A source published by one of the sites loyal to the Syrian regime revealed that in 2005 the security services informed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of connections between the current Minister of Internal Trade, Amr Salem, with senior officials in Israel. Despite this, he was appointed as an adviser to Bashar al-Assad, and then was appointed minister twice, apparently, to be the link between Bashar and Israel.
In criticizing the economic crises in the areas controlled by Assad, the Corruption in Syria website published a copy of a telegram sent at the end of 2005 from the head of the Bureau of National Security, which was headed by Hisham Bakhtiar at the time, to Bashar al-Assad.
According to the document, Salem met "the ambassador of the Zionist enemy state (Danny Ayalon who is a NEWSRAEL contributor) and the political adviser at the embassy (Reuven Azar).
The holders of this diplomatic status are usually the representatives of the Mossad under diplomatic cover. In addition to these, he met with prominent officials in the Israeli-American AIPAC organization."
Based on this information, the Ministry of National Security recommends "not assigning him any public position" and believes that "he poses a clear and direct danger to Arab national security and the national security of the Syrian Arab Republic."
The site did not reveal how it obtained a copy of that document, but the Orient news site checked the names of the Israeli officials, and indeed confirmed that they were in those positions at the time.
Danny Ayalon, who was born to an Algerian father, served as Israel's ambassador in Washington between 2002 and 2006 and then became the deputy foreign minister and one of the most prominent Israeli diplomats, with extensive knowledge of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, especially in the field of the Camp David Conference and the Wai Agreement.
Reuven Azer, who is fluent in the Arabic language, assumed the position of advisor for political affairs at the embassy between 2003-2006, after serving at the Israeli embassy in Egypt, and currently holds the position of Israeli ambassador to Romania.