Hafez al-Assad

Hafez al-Assad was a Syrian statesman, military officer and revolutionary who served as the 18th president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. He had previously served as prime minister of Syria from 1970 to 1971 as well as regional secretary of the regional command of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and secretary general of the National Command of the Ba'ath Party from 1970 to 2000. Hafez al-Assad was a key participant in the 1963 Syrian coup d'état, which brought the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party to power in the country. The new leadership appointed Hafez as the commander of the Syrian Air Force. In February 1966 Hafez participated in a second coup, which toppled the traditional leaders of the Ba'ath Party. During Assad’s ministry Syria lost the Golan Heights to Israel in the Six-Day War (June 1967), dealing Assad a blow that shaped much of his future political career. Assad then engaged in a protracted power struggle with Salah al-Jadid—chief of staff of the armed forces, Assad’s political mentor, and effective leader of Syria—until finally in November 1970 Assad seized control, arresting Jadid and other members of the government. He became prime minister and in 1971 was elected president. Assad set about building up the Syrian military with Soviet aid and gaining the loyalty of the Syrian populace with public works funded by Arab donors and international lending institutions. Political dissenters were eliminated by arrest, torture, and execution, and when the Muslim Brotherhood mounted a rebellion in Hama in 1982, Assad ruthlessly suppressed it at a cost of some 20,000 lives and the near destruction of the city. In foreign affairs Assad tried to establish Syria as a leader of the Arab world. A new alliance with Egypt culminated in a surprise attack on Israel in October 1973 (see October War), but Egypt’s unexpected cessation of hostilities exposed Syria to military defeat and earned Egypt’s president, Anwar Sadat, Assad’s enduring resentment. Assad also intervened in the Lebanese Civil War, sending troops to support the Maronite Christians against the Palestinians and the Muslims, and later to fight the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Assad faced several challenges to his rule, such as a failed coup attempt in 1984 by his brother Rifaat, a rebellion by the Kurds in the northeast, and growing discontent among the Sunni majority. He also suffered from health problems, including diabetes and heart disease. He tried to improve relations with some of his Arab neighbors, such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and engaged in negotiations with Israel over the Golan Heights, but without reaching a final agreement. He also maintained close ties with Iran, Russia, and China, and supported various militant groups opposed to Israel, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad. Assad died in office in 2000, and was succeeded by his son Bashar, who had been groomed for the presidency since the death of his elder brother Basil in a car accident in 1994.