Hafez al-Assad

Hafez al-Assad (October 6, 1930 - June 10, 2000) was the President of Syria from 1971 to 2000.

Related Topics:
October 6 - 1930 - June 10 - 2000 - Syria - 1971

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Assad was born in rural Syria as part of the minority Alawite community. He was the first member of his family to attend High School and finished top of his class. Because his family had no money to send him to university Assad went to the Syrian Military Academy and received a free higher education. He showed real talent, so the military sent him to be trained in the Soviet military. He joined the Ba'ath party in 1946 at the age of 16. He rose through the ranks of the military and became an important figure. Assad opposed the creation of the United Arab Republic and despite being stationed in Cairo worked with other officers to end the union between Syria and Egypt.

Related Topics:
Alawite - High School - University - Syrian Military Academy - Ba'ath - United Arab Republic - Cairo - Egypt

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The union collapsed in 1961. In the chaos that followed the dissolution the Ba'athists seized power and Assad was appointed head of the airforce in 1964. The state was officially ruled by Amin al-Hafiz, a Sunni Muslim, but it was run by a coterie of young Alawites, a religious minority in Syria to which Assad belonged.

Related Topics:
1961 - Airforce - Amin al-Hafiz - Sunni Muslim

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In 1966 these Alawites lanched a coup d'etat. Assad became Minister of Defence, and the true ruler of the country. After being discredited by the failure of the Syrian military in the Six-Day War in 1967 al-Assad overthrew the civilian government and became ruler of Syria in 1970.

Related Topics:
1966 - Minister of Defence - Six-Day War - 1967 - 1970

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Assad ruled Syria through the power of the army. He did achieve some popularity because of his moderate reforms and the vast increase in Syria's military power, but was always mistrusted by the population for his secularism and his Alawite roots.

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During al-Assad's presidency, Syria played a major role in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and deployed troops as a peacekeeping force to Lebanon in 1976.

Related Topics:
1973 Arab-Israeli war - Lebanon - 1976

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The most brutal act of Assad's reign took place in 1982. The Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni fundamentalist movement, staged a series of bomb attacks and assassinations against the government and its officials throughout 1980 and 1981, culminating in an insurrection in the town of Hama in February 1982 in which Ba'ath party members and Alawites were killed. In response Rifat Assad's special forces and Mukhabarrat agents began torturing and executing large numbers of Hama citizens in what became known as the Hama massacre. Robert Fisk, who was in Hama shortly after the massacre, estimated that 10,000 to 20,000 citizens were killed. Much of the old city was destroyed, including its palaces, mosques, ancient ruins and Beit Azem museum. According to Thomas Friedman Rifat later boasted of killing 38,000 people.

Related Topics:
Muslim Brotherhood - Fundamentalist - Rifat Assad - Mukhabarrat - Hama massacre - Thomas Friedman

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During the 1980s Tadmor Prison was home to thousands of people who were arrested arbitrarily, subjected to long-term detention and summary justice in the form of military trials. Torture and execution (by military policemen who were mostly from Assad's Alawi minority) were routine. http://hrw.org/reports/1996/Syria2.htm

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Assad ruled the country until his death in 2000 due to a heart attack while speaking on the telephone with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud. He was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad.

Related Topics:
2000 - Heart attack - Emile Lahoud - Bashar al-Assad

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