that this large difference supports the treasury's foreign exchange reserves.

As part of what the newspaper revealed, the United Nations employed the daughter of Major General Hossam Louka, in the Central Emergency Response Fund office, a girl in her twenties, but the newspaper did not mention her name.

Luke heads the General Intelligence Department, and before that he was the head of the Political Security Division. He was also one of the first to be included in the sanctions list, due to his participation in torturing demonstrators and the civilian population. His name was also mentioned in the US sanctions under the "Caesar" law.

Syrian anger and sarcasm

The details mentioned in the investigation - foremost of which was the appointment of Major General Luke's daughter by the UN organization - angered and ridiculed Syrians on social media, which was followed by the episode of the "Shabakat" program on (3/9/2023).

And from that, what Omar Al-Hariri tweeted, who wrote, "Today, the scandal of hiring Hussam Louka's daughter as responsible for determining the parties worthy of receiving support ... and of course no one will apologize, but her employment will be considered completely independent."

Meanwhile, Nabil Najjar regretted what Taghoul considered the principle of nepotism, when volunteering with relief organizations and associations, and tweeted, "Unfortunately, all organizations and associations, even in the north, if you want to volunteer in Syria completely free of charge, you need nepotism, because they consider that you will gain experience and strengthen your CV."

While Salam interacted with the news by calling on all Syrians in the West to organize themselves and take part in demonstrations "in capitals of decision-making and to expose what the United Nations is doing."

Whereas, "Syria's son" contented himself with mocking the news by tweeting, "The treacherous nations guarantee that all aid will go to the pocket of Bashar, his aides, and his relatives."

As for the account that bore the name "Newgather", he saw that the girl had no relationship with her father, but the problem, from his point of view, was if she exploited her job to politically influence humanitarian work.

This journalistic investigation was not the first of its kind to monitor practices that reflect the United Nations' cooperation with the Bashar regime. In 2016, the New York Times reported that the United Nations World Health Organization appointed the wife of Faisal al-Miqdad, the Syrian deputy foreign minister. At the time, she was a consultant for a project that seeks to assess the problems that the displaced Syrians suffer from and their mental and psychological conditions.

In the same year, the British newspaper The Guardian obtained documents that showed that the United Nations employs dozens of friends and relatives of Assad regime officials in its humanitarian aid programs in Syria.

On the other hand, the United Nations commented on these reports, through a spokesperson, that family kinship is not taken into account or investigated when hiring employees, nor does the United Nations ask members of its staff about their political affiliations.