Rifaat Al-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 Da ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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 lieutenant general outranking a major general, whereas a major outranks a lieutenant. In the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and in the United States, when appointed to a field command, a major general is typically in command of a Division (military), division consisting of around 6,000 to 25,000 troops (several regiments or brigades). It is a two-star general, two-star rank that is subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the rank of brigadier or brigadier general. In the Commonwealth, major general is equivalent to the navy rank of rear admiral. In air forces with a separate rank structure (Commonwealth), major general is equivalent to air vice-marshal. In some countries including much of Eastern Europe, major ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Flag Of The Syrian Arab Army
A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and flags have evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signalling and identification, especially in environments where communication is challenging (such as the maritime environment, where semaphore is used). Many flags fall into groups of similar designs called flag families. The study of flags is known as "vexillology" from the Latin , meaning "flag" or "banner". National flags are patriotic symbols with widely varied interpretations that often include strong military associations because of their original and ongoing use for that purpose. Flags are also used in messaging, advertising, or for decorative purposes. Some military units are called "flags" after their use of flags. A ''flag'' (Arabic: ) is equivalent to a brigade i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hafez 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 imposed c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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President Of Syria
The president of Syria, officially the president of the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: رئيس سوريا) is the head of state of the Syrian Arab Republic. They are vested with sweeping powers that may be delegated, at their sole discretion, to their vice presidents. They appoint and dismiss the prime minister and other members of the Council of Ministers (the cabinet) and military officers. Bashar al-Assad is the 19th and current president of Syria. Bashar Al-Assad is the son of former president, Hafez al-Assad, who was the longest-serving president serving 29 years. Al-Assad is currently the second longest-serving president marking the 22nd year of his presidency in 2022 when he entered the post on 17 July 2000. Term of office Article 88 of the 2012 constitution states that the president serves a seven year term and "can be elected for only one more successive term." Article 155 states that Article 88 applies to the president "as of the next presidential elections." Eligibi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ribal Al-Assad
Ribal al-Assad (born 4 June 1975) is a Syrian businessman and political activist. He is the Founder and Director of the Organisation for Democracy and Freedom in Syria (ODFS) and the Chairman and Founder of The Iman Foundation. Early life and family Ribal al-Assad was born in Damascus, the 13th of 16 siblings. He is the son of Rifaat al-Assad and his third wife Line Al-Khayer, sister in law of the late Saudi king Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, and is thus a member of the al-Assad family. His father, Rifaat al-Assad, a younger brother of the late President Hafez Al-Assad, was a powerful security chief and commander of the Defense Companies, who was responsible for the 1982 Hama uprising. After attempting a coup d'état, he and his family went into exile in France, then the UK. Ribal, at the age of 9, and his family then moved to Paris, where he continued to live until the age of 16. At the age of 16, Ribal al-Assad began High School in New York and Houston, before attending university ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hama Massacre
The Hama Massacre ( ar, مجزرة حماة), or Hama Uprising, occurred in February 1982 when the Syrian Arab Army and the Defense Companies, under orders of the country's president Hafez al-Assad, besieged the town of Hama for 27 days in order to quell an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood against al-Assad's government. Fisk 2010 MEMRI 2002 The massacre, carried out by the Syrian Army under commanding General Rifaat al-Assad, effectively ended the campaign begun in 1976 by Sunni Muslim groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, against the government. Initial diplomatic reports from Western countries stated that 1,000 were killed. Subsequent estimates vary, with the lower estimates claiming that at least 2,000 Syrian citizens were killed,''New York Times'' 2011 March 26 while others put the number at 20,000 (Robert Fisk) or 40,000 (Syrian Human Rights Committee).Syrian Human Rights Committee, 2005 About 1,000 Syrian soldiers were killed during the operation, and large part ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Islamic Uprising In Syria
The Islamist uprising in Syria comprised a series of revolts and armed insurgencies by Sunni Islamists, mainly members of the Muslim Brotherhood, from 1976 until 1982. The uprising was aimed against the secular Ba'ath Party-controlled government of Syria, in what has been called a "long campaign of terror". During the violent events, Islamists attacked both civilians and off-duty military personnel, and civilians were also killed in retaliatory strike by security forces. The uprising reached its climax in the 1982 Hama uprising. Background 1963 Coup and 1964 Hama Riots In context, the Insurgency traces its origins to multiple factors. Historical ideological friction is a result of the Ba'ath Party's secular foundation versus the Muslim Brotherhood's religious foundation. This friction became heated following the 1963 Ba'ath Party coup which saw the Party claiming sole power in the country and subsequently outlawing all other organised opposition. In response, the Muslim ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1970 Syrian Corrective Revolution
The Corrective Movement ( ar, الحركة التصحيحية ''al-Ḥarakah at-Taṣḥīḥīyah''), also referred to as the Corrective Revolution or 1970 coup, is the name of a bloodless coup d'état led by General Hafez Assad on 13 November 1970. Assad proclaimed to sustain and improve the "nationalist socialist line" of the state and the Ba'ath party. Assad would rule Syria until his death in 2000, after which he was succeeded by his son Bashar Assad. Events Al-Assad started planning to seize power shortly after the failed Syrian military intervention in the Black September crisis in Jordan. While Al-Assad had been in ''de facto'' command of Syrian politics since 1969, Salah Jadid and his supporters still held all the formal trappings of power. After attending Gamal Abdel Nasser's funeral, Al-Assad returned to Syria to attend the Emergency National Congress held on 30 October 1970. At the congress, Al-Assad was condemned by Jadid and his supporters, who formed the majori ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 June 1967. Escalated hostilities broke out amid poor relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours following the 1949 Armistice Agreements, which were signed at the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, First Arab–Israeli War. Earlier, in 1956, regional tensions over the Straits of Tiran escalated in what became known as the Suez Crisis, when Israel invaded Egypt over the Israeli passage through the Suez Canal and Straits of Tiran, Egyptian closure of maritime passageways to Israeli shipping, ultimately resulting in the re-opening of the Straits of Tiran to Israel as well as the deployment of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) along the Borders of Israel#Border with Egypt, Egypt–Israel border. In ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jamil Al-Assad
Jamil al-Assad ( ar, جميل الأسد; 1933 – 15 December 2004) was a younger brother of the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, and the uncle of present Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. He served in the Parliament of Syria, called the ''majlis ash-sha'b'' from 1971 until his death. He was also commander of a minor militia. Activities While both his brothers, Hafez and Rifat Assad, enforced secularism, Jamil was said to be deeply religious. During the 1980s, Jamil actively supported conversion to Shiism in the Latakia Mountains, especially among members of the Alawite community. He sent groups of Alawites to study Twelver Shiism in Iran. They made the Shiite creed common among their fellow Alawites upon their return to Syria. Jamil also built husayniyyas in the mountains, where before there had been only Alawite shrines. In order to make Shiism more acceptable there he appointed a Shiite sheihk to head the Alawite al-Zahra Mosque in the city of Baniyas. He also allowed Irania ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |