Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

John Taylor Holmes (born 22 July 1949) is a former

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer who served as

Director Special Forces Director Special Forces (DSF) is the senior British Armed Forces officer responsible for Special Forces. The post is a senior role within the Ministry of Defence (MoD). As Director, the incumbent is responsible for the provision of United Kingdom S ...

from 1999 to 2001, which included command of Operation Barras in September 2000.

Military career

Holmes was commissioned into the Scots Guards in 1970.Biography at Spoke
/ref> In 1972 he was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

for service in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. He transferred to 22

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...

in 1974 and was

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the Regiment from 1989 to 1992. He then commanded the Airborne Brigade for three years. He worked for the

Supreme Allied Commander Europe The Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The commander is ...

before being appointed

in 1999. He was promoted to

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in 2001 and became General Officer Commanding 4th Division before retiring in 2002.

Retirement

In 2002, he joined ''Inkerman'', a security and risk management company. He is a Director of ''

Erinys International Erinys International is a British private security company registered in the British Virgin Islands. The Group operational HQ is in Dubai, UAE and other offices are in Andover, Hampshire (Erinys UK Ltd) and Johannesburg (Erinys South Africa Ltd). E ...

'', and the founder ''Titon International UK''. Maj-Gen Holmes joined the British Syrian Society (BSS) in January 2018. The BSS was set up, and is run, by

Fawaz Akhras Fawas Akhras ( ar, فواز أخرس) (born September 1946) is a Syrian–English cardiologist known for being the father-in-law of Bashar al-Assad and chairman of the British Syrian Society. Biography Akhras qualified in medicine in 1973. Akh ...

, the British-based father-in-law of President

Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...

. "It doesn’t mean I support the actions of President Assad and the Syrian government", Holmes told ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

''. "I believe in dialogue . . . Perhaps it he BSSis not the ideal vehicle for that, but at the moment it’s the only vehicle".

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, John 1949 births Living people British Army major generals British military personnel of The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Officers of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Military Cross Scots Guards officers Special Air Service officers