Washington - (AFP) - The US State Department announced Thursday that the net worth of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family is estimated at between one and two billion dollars, despite US efforts to isolate him because of his role in the war in his country.

The ministry said in a report it prepared at the request of Congress and published part of it Thursday, while keeping the rest secret, that it can only provide an “inaccurate estimate” of this wealth because it believes that the Assad family owns assets under fictitious names or through vague real estate deals.

According to the public part of the report, "estimates based on open source information generally place the net worth of the Assad family between $1 and $2 billion."
The ministry added, citing non-governmental and media reports, that the Assad family runs a "complex sponsorship system that includes front companies and front companies that the regime uses as a tool to access financial resources."

She explained that this wealth is owned by the Syrian president, his wife, brother, sister, cousins, aunts and uncles, and most of them are subject to US sanctions.

She added that she did not have enough information about the net worth of the three sons of the Syrian president, the youngest of whom is 17 years old.
The US Congress imposed sanctions on Assad and his family members to prevent them from conducting financial transactions, at a time when the Syrian regime regained control of most of the country after a decade-long war that left nearly half a million people dead.

The United States called for Assad and the pillars of his regime to be held accountable, but the Syrian president is gradually regaining his place in the region, especially since the United Arab Emirates received him in March on his first official visit to an Arab country since the outbreak of war in his country.