{{Short description|Syrian politician (born 1947)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder |image = |order = |office = Member of the [[Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Central Command]] of the [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Syrian Regional Branch of the Baath Party]] |term_start = 22 April 2017 |term_end = 4 May 2024 |office1 = [[Ministry of Information (Syria)|Minister of Information]] |prime_minister1 = [[Muhammad Naji al-Otari|Mohammad Naji Al Otari]] |president1 = [[Bashar al-Assad]] |term_start1 = 4 October 2004 |term_end1 = February 2006 |predecessor1 = [[Ahmad Hassan (Syrian politician)|Ahmad Hassan]] |successor1 = [[Mohsen Bilal]] |birth_name = Mahdi Hamdan Dakhlallah |birth_date = {{birth year and age|1947}} |birth_place = |death_date = |death_place = |spouse = |children = |party = [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Syrian Regional Branch]] of the [[Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction)|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party]] |alma_mater = [[Zagreb University]] }} '''Mahdi Dakhlallah''' ({{langx|ar|مهدي دخل الله}}; born 1947) is a Syrian Ba'ath party politician and diplomat. He served at different positions, including editor-in-chief, information minister and ambassador.
==Early life and education== Dakhlallah was born into a Sunni family in the [[Daraa Governorate]] in 1947.<ref name=land8oct>{{cite news|author=Joshua Landis|work=Syria Comment|title=Asad's Alawi dilemma|url=http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/syriablog/2004/10/asads-alawi-dilemma.htm|access-date=24 February 2013|date=8 October 2004}}</ref> He studied politics at [[Zagreb University]] in [[former Yugoslavia]] and received a bachelor's degree.<ref name=land8oct/> He also holds a Ph.D. in development which he obtained from the same university.<ref name=land8oct/>
==Career== Dakhlallah is a member of the [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Syrian Regional Branch]] of the [[Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction)|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party]] and is known for his reformist and liberal views.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Sami Moubayed|title=The faint smell of jasmine|journal=Al Ahram Weekly|volume=744|date=June 2005|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/744/re3.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130325171127/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/744/re3.htm|archive-date=25 March 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Raymond Hinnebusch|title=The Ba'th Party in Post-Ba'thist Syria: President, Party and the Struggle for 'Reform'|journal=[[Middle East Critique]]|year=2011|volume=20|issue=2|pages=109–125|doi=10.1080/19436149.2011.572408|s2cid=144573563}}</ref>
Dakhlallah served in various governmental positions. He worked in the research section at the National Leadership Council (Arabic: Qiyada Qawmya) from 1983 to 2001.<ref name=land8oct/> Then he was charged with the writing the speeches for [[Abdullah al-Ahmar|Abdullah Al Ahmar]], who was assistant secretary-general of the party.<ref name=land8oct/> Next, Dakhlallah served as the editor-in-chief of ''[[Al Baath]]'', official daily of the party, from 2002 to 2004.<ref name=blanford04>{{cite news|author=Nicholas Blanford|title=Censors ease up on Syrian press|location=Damascus |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1228/p06s01-wome.html|access-date=24 February 2013|work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]|date=28 November 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Albert Aji|title=Syria ousts 8 Cabinet ministers in shakeup|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|location=Damascus |url=http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/10/05/syria_ousts_8_cabinet_ministers_in_shakeup/|date=5 October 2004|agency=AP |access-date=24 February 2013}}</ref> He published two editorials entitled "Reform: Political or Economic?" and "Developing the Social Foundation: Much Work Awaits", in the daily in 2003 and 2004, arguing that both the role and influence of the Ba'ath party should have been reduced.<ref>{{cite book|author=Flynt Lawrence Leverett|title=Inheriting Syria: Bashar's Trial by Fire|publisher=Brookings Institution Press |url=https://archive.org/details/inheritingsyria00flyn|url-access=registration|year=2005|isbn=978-0-8157-5206-6|location=Washington, DC|pages=[https://archive.org/details/inheritingsyria00flyn/page/97 97]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Editor-in-Chief of Syrian Ba'ath Daily in Favor of Political Reform|journal=MEMRI|date=7 August 2003|volume=549|url=http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/923.htm}}</ref> He also called for significant democratic reforms in his editorials.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Ammar Abdulhamid|title=Media Reform in Syria: A Door Ajar?|pages=14–15|journal=Arab Reform Bulletin|date=December 2004|volume=2|issue=11|url=https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/2008/09/media-reform-in-syria-a-door-ajar?lang=en}}</ref>
Dakhlallah was named as the information minister on 4 October 2004, replacing [[Ahmad Hassan (Syrian politician)|Ahmad Hassan]] in the post.<ref>{{cite news|author=Joshua Landis|title=What Does the New Syrian Cabinet Portend?|url=http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/syriablog/2004/10/what-does-new-syrian-cabinet-portend_05.htm|access-date=24 February 2013|newspaper=Syria Comment|date=5 October 2004}}</ref><ref name=Ziser2007>{{cite book|author=Eyāl Zîser|title=Commanding Syria: Bashar Al-Asad and the First Years in Power|location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pVovmiI-ijQC&pg=PA69|year=2007|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-153-3|page=69}}</ref> Dakhlallah was in office until February 2006 when he was succeeded by [[Mohsen Bilal]] in a cabinet reshuffle.<ref>{{cite news|title=Assad reshuffles Syrian government|url=http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2006/02/11/Assad-reshuffles-Syrian-government/UPI-38851139673454/|access-date=24 February 2013|work=UPI|date=11 February 2006|location=Damascus}}</ref> During his term, Dakhlallah urged the Syrian journalists to adopt a bolder approach.<ref name=blanford04/> In addition, media outlets ended the use of the word ''rafiq'' that means ''Comrade'' in English while referring to the Ba'ath leaders except for the party's official daily ''Al Baath'' during his term.<ref name=Ziser2007/> In 2005, Dakhlallah publicly said "Syrian newspapers were unreadable.", and he forced Syria's chief censor to resign.<ref name=kraidy6may>{{cite journal|issue=4 |author=Marwan M. Kraidy|url=https://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/184|title=Syria: Media Reform and Its Limitations|journal=Arab Reform Bulletin|date=May 2006|volume=4}}</ref> Dakhlallah also stated that Syrian media were in a transition period from "dirigiste media" to "media with a purpose",<ref name=kraidy6may/> and that constitutions should not be regarded as holy entities and therefore, were subject to modification.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/737/re4.htm|author=Sami Moubayed|title=What Syria wants|journal=Al Ahram Weekly|date=7–13 April 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130326185426/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/737/re4.htm|volume=737|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 March 2013}}</ref>
Dakhlallah headed the Strategic Studies Center at Regional Leadership until 2009.<ref>{{cite news|title=Dr. Mahdi Dakhlallah is Syria's ambassador to Saudi|url=http://sns.sy/sns/?path=/news/read/5312&layout=print|access-date=24 February 2013|work=SNS|date=1 October 2009|archive-date=11 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211114140/http://sns.sy/sns/?path=/news/read/5312&layout=print|url-status=dead}}</ref> In October 2009, he was appointed Syrian ambassador to [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Syrian Ambassador to Kuwait sworn in before President Al Assad|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Syrian+Ambassador+to+Kuwait+sworn+in+before+President+Al-Assad.-a0212391479|access-date=24 February 2013|work=KUNA|date=25 October 2009|location=Damascus}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=[[Ahmad Hassan (Syrian politician)|Ahmad Hassan]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Ministry of Information (Syria)|Minister of Information]]|years=2004 – 2006}} {{s-aft|after=[[Mohsen Bilal]]}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dakhlallah, Mahdi}} [[Category:20th-century diplomats]] [[Category:21st-century journalists]] [[Category:21st-century Syrian politicians]] [[Category:1947 births]] [[Category:Ambassadors of Syria to Saudi Arabia]] [[Category:Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Zagreb alumni]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Members of the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region]] [[Category:People from Daraa Governorate]] [[Category:Ministers of information of Syria]] [[Category:Syrian political journalists]] [[Category:Syrian Sunni Muslims]]