An investigative report from European journalists has unearthed a shoddy network facilitating flights between Athens and Damascus in 2023, a time when no European flights were going to the Syrian capital.
The investigation, presented as a co-publication between Voxeurop, the Mediterranean Institute for Investigative Journalism (MIIR), SIRAJ (Syria), Daraj (Lebanon), and L’Espresso (Italy), revealed a network that involved sanctioned arms traffickers, a fugitive drug lord and opaque shell firms.
The airline in question through the investigation is Air Mediterranean, which saw on 30 June 2025 the first passenger flight from Athens to the Syrian capital since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
The flight was greeted by a delegation which, according to social media posts, included the Greek Ambassador to Syria, Emmanuel Kakavelakis (who recently served as Consul General of Greece in Melbourne).
Also among the delegation (and who behaved like a representative of the airline) was Mohamad Majd Deiry, a businessman who has been wanted by the FBI since 2021 for illegal arms trafficking and money laundering.
Deiry’s name is included in the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list and, according to them, Deiry, along with his Lebanese associate Samer Rayya and their company, Black Shield, has at least since 2015 “brokered weapons deals and offered air transport services in the Middle East and Africa” with the use of shell companies in Cyprus (S. Group Airlines Ltd, Centuronic Ltd) and in Turkey.
Deiry appeared in Greece in 2018 and declared himself to be a permanent resident with an address similar to that of the “Aliens & Migration Directorate of the Southern Sector”.
Air Mediterranean’s origins
Air Mediterranean’s story dates back to 1 September 2015 when it was established by Hamad Ali Al-Thani (one of the founders of Qatar Airways) and the Greek-Lebanese brothers Fadi Elias Hallak and Andreas Hallak.
The two brothers are sons of prominent businessman George Hallak, who has been known to the Greek political elite since the time former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou was in office.
George Hallak himself does not appear in the company’s documents, though his wife Nada appears to be serving as president.
The two Hallak brothers established at least two companies in Cyprus to serve the aircraft leasing and purchasing needs, as well as the management of Air Mediterranean, called Pantrelalo Trading Limited (which holds 74.993% of the airline’s shareholding), and GMT Aviation Limited (which owns 18.872%).
The two brothers are also shareholders in GMT Aviation Limited, along with Libank and Blue Air Leasing (interests of the third founder of the airline, Al-Thani).
Two former New Democracy MPs have served as directors of the company, with Alexandros Moraitakis assuming the position on 10 July from former Deputy Minister of Finance Petros Doukas (who appears to have commenced the role on 17 February 2023 when he was still serving as mayor of Sparta).
A Red Notice was notably issued by Interpol on 17 April 2024 for George and Andreas Hallak at the request of the Lebanese authorities, though it made no mention of Fadi who, according to media reports and other information examined by Voxeurop and its partners, has been in open conflict with his family since 2022.
According to Interpol’s notice, however, the charges could carry a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
It remains unknown whether the Greek authorities have responded to the request for the provisional arrest and extradition of the Hallaks to Lebanon.
The take-off
The airline began with the goal of providing high-end passenger and cargo services between Europe, the Middle East, and North Africae.
The first passenger flight took place on 2 November 2017 with its activity remaining limited until 2019, focusing on charter flights to limited cities including the likes of Larnaca, London, Baghdad, and Jeddah.
In November 2021, George Hallak travelled to Syria in one of several trips he made as a diplomatic envoy of Guyana’s president.
As well as his ties with Guyana, George Hallak maintained a relationship with Panama until 2023, where he had set up an anonymous offshore company called Fang, named after the real estate investment company he has owned since 2003 in Greece.
It was around that time Air Mediterranean began considering operating routes to Syria, at a time when other European airlines were not doing so due to the war and existing sanctions.
In September 2022, Syrian Eyad Esleem, a man who reportedly was on good terms with Assad’s wider circle, settles in Athens and starts working for Air Mediterranean as a commercial manager.
Esleem also acted as the mandated representative of Freebird Travel Agency (Al-Tair Al-Hurr for Tourism), which, as set out in the “General Agency for the Sale of Passenger and Cargo Transport Services” contract signed by the two companies on 28 September 2022, would be the sole agency issuing tickets for Air Mediterranean in Syria for one year.
Things developed and led to Air Mediterranean operating on 9 March the first passenger flight from a European carrier to Damascus since 2012.
The agreement between Freebird and Air Mediterranean raises many eyebrows, given that the former belongs to the Al-Daj Group which is run by Syrian-Libyan businessmen Mahmoud Al-Daj (who has strong ties to the Assad regime, for which he provided supporting services).
Through the Al-Daj Group, illegal transactions such as the transfer of arms, mercenaries, and drugs between eastern Libya under General Haftar and Syria were allegedly facilitated.
Mahmoud Al-Daj and his company, Al-Ta’ir, are behind the coordination of operations to transport illegal shipments of the Captagon drug to Libya.
Greek authorities even seized a cargo of Captagon and cannabis worth over $100 million from the ship Noka off the coast of Crete on 12 May 2018.
The contract between Freebird and Air Mediterranean for the Athens–Damascus flights was signed by Al-Daj and Andreas Hallak.
Although the Greek authorities have been aware of Al-Daj’s criminal activities, the company Free Bird Hellas SA was established in Athens on 24 May 2023.
According to the Greek business registry, the company’s founders are Eyad Esleem and Mahmoud Daj.
Daj is listed as a ‘businessman of Syrian nationality’ and is registered with a Greek VAT number and a residence address in Glyfada, an Athenian suburb. The company, described as a travel agency, would remain in operation until April 2024.
Air Mediterranean’s flights to and from Damascus continued weekly from March until October 2023.
According to data collected from Flightradar24, the airline operated 18 flights between Damascus and Benghazi between May and July 2023, and 52 flights from Benghazi to Athens between December 2022 and July 2023 (but not vice versa).
However, it is unclear exactly who the airline served, and how it could guarantee that it would not carry “individuals who collaborated with the Syrian regime or were on the US sanctions list”, as operations director Marios Samprakos assured.
In Greece, the Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that Air Mediterranean had provided the necessary documentation to obtain a licence to operate flights. However, they added that they are not responsible for checking passengers or goods entering or transiting the country.
Hallak Civil War
As mentioned earlier, a rift broke out among the Hallak family that is highlighted by a letter allegedly drafted by Fadi Elias Hallak wherein he refers to the Board of Directors of Air Mediterranean taking unilateral actions against him, which he believes have harmed him financially.
Fadi, who is no longer a board member of Air Mediterranean, also accuses the management of not allowing him access to company records, and accuses his brother, father and their associates of “cooking and faking the financial and operational books and records of Air Mediterranean throughout flight operations since 2017”.
He claims that the “cargo dangerous goods manifest is misrepresented, and the real data is hidden from all authorities”, and denounces “serious breaches of financial, fiduciary, safety, security, and operational duties”.
The investigative report notes they contacted Fadi, who confirmed the existence of the letter and informed us that he has taken court and extrajudicial action against the company, of which he remains an indirect shareholder.
He further stated: “In my effort since January 2022, through the judicial institutions and the independent authorities in Greece and Cyprus, to bring out the truth about the way Air Mediterranean operates, I have so far encountered only inexplicable dead ends.”
“I now hope that the illegal acts and those responsible for the actions of this airline will be revealed, and that the leaders of the judiciary will be mobilised to fulfil their not-so-self-evident duty.”
According to lawyers involved in the case, the information and allegations made by Fadi Hallak in his letter have been received by a deputy prosecutor of appeals, who is looking into forwarding them to the Anti-Money Laundering Authority.
The Athens Public Prosecutor’s Office also has the letter in its possession following a lawsuit by a Greek state public body and is expected to verify the allegations made by Fadi Hallak. No known developments in the case were available prior to publication.
Latest Developments
Air Mediterranean’s flights to Syria were suspended in October 2023, shortly before EU sanctions on Al-Daj and his companies came into effect on 22 January 2024.
Flights to Damascus resumed a month ago and are currently operating through another agency, Almera Travel & Tourism.
Deiry, a wanted FBI fugitive weapons smuggler, is making public appearances in Damascus amid the new political and social environment now emerging in the country.
The Hallak civil war is still raging while the Red Notice issued for George and Andrew Hallak has not been enforced.
It remains unclear what Greek and European authorities are doing to ensure that the Greek carrier and its partners, as well as other airline companies, stay out of illegal activities and that passenger safety is not compromised.
Al-Daj’s whereabouts remain unknown.
In subsequent updates from original publication, the report noted several requests for reply and clarifications issued to Air Mediterranean and George and Andreas Hallak went unanswered.
Since its initial publication in Greece, MIIR and EfSyn received a judicial warning from Air Mediterranean and George and Andreas Hallak, who deny any connection with Mohamad Majd Deiry, reject the accusations of fraud and embezzlement in the Libank affair, and admit to their collaboration with Mahmoud Al-Daj.
