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18 July 2012 Damascus Bombing
The 18 July 2012 Damascus bombing of the National Security headquarters in Rawda Square, Damascus, killed and injured a number of top military and security officials of the Syrian government. Among the dead were the Syrian Defense Minister and Deputy Defense Minister. The incident occurred during the Syrian Civil War, and is considered to be one of the most notorious events to affect the conflict. Syrian state-controlled television reported that it was a suicide attack while the opposition claims it was a remotely detonated bomb. Bombing The attack, during a meeting of the Central Crisis Management Cell comprising ministers and a number of heads of security agencies, resulted in the death of the Syrian Defense Minister General Dawoud Rajiha. Also killed were Assef Shawkat, president Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law and deputy defense minister, the assistant to the vice president General Hasan Turkmani, and Hafez Makhlouf, head of investigations at the Syrian Intelligence Ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Damascus (2012)
The Battle of Damascus ( ar, معركة دمشق), also known as Operation Damascus Volcano ( ar, عملية بركان دمشق), started on 15 July 2012 during the Syrian civil war. It is unclear who started the battle. Thousands of rebels infiltrated Damascus from the surrounding countryside. Following this, according to some reports, the opposition forces launched an operation to capture the capital, while according to other reports, the military learned of the large-scale rebel operation beforehand and made a preemptive strike. Some reports even suggested the rebels launched the operation prematurely due to their plans being discovered by the security forces. After the rebels initially captured half a dozen districts and killed four high-ranking government ministers in a bombing, opposition forces were forced to retreat following a military counter-attack, leaving the army in control of the capital after three weeks of fighting. It was the first time tanks and helicopters ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hisham Ikhtiyar
Major General Hisham Ikhtiyar ( ar, هشام اختيار); 1941 – 20 July 2012) (family name also transliterated as Ikhtiar, Bakhtiar, Bekhityar, Bekhtyar and other variants) was a Syrian military official, and a national security adviser to president Bashar al-Assad. Early life Hisham Ikhtiyar was born to a Sunni family in Damascus in 1941. Career Ikhtiyar was director of the general security directorate from 2001 to 2005. He was one of the effective Syrian officers, who monitored and repressed the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria. Then he was appointed head of Syria’s general intelligence directorate. In addition, he was an advisor to Syrian president Bashar Assad. He was appointed director of the Ba'ath Party regional command's national security bureau (NSB) in 2005. Controversy Ikhtiyar was regarded as a part of Assad's inner circle. In 2006, the United States Treasury Department announced that American citizens and organizations were forbidden from engaging in any transa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 2015 interview, former editor-in-chief John Avlon described the ''Beast''s editorial approach: "We seek out scoops, scandals, and stories about secret worlds; we love confronting bullies, bigots, and hypocrites." In 2018, Avlon described the ''Beast''s "strike zone" as "politics, pop culture, and power". History ''The Daily Beast'' began publishing on October 6, 2008. Its founding editor was Tina Brown, a former editor of ''Vanity Fair'' and ''The New Yorker'' as well as the short-lived ''Talk'' magazine. The name of the site was taken from a fictional newspaper in Evelyn Waugh's novel ''Scoop''. In 2010, ''The Daily Beast'' merged with the magazine ''Newsweek'' creating a combined company, The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. The merger en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated Faction)
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (meaning "resurrection"; ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي ''Ḥizb al-Ba‘th al-‘Arabī al-Ishtirākī''), also referred to as the pro-Syrian Ba'ath movement, is a neo-Ba'athist political party with branches across the Arab world. The party emerged from a split in the Ba'ath Party in February 1966 and leads the government in Syria. From 1970 until 2000, the party was led by the Syrian president Hafez al-Assad. , leadership has been shared between his son Bashar al-Assad (head of the Syrian regional organization) and Abdullah al-Ahmar (head of the pan-Arab national organization). The Syrian branch of the party is the largest organisation within the Syrian-led Ba'ath Party. Leadership General Secretary Hafez al-Assad became the secretary of the Syrian Regional Command of the party in 1970 and Secretary General of the National Command in late 1970. Despite being deceased, Hafez al-Assad was the official Secretary Genera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ministry Of Interior (Syria)
The Ministry of Interior ( ar, وزارة الداخلية) is the interior ministry of Syria. Its headquarters are located on Kafr Sousa in Damascus. According to the Ministry official website, its tasks are limited to the protection and enforcement of security. Organization The Ministry of Interior is divided into several Directorates: * General Security Directorate; * Political Security Directorate; * Criminal Security Directorate; * Anti-Narcotics Directorate; * Medical Services Directorate. The Ministry of Interior also have a quick reaction force, the '' Syrian Special Mission Forces''. Ministers of Interior * Taj al-Din al-Hasani (17 May 1934 – 23 February 1936) * Ata Bey al-Ayyubi (23 February 1936 – 21 December 1936) * Saadallah al-Jabiri (21 December 1936 – 18 February 1939) * Nasuhi al-Bukhari (5 April 1939 – 8 July 1939) * Khalid al-Azm (3 April 1941 – September 1941) * Lutfi al-Haffar (19 August 1943 – 14 October 1944) * Rushdi al-Kikhya ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Security Directorate (Syria)
The General Intelligence Directorate ( ar, إِدَارَةُ الْمُخَابَرَاتِ الْعَامَّةِ, ''ʾIdārat al-Mukhābarāt al-ʿAmmāh''), also known as the ''General Security Directorate'' or ''Syrian GID'', is the most important civil intelligence service of Syria and plays an important role in quelling internal dissent. The General Intelligence Directorate conducts surveillance of the Syrian population, directs foreign intelligence, and monitors activities in Lebanon. Organization The General Intelligence Directorate is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior. It is divided into three branches: * Internal Security Division (Branch 251) *External Security Division *Palestinian Affairs Division The internal security division is responsible for the internal surveillance of the population. The external security division is responsible for foreign intelligence work. And, the Palestinian division is responsible for monitoring the activities of P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Republican Guard (Syria)
The Syrian Republican Guard ( ar, الْحَرَسُ الْجُمْهُورِيُّ, ''al-Ḥaras al-Jumhūriyy''), also known as the Presidential Guard, is an elite 25,000 man mechanized division, although it may actually approach corps size with around 60,000 guardsman. Its main purpose is to protect the capital, Damascus, from any foreign or domestic threats. The Guard was the only Syrian military unit allowed within the capital city before the civil war. History The Guard was formed in 1976 after the after the Syrian occupation of Lebanon to protect the increasingly unpopular president. Major-General Adnan Makhlouf commanded the Guard from 1976 until 1997. The Republican Guard is used mostly to protect top Syrian government officials from any external threats and to serve as a counter-weight to the other powerful Syrian Army formations near the capital, the 4th Mechanized Division, the 3rd Armoured Division, and the 14th Special Forces (Airborne) Division. Many members of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maher Al-Assad
Maher al-Assad ( ar, مَاهِرُ ٱلْأَسَدِ, Māhir al-ʾAsad, born 8 December 1967) is a Syrian general and commander of the Republican Guard and the army's elite Fourth Armoured Division, which together with Syria's secret police form the core of the country's security forces. He is also a member of the Central Committee of the Ba'ath Party's Syrian Regional Branch. He is thought by some to be the second-most powerful man in Syria after his brother Bashar, the current President. Maher is described by analysts as preferring Iran (as opposed to Russia) to play the largest role as the Syrian Government's main ally during the Syrian Civil War and subsequent post-war reconstruction. This is in contrast to the position of Major General Suheil al-Hassan, commander of the Division 25 Special Mission Forces who has gained much influence as a result of his activities during the Syrian Civil War, who was reported as preferring Russia. Early life and education Maher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Security Bureau (Syria)
National Security Bureau or security bureau may refer to: ; Government * National Security Bureau (Republic of China), the principal intelligence agency of the Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan) * National Security Bureau (Poland), an agency that executes the tasks given by the president of the Republic of Poland regarding national security * National Security Bureau (Slovakia) Národný bezpečnostný úrad (NBÚ) (''National Security Authority'' in English) is the main body of state administration for the protection of classified information, cipher service and electronic signature. As the National Security Authority it ..., a bureau responsible for protection of confidential data, the introduction and use of the electronic signature and cipher service in the Slovak Republic ; Other * National Security Bureau of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, a bureau of the Regional Command of the Ba'ath Party in Syria {{disambig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farouk Al-Sharaa
Farouk al-Sharaa ( ar, فاروق الشرع; born 10 December 1938) is a Syrian politician and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent officials in the Syrian government and served as foreign minister of Syria from 1984 until 2006 when he became Vice President of Syria. Early life and education Sharaa was born in Daraa on 10 December 1938 to a Sunni Muslim family that originates from the Daraa Governorate. He studied English language at the University of Damascus in the 1960s, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature in 1963. In 1971 and 1972 he took courses in international law at the University of London. Early career In 1963, Sharaa became a member of the Ba'ath Party’s central committee. He served as regional manager of the state-run Syrian Arab Airlines in London from 1968 to 1972 and as commercial director in Damascus from 1972 to 1976. Between 1977 and 1980, he served as Syria's ambassador to Italy. In 1980 he was named deputy foreign minister. In 1984 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region ( ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي – قطر سوريا ''Ḥizb al-Ba'th al-'Arabī al-Ishtirākī – Quṭr Sūriyā''), officially the Syrian Regional Branch (Syria being a "region" of the Arab nation in Ba'ath ideology), is a neo-Ba'athist organisation founded on 7 April 1947 by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar and followers of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party has ruled Syria continuously since the 1963 Syrian coup d'état which brought the Ba'athists to power. It was first the regional branch of the original Ba'ath Party (1947–1966) before it changed its allegiance to the Syrian-dominated Ba'ath movement (1966–present) following the 1966 split within the original Ba'ath Party. Since their ascent to power in 1963, neo-Ba'athist officers proceeded by stamping out the traditional civilian elites to construct a military dictatorship operating in totalitarian lines; wherein all state agencies, party orga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mohammed Saeed Bekheitan
Mohammed Saeed Bekheitan ( ar, محمد سعيد بخيتان; 1945 – 11 March 2022) was a Syrian politician who was the Assistant Secretary of the Syrian Regional Command of the Ba'ath Party. He held the position since 2005. He was a close associate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher al-Assad and was considered a senior decision-maker in the government. Biography Bukheitan was a Sunni Muslim from Bedouin origins in Deir ez-Zor, a Sunni dominated region near the border with Iraq. He built his career in the police, eventually attaining the rank of general in the criminal security branch of the Ministry of Interior. From 1993 to 2000 he served as Governor of Hama , timezone = EET , utc_offset = +2 , timezone_DST = EEST , utc_offset_DST = +3 , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , ar ..., a major Sunni region in Syria. Since June 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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