Syria rebuts arrest claim of Assad security chief

Syria's official news agency SANA said on Wednesday that the chief of the country's National Security Bureau Ali Mamlouk had attended a meeting with President Bashar al-Assad, two days after Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that he was under house arrest.

The news agency had also published a photo of the meeting, which also included the head of Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, Alaedin Boroujerdi, rebutting claims that he had been plotting a coup due to his unhappiness with Iran's growing influence in Syria.  

It is uncommon for Syrian media to report on activities of senior intelligence officials.

On Monday, the Telegraph reported that Mamlouk was accused by the Syrian government of contacting countries that support Syria's uprising in addition to exiled Syrian dissidents.

Last month, the chief of the Political Security Directorate, Rustum Ghazaleh, had died reportedly following a physical attack carried out by henchmen loyal to the head of military intelligence, General Rafiq Shehadeh, who was sacked over the incident.

Both Ghazaleh and Mamlouk were reportedly unhappy with the power Iranian officials enjoy in Damascus. Iran, a key ally of Syria's Assad, has been sending military advisors to support his forces.

Syria's civil war began in March 2011 as a peaceful protest movement inspired by the pro-democracy Arab Spring and demanding the removal of Assad, but morphed into a brutal war after pro-Assad forces unleashed a massive crackdown against dissent.

The war has resulted in the deaths of an estimated 220,000 people, and displaced roughly half of the country's population, according to the UN.