|
Muhammad Khayr Bey
Mohammed Nasif Kheirbek ( ar, محمد ناصيف خيربك, 10 April 1937 – 28 June 2015) known as ''Mohammed Nasif'' or ''Abu Wael'', was the former Deputy Vice-President for Security Affairs in Syria. He was a close adviser of Syrian President Bashar Assad and is Syria's point-man for its relationship with Iran and Lebanon's Shia militias. He is one of a number of officials that were sanctioned by the European Union for the use of violence against the civilian population during the Syrian civil war. Background Mohammed Nasif Kheirbek was born 10 April 1937 in Homs but was from the Alawite village of al-Laqbah near Masyaf.Rosen, NirAssad's Alawites: An entrenched community ''Al Jazeera English''. 2011-10-12. He was a member of the Alawi Kalabiya tribe, to which Bashar Assad belongs. The Kheirbek and Assad family are also connected by marriage. His brother Mu'ein is married to one of Rifaat al-Assad's daughters, Tumadhir. Mohammed was the head of the powerful Kheirbek clan w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Secretary-General of the Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, which espouses the ideologies of neo-Ba'athism and Assadism. His father and predecessor was General Hafez al-Assad, whose presidency between 1971 to 2000 marked the transfiguration of Syria from a republican state into a dynastic military dictatorship tightly controlled by Alawite-dominated armed forces and ''Mukhabarat'' (secret services) loyal to the Assad family. Born and raised in Damascus, Bashar al-Assad graduated from the medical school of Damascus University in 1988 and began to work as a doctor in the Syrian Army. Four years later, he attended postgraduate studies at the Western Eye Hospital in London, specialising in ophthalmology. In 1994, afte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qasem Soleimani
Qasem Soleimani ( fa, قاسم سلیمانی, ; 11 March 19573January 2020) was an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). From 1998 until his assassination in 2020, he was the commander of the Quds Force, an IRGC division primarily responsible for extraterritorial and clandestine military operations. In his later years, he was considered by some analysts to be the right-hand man of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, as well as the second-most powerful person in Iran behind him.U.S. killing of Iran's second most powerful man risks regional conflagration reuters.com As a civi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Intelligence 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state was a part of the Eastern Bloc in the Cold War. Commonly described as a communist state, it described itself as a socialist "workers' and peasants' state".Patrick Major, Jonathan Osmond, ''The Workers' and Peasants' State: Communism and Society in East Germany Under Ulbricht 1945–71'', Manchester University Press, 2002, Its territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces following the end of World War II—the Soviet occupation zone of the Potsdam Agreement, bounded on the east by the Oder–Neisse line. The Soviet zone surrounded West Berlin but did not include it and West Berlin remained outside the jurisdiction of the GDR. Most scholars and academics describe the GDR as a totalitarian dictatorship. The GDR was establish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Attache
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular .... It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct military uniform. It may consist of one or more military branches such as an army, navy, air force, space force, marines, or coast guard. The main task of the military is usually defined as defence of the state and its interests against external armed threats. In broad usage, the terms ''armed forces'' and ''military'' are often treated as synonymous, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include both its military and other parami ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hafez Al-Assad
Hafez al-Assad ', , (, 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from taking power in 1971 until his death in 2000. He was also 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. Assad participated in the 1963 Syrian coup d'état which brought the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party to power, and the new leadership appointed him commander of the Syrian Air Force. In February 1966, Assad participated in a second coup, which toppled the traditional leaders of the Ba'ath Party. Assad was appointed defence minister by the new government. Four years later, Assad initiated a third coup which ousted the ''de facto'' leader Salah Jadid and appointed himself as leader of Syria. Assad impose ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rifaat Assad
Rifaat Ali al-Assad ( ar, رِفْعَتُ عَلِيِّ ٱلْأَسَدِ, Rifʿat al-ʾAsad; born 22 August 1937) is the younger brother of the late President of Syria, Hafez Assad, and Jamil al-Assad, and the uncle of the incumbent President Bashar al-Assad. He is alleged by some sources to be the commanding officer responsible for the Hama massacre of 1982. Later declassified material backs his claims that his brother Hafez al-Assad was responsible, as do a number of commentators. Despite accusations, Rifaat has always denied culpability. Rifaat lived in exile in France for 36 years and returned to Syria in October 2021 after being found guilty in France of acquiring millions of euros diverted from the Syrian state. In September 2022, France's highest court, the Cour de Cassation, confirmed the ruling. Early life and education Rifaat al-Assad was born in the village of Qardaha, near Lattakia in western Syria on 22 August 1937. He studied Political Science and Economics at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Assad Family
The al-Assad family ( ar, عَائِلَة الْأَسَد '), also known as the Assad dynasty, has ruled Syria since General Hafez al-Assad became President of Syria in 1971 under the Ba'ath Party. After his death, in June 2000, he was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad. The Assads are originally from Qardaha, near Latakia, in north-west Syria. They are members of the minority Alawite sect and belong to the Kalbiyya tribe. The family name Assad goes back to 1927, when Ali Sulayman (1875–1963) changed his last name to al-Assad, Arabic for "the lion", possibly in connection with his social standing as a local mediator and his political activities. All members of the extended Assad family stem from Ali Sulayman and his second wife Naissa, who came from a village in the Syrian Coastal Mountains.Martin Stäheli: ''Die syrische Außenpolitik unter Hafiz Assad'', Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ; p. 40 Family connections continue to be important in Syrian politics. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alawites
The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Islam. The Alawites revere Ali (Ali ibn Abi Talib), considered the first Imam of the Twelver school. The group is believed to have been founded by Ibn Nusayr during the 9th century. Ibn Nusayr was a disciple of the tenth Twelver Imam, Ali al-Hadi and of the eleventh Twelver Imam, Hasan al-Askari. For this reason, Alawites are also called ''Nusayris''. Surveys suggest Alawites represent an important portion of the Syrian population and are a significant minority in the Hatay Province of Turkey and northern Lebanon. There is also a population living in the village of Ghajar in the Golan Heights. Alawites form the dominant religious group on the Syrian coast and towns near the coast, which are also inhabited by Sunnis, Christians, and Ismail ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is owned by the monarchy government of Qatar. It is the first English-language news channel to be headquartered in the Middle East. Instead of being run centrally, news management rotates between broadcasting centres in Doha and London. History The channel was launched on 15 November 2006, at 12:00 PM GMT. It had aimed to begin broadcasting in June 2006 but had to postpone its launch because its HDTV technology was not yet ready. The channel was due to be called ''Al Jazeera International'', but the name was changed nine months before the launch because one of the channel's backers argued that the original Arabic-language channel already had an international scope. The channel was anticipated to reach around 40 million households, but it far ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masyaf
Masyaf ( ar, مصياف ') is a city in northwestern Syria. It is the center of the Masyaf District in the Hama Governorate. As of 2004, Masyaf had a religiously diverse population of approximately 22,000 Ismailis, Alawites and Christians. The city is well known for its large medieval castle, particularly its role as the headquarters of the Nizari Ismailis and their elite Assassins unit. Etymology Throughout the Islamic era and until the modern day, the Arabic name of the city was pronounced in a number of different ways by the inhabitants of the region as ''Maṣyaf'', ''Maṣyat'' or ''Maṣyad''. The Arabic name is a local pronunciation that evolved from the Assyrian name ''Manṣuate''. The "nṣw" in ''Manṣuate'' correlates with the Arabic "nṣṣ", which means "to set up", according to orientalist scholar Edward Lipinsky. Moreover, Lipinsky suggests that the Assyrian name was likely a configuration of the Assyrian word ''manṣuwatu'' which correlates with the Arabic wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
