Khaberni - "The Magazine" narrates the story of Luna Al-Shabal, her relationship with Bashar Al-Assad, and the details of her "murder" in July 2024, and the disappearance of her brother Milhem and his wife in April following an Israeli bombardment of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, and the text of a conversation between the commander of "Quds Force" Qasem Soleimani and the director of the Syrian National Security Bureau, Ali Mamlouk.
Luna Al-Shabal was born in Damascus on September 1, 1974, to a Druze family. Her father left due to disputes with her mother Naifa, who worked as an employee in Syria's ruling "Ba'ath Party" and as a teacher in a government school.
Luna severed ties with her father for many years until his death, shortly before her own in July 2024. She lived with her mother in Barzeh, rural Damascus, and was an active member of "Ba'ath Vanguard", the youth organization affiliated with the ruling "Ba'ath Party".
Luna worked in a wedding card design shop while studying French at Damascus University. She graduated and entered Syrian television, presenting a news bulletin before moving to "Al Jazeera" in August 2003, where she met her media colleague Sami Kleib, married him in 2008, and took Lebanese citizenship.
There are conflicting reports about how she met Bashar Al-Assad, whether it was through Qatari mediation or her own initiative. A special relationship developed between them in 2008, and she secretly visited Damascus to meet him, before appearing on private Syrian channel "Dunya" in December 2011 to announce her resignation from "Al Jazeera" on May 5, 2010, and her desire to put her "expertise" at the disposal of the Syrian regime.
Her work began in the National Security Office, which was later headed by General Ali Mamlouk, before she moved to the presidency in February 2012, in charge of the media office managed by Bouthaina Shaaban, where a fierce struggle emerged between them for Assad's favor. Luna worked against Shaaban, ousted her and most of those close to him, "took control" of him, and came closer to Asma Al-Assad. She played a mediation role in several files, including lengthy meetings with Khaled Meshaal, the head of the political bureau of "Hamas" before he left Damascus.
Is it logical for Luna Al-Shabal to leave $10,000 for 500,000 Syrian pounds? She's a spy
Qasem Soleimani warning Assad's advisers
However, Maher, the commander of the "Fourth Division" in the "Republican Guard" and Bashar's brother, refused her entry into his councils even after her marriage to Ammar Sa'ati in 2016, although Sa'ati was "counted" among Maher's roles including his presidency of the "Student Union" in universities.
According to insiders and information from "The Magazine", Maher and Qasem Soleimani warned Assad's advisers against Luna.
According to a document reviewed by "The Magazine", here is the text of a conversation in Arabic between Qasem Soleimani and Ali Mamlouk, director of the Syrian National Security Bureau, as she exited his office during Soleimani's entry into the security official's office at the end of 2019:
Text of a conversation between Qasem Soleimani and Ali Mamlouk, director of the Syrian National Security Bureau:
* Soleimani: Who is this?
- Mamlouk: This is Luna Al-Shabal, an adviser to Mr. President.
* Soleimani: I know, I know, but who is she really? Where did she work?
- At "Al Jazeera".
* And how much was her salary?
- I don't know.
* I'll tell you... $10,000. And how much is her salary today?
- I don't know.
* I'll tell you... 500,000 Syrian pounds, so is it plausible that she left $10,000 for 500,000 Syrian pounds? She's a spy. (He said it in the masculine because he was speaking in Arabic)
Yet, Assad brought her closer, appointed her as a media advisor, and issued a presidential decree for her position. Asma brought her closer and made her a member of the board of trustees at private "Al-Manara" university, before becoming angry with her and starting to exclude her from early 2023. This coincided with the earthquake in northwest Syria in February 2023 when Asma requested that Luna become a "special" advisor to her, not to Bashar, and hence began the "systematic downscaling" process that led to her death.
Luna used to tell her close associates, "I must be the first lady," and when Asma was diagnosed with cancer for the second time in May 2024, she added, "God willing, she dies."
A year before, her wealth began appearing through buying properties worth 8 million dollars in Dubai, according to her friends, in addition to her husband, Ammar, owning a car rental company in Dubai and a gas station on the Syrian coast.
In June 2022, she established a luxurious Russian restaurant in the Mezzeh area named "Nash Krai", reportedly bought by Assad for her, then sold to businessman Abu Ali Khadr at many times the price, to get closer to her and to Assad. From this door, Asma began to question her wealth source. In contrast, Luna began spreading rumors that "Mrs. Asma" controlled the levers of the Syrian economy.
All of Luna's properties abroad were registered in the name of Nasrin Mohamed, wife of her brother Milhem Al-Shabal, the former military attaché in Belarus who returned to Damascus at her request and was appointed by her as "representative of the presidency" at the Scientific Research Center, which includes all sensitive military programs in chemical weapons and missiles in cooperation with Iran, North Korea, China, and Russia.
Luna and Milhem shared a hatred for Iran and "Hezbollah" and their organizations, and she openly expressed this hatred to everyone, which led to accusations within the regime and its Iranian allies in Damascus that she was "a spy for Israel," after a series of assassinations against Iranian and Lebanese figures in Damascus.
Luna was involved in a car accident on the Dimas road while returning to her home in "Quraya Al-Assad" on July 2, 2024, which took her to the hospital and led to her death on July 6. However, the car's photo showed mild damage on the armored "BMW" owned by her husband.
Eyewitnesses told "The Magazine" that a car approached her and hit her, and before her companion Ammar could emerge, an unknown person attacked her in a specific area on the back of her head, leading to complete paralysis and then death. She was taken to "Al-Sabboura" clinic near Damascus, and her husband Ammar and Mohammad Hamsho, a businessman close to Maher Al-Assad, attended, then she was moved to Al-Shami hospital, where Ghassan Bilal, Maher Al-Assad's deputy, attended. One of the attendees said, "When the companion Ammar tried to speak about what happened to her, he was arrested immediately in front of the other guards and assistants."
The Syrian presidency announced her death in a brief statement at the time, and a modest funeral was held for her with participation only from Mansour Azzam, the Minister of Presidency at the hospital, and did not extend to the Dahdah cemetery on Baghdad Street, Damascus. Waseem Dahni, the president's office director, and Fares Kallas, the office director for Asma (who had known her for years), participated, in addition to Mohammad Hamsho and Ahmad Kazbari, chairman of the constitutional committee in the People's Council (the parliament).
An eyewitness told "The Magazine": "Luna had two mobile phones. She lost her personal phone, which was later found in a trash can, while another mobile phone remained missing."
Before her death, her brother Milhem along with his wife Nasrin Mohamed were arrested on April 26, 2024, and it was rumored among circles close to Iran in Damascus that "they were working for Israel, and that they had connections with the circumstances of the Iranian delegation targeted on April 1," in Israeli airstrikes that killed seven advisers from the "Revolutionary Guard" including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in "Quds Force" and the foreign arm of the "Guard," amid the escalation initiated by Tel Aviv against Iran's proxies in the region after the October 7, 2023 attacks.
Luna was forced to sell most of her properties before her "accident" and death, and it was said that she received 15 million dollars from businessman Mohammad Baraa Qatrji who was killed days later in the same area as Luna's "accident." Sources in Damascus at the time said that Luna "took the money for Assad but it went into her account."
Milhem was not seen again afterwards, and Luna told her close associates that his "abduction" was a revenge against her because she recorded a video in the autumn of 2012 of Austin Tice, the American journalist who disappeared in Syria, as if he was kidnapped by "ISIS." She told close associates, "Tice saw me during filming and leaked my name to the Israelis" after escaping the "kidnapping" at the end of 2012, and his fate remains unknown. Neither Milhem Al-Shabal nor Austin Tice have been seen since then.
