Rami Makhlouf has posted three videos online in a month, complaining about his treatment Russian businessmen close to Putin must also have their eyes on contracts that Makhlouf might have regarded as his own.

His companies are accused of owing $180m (£147m; 165m euros) in back taxes. In his most recent video, posted on Sunday, Makhlouf apologised to his staff. These are external links and will open in a new windowIn his most recent video, shared on Sunday, Rami Makhlouf stares at the lens, speaking quietly, almost whispering some sentences.

The attempt failed. In an interview with the New York Times in 2011, when the war was gathering pace, he said that Syria's ruling elite - the Assads, the Makhloufs and a few close associates - would fight until the end: "They should know when we suffer, we will not suffer alone." Assad believed the Rami Makhlouf is thought to have tried in 2004 to take over the Makhlouf's current business interests are extensive, which include business interests in Syria’s oil and gas industries, banking, construction and duty-free shops.On 5 July 2012, it was reported that the Central Bank of the Political observers generally accept that Makhlouf's great wealth is a result of his close family ties to the Syrian government.

The Syrian government has ordered the "precautionary seizure" of assets belonging to prominent tycoon Rami Makhlouf, his wife and children, according to a document seen by Reuters. His wife, Anisa Makhlouf, came from a wealthier background than Hafez, who rose from poverty via the air force and the Baath Party. He was known to be an extremely calm person. Rami Makhlouf is a Syrian businessman and the maternal cousin of president Bashar al-Assad. Hafez was intensely suspicious, and determined to be the only ambitious Syrian officer to seize the presidency. His brother Hafez used to head the General Intelligence Directorate, the most important agency dealing with internal threats to the regime. The Syrian government has ordered the seizure of assets belonging to Bashar al-Assad's cousin, the business tycoon Rami Makhlouf, as well as those of his wife … On April 30, Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of President Bashar al-Assad and a member of the regime’s inner circle, made an unprecedented social media appearance that … Makhlouf has not lost the sheen of wealth. Rami Makhlouf has been under severe pressure from a regime in which he was once a kingpin. He surrounded himself with men from his own Alawite sect, but his own family were at the heart of the system he built. As his sons took down photos from Instagram that celebrated their lavish lifestyles, Makhlouf shared on Facebook a correspondence that claimed to be an offer to pay what was owed.But it is increasingly clear that his estranged cousin, Bashar, is after much more of the multi-billion dollar Makhlouf business empire than a relatively trifling sum in back taxes.Syria's coffers are bare after almost a decade of war that has destroyed much of the country.

The EU imposed sanctions on Rami Makhlouf in 2011, saying he "bankrolled" the Assad regime Those are your people, your supporters." The theory goes that Assad does not want to lose Putin's protection, and Rami Makhlouf is an obvious sacrifice because for many Syrians he is a symbol of the corruption that runs root and branch through the country. Bashar's father Hafez, the first President Assad, made Syria into a family business after he took sole power in 1970. Some say he had become too big and too rich for his boots. He is a man who will never be poor, rare in Syria where the UN says 80% of the population live in poverty, almost 10 million do not have enough to eat and half have lost their homes because of the war. They're about the same age, in their early 50s, and were childhood friends. Syriatel is Syria's biggest telecommunication company, with 11m subscribers In the videos Makhlouf's jacket looks expensive and Italian, as he sits in a corner of his home in front of an artfully stacked pile of olivewood ready for next winter. For a man of his means, that is not a lot of money. They have two sons, Mohammad and Ali. He paid for the Makhlouf was able to continue unimpeded operations through the shell companies,Rami Makhlouf was seen by the rebels as a symbol of corruption in Syria.

But if what he says in the videos is correct - and this week he offered the world his third - the power has gone.