The Military Intelligence Directorate (MID; ) is the military intelligence service of Syria. Although its roots go back to the French mandate period, its current organization was established in 1969. Its predecessor organisation was called the Deuxième Bureau (the Second Bureau). It is headquartered at the Defense Ministry building in Damascus. The military intelligence service, or the Mukhabarat in Arabic, is very influential in Syrian politics.

Organization

The Military Intelligence Directorate is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense. The MID is also controlled by the President Bashar al-Assad through the National Security Bureau of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party Central Command. It is divided into ten branches:

Responsibility

The MID is responsible for providing intelligence on foreign and internal threats to the Government of Syria, the Syrian Armed Forces or the national security of Syria. The service also monitors opponents of the government inside/outside Syria. MID is both a foreign intelligence and a military security/counterintelligence service. During the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, the Mukhabarat exercised political authority in Lebanon. After Cedar Revolution and Syrian withdrawal in 2005, it ended. It is suspected of providing logistic and material support to different Palestinian or Lebanese radical groups.

Directors

Regional Directors

Paramilitary units

Other Syrian intelligence agencies