Muhsen AlMustafa, a researcher assistant at the Omran Center for Strategic Studies, believes that the main objective of this campaign is to recover the looted funds from the party’s financial allocations and resources, after many years of rampant corruption inside the central leadership of the party. He told Syria TV: “It seems that Bashar al-Assad has granted the new deputy secretary-general, Ibrahim al-Hadid, the authority and green light to carry out the investigation, in an attempt to reclaim the stolen funds.”

AlMustafa stressed that the regime seeks through this campaign to portray the party as a transparent institution subject to oversight and evaluation, which strengthens the image of the regime’s government and state institutions in fighting corruption. On whether the anti-corruption campaign is a preemptive step to address internal or external pressures, AlMustafa pointed out that it is not the result of direct internal or external pressure on the party, but stems from Assad’s approach toward tighter control and oversight within it.

He explained: “This campaign is a message to the new members that they are under surveillance and subject to accountability at any time, thereby creating a constant state of apprehension that forces them to work more strictly.” He predicted that the campaign could expand to include all state institutions, with the possibility of appointing a new government within the next two months.

AlMustafa considered that there is a strong connection between exposing corruption and changes in the party leadership. He said: “The investigation came only three months after the formation of a new central leadership of the party. Without this entirely new leadership, corruption could not have been exposed.” He added that the old financially corrupt leadership would never have revealed the violations it committed but would instead have concealed the traces of its corruption.