The Assad regime's top diplomat Walid al-Moallem, a career diplomat who became one of the country's most prominent faces to the outside world during the uprising against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, died on Monday. He was 79.
Al-Moallem was a close confidant of Assad known for his loyalty and hard-line position against the opposition
A short and portly man with white hair, his health was said to be deteriorating in recent years. The state-run SANA news agency reported his death, without immediately offering a cause.
Muallem, 79, has been the regime's foreign minister since Feb. 11, 2006.
He has been noted as one of the Bashar al-Assad regime's biggest supporters of Syria's civil war.
Born in the capital Damascus in 1941, Muallem was Syria's ambassador to the United States from 1990-1999.
He was appointed as Syria's ambassador to Washington in 1990, spending nine years in the U.S. During that time Syria held several rounds of peace talks with Israel.
After the uprising against Assad began in March 2011, al-Moallem was tasked with holding news conferences in Damascus to defend the government's position. He traveled regularly to Moscow and Iran, key backers of the Assad regime, to meet with officials there.
Al-Moallem's last public appearance was at the opening of an international refugee conference last Wednesday in Damascus, when he appeared to be in ill health. The following day, he did not attend the closing ceremony of the event, which was co-hosted with Russia.
Al-Moallem is survived by his wife, Sawsan Khayat and three children, Tarek, Shatha and Khaled. He will be buried on Monday afternoon and prayers will be held at a mosque in Damascus.
