Syria’s long-serving foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, was buried on Monday, after dying earlier in the day, at age 79, due to unrevealed causes, according to Syrian officials.
He was laid to rest after a small funeral in the capital, Damascus, attended by senior Foreign Ministry officials, the assistant secretary general of the Baath Party, ministers and lawmakers.
Syrian state media said al-Moallem, “known for his honourable national positions in various political and diplomatic arenas,” died at dawn on Monday, but did not reveal the cause of death.
In March 2014, al-Moallem underwent heart surgery after he was rushed to a Beirut hospital from neighbouring Syria.
Al-Moallem, known for his calm and soft-spoken voice, served as Syria’s ambassador to the United States from 1990 until 1999.
He has been Syria’s foreign minister since 2006. He was also named deputy prime minister in 2012, and had been in charge of both portfolios since then.
Al-Maollem was regarded as the country’s top diplomat and was known for his loyalty to Syria’s ruling al-Assad family.
Born in 1941, he studied economics at Cairo University in Egypt and graduated in 1963.
He started working at Syria’s Foreign Ministry in 1964 and served in several diplomatic missions abroad.
