Talal Shafiq Makhlouf is a relative of Bashar Al-Assad and an important leader in the Syrian Arab Army. Makhlouf is the Commander of the Syrian Arab Army. He joined the Syrian Army and quickly rose through its ranks due to his membership in the Makhlouf family, of which Assad is also a member of on his maternal side.

With the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011, Talal Makhlouf commanded the Republican Guard’s 105th Brigade at the rank of Brigadier General. Makhlouf played a prominent role in the repression and killing of the unarmed protesters taking part in peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins in Douma and Harasta in the Damascus countryside as well as in Nawa in the Daraa province. 

Makhlouf is responsible for all the crimes committed by the 105th Brigade in particular and the Republican Guard in general, including the killing of thousands of residents of Aleppo, Homs, Damascus and the Damascus countryside in the eastern Ghouta, western Ghouta and Wadi Barada, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of others.