"Syrian spy chiefs deployed to foreign capitals?"

Syrian intelligence chiefs made discreet visits to London, Rome, Paris, Beijing and possibly Pyongyang in recent days, according to a new report, ...... The reasons for dispatching his senior intelligence officials abroad are not clear, but according to the Paris-based Intelligence Online newsletter, “Syrian intelligence services have been engaged in intensive diplomatic activity of late.” Gen. Ali Mamlouk, an Assad intimate and head of Syria’s General Intelligence service, made an unannounced trip to London from Nov. 16 through 20, said the subscription-only newsletter. At his side was Gen. Tha’er al-Omar, described as head of the service’s anti-terrorism component, and Gen. Hafez Makhlouf, the head if its internal branch, “who was traveling outside Syria for the first time.” U.K. officials “shrouded the visit in absolute secrecy,” IO reported, citing sources in Damascus. Mamlouk went on to Paris on Nov. 22 to lay the groundwork for an upcoming visit by Assad. In London, presumably, the Syrians met with their U.K. counterparts who, like the CIA, have found common ground with Damascus in combating al-Qaeda and its allies. Mamlouk was said to have also met with lawyers from Matrix Chambers, who have been defending the regime during the U.N. inquiry into the assassination of Rafic Hariri....... Just as Mamlouk was leaving London, meanwhile, another General Intelligence official, Gen. Bassam Merhej, described as “director of Assad’s security and military bureau,” was arriving in China. “His real destination was probably Pyongyang ..."