[2] Although its roots go back to the French mandate period, its current organization was established in 1969.

The military intelligence service, or the Mukhabarat in Arabic, was very influential in Syrian politics.

[5] The MID was also controlled by the former President Bashar al-Assad through the National Security Bureau of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party Central Command.

[6][7] It was divided into eleven branches: The MID was responsible for providing intelligence on foreign and internal threats to the deposed Government of Syria, the former Syrian Armed Forces or the national security of Syria.

It was suspected of providing logistic and material support to different Palestinian or Lebanese radical groups.