Makhlouf was sanctioned by the European Union,[1] U.S. Treasury,[2] and UK Treasury[3] for violence against the civilian population during the Syrian uprisings, and for helping Rami Makhlouf or the Syrian government evade sanctions.
[2] Ihab Makhlouf was the vice-chairman of Syriatel, the Syrian mobile phone company owned by his brother Rami Makhlouf.
[4] He resigned from Syriatel in 2020 when his brother Rami Makhlouf fell into dispute with the Syrian government, pledging loyalty to the Bashar al-Assad government.
[5] In 2020 the Syrian government awarded Ihab Makhlouf and his partner Kuwaiti businessman and former MP Abdul-Hamid Dashti a contract to operate Syria's duty-free shops.
[6][7] Makhlouf was shot to death on 7 December 2024 as he and a number of others, including his brother Iyad, were trying to flee Damascus after the city's fall into Syrian opposition hands; Iyad was wounded in the shooting.