Assef Shawkat ( ar, آصِفُ شَوْكَتْ, ʾĀṣif Šawkat; 15 January 1950 – 18 July 2012) was the deputy
Minister of Defense
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
of Syria from September 2011 until his death in July 2012.
He was the brother-in-law of Syrian President
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 ...
, having married his older sister
Bushra.
He and three other top Syrian government officials were killed on 18 July 2012 in
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
during a
deadly bomb attack allegedly organized by the
Free Syrian Army
The Free Syrian Army (FSA) ( ar, الجيش السوري الحر, al-jaysh as-Sūrī al-ḥur) is a loose faction in the Syrian Civil War founded on 29 July 2011 by officers of the Syrian Armed Forces with the goal of bringing down the governm ...
.
Early life and education
Assef Shawkat was born into an
Alawite
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 Isl ...
family in the village of
Al-Madehleh in the
Tartus region of
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
on 15 January 1950.
He grew up in modest comfort
and studied law and history at
Damascus University
The University of Damascus ( ar, جَامِعَةُ دِمَشْقَ, ''Jāmi‘atu Dimashq'') is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus and has campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 through ...
before joining the
Syrian army
" (''Guardians of the Homeland'')
, colors = * Service uniform: Khaki, Olive
* Combat uniform: Green, Black, Khaki
, anniversaries = August 1st
, equipment =
, equipment_label =
, battles = 1948 Arab–Israeli War
Six ...
in the late 1970s.
During this time, Shawkat married and had five children.
Army career
After joining the army, Shawkat began working his way up through the ranks, and by 1982 he was an officer in the
Defense Companies
The Defense Companies ( ar, سرايا الدفاع; ) were a paramilitary force in Syria that were commanded by Rifaat al-Assad. Their task was to defend the Assad government, and Damascus, from internal and external attack. In 1984 the 55,000 st ...
paramilitary force headed by
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 ...
, the brother of
Syrian President
The president of Syria, officially the president of the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: رئيس سوريا) is the head of state of the Syria, Syrian Arab Republic. They are vested with sweeping powers that may be delegated, at their sole discreti ...
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 1 ...
. The Defense Companies were responsible for putting down an Islamic uprising in the city of
Hama
, timezone = EET
, utc_offset = +2
, timezone_DST = EEST
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, postal_code_type =
, postal_code =
, ar ...
,
In 1983, after Hafez al-Assad suffered an apparent heart attack, he named governing council of six men he believed were unlikely to seize power to run the country in his absence. Rifaat al-Assad was not among them. Hafez al-Assad's prolonged absence caused supporters of Rifaat al-Assad to rally around him, and in 1984 Rifaat launched a bid to take control of Damascus which nearly escalated into a civil war. The tensions only eased when Hafez al-Assad, still ill, addressed the nation and the attempted
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
collapsed. Shawkat remained loyal to Hafez al-Assad throughout this period, and he was rewarded with a promotion to
colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
.
[
]
Marriage to Bushra al-Assad
In the early 1980s, Shawkat met Bushra al-Assad
Bushra al-Assad ( ar, بُشْرَى ٱلْأَسَدِ, Bušrā al-ʾAsad) (born 24 October 1960) is the first child and only daughter of Hafez al-Assad, who was the president of Syria from 1971 to 2000. She is the sister of current Syrian Pres ...
, who was at that time studying pharmacy at Damascus University
The University of Damascus ( ar, جَامِعَةُ دِمَشْقَ, ''Jāmi‘atu Dimashq'') is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus and has campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 through ...
. Bushra was the first child and only daughter of 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 1 ...
, and she had a close relationship with her father. Bushra's father and her younger brother Bassel al-Assad
Bassel al-Assad ( ar, بَاسِلُ حَافِظِ ٱلْأَسَدِ, translit=Bāsil Ḥāfiẓ al-ʾAsad; 23 March 1962 – 21 January 1994) was a Syrian engineer, colonel, equestrian and politician who was the eldest son of Syrian Presiden ...
were strongly opposed to Bushra's relationship with Shawkat, who was ten years her senior and a divorced father of five from a modest background. Bassel briefly had Shawkat jailed in 1993 to block their relationship.[ However, there is another report stating that the reason for his imprisonment was related to his wrongdoing.]
However, in January 1994, Bassel died in a car crash, and a year later, in 1995 Shawkat and Bushra al-Assad eloped. Despite failing to obtain her father's blessing prior to the marriage, 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 1 ...
accepted Shawkat into the family, and Shawkat was soon promoted in rank to 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 ...
. Assef and Bushra had five children, all named for immediate members of Bushra's family: Bushra, Anisa, Bassel, Naya and Hafez.
After his marriage to Bushra al-Assad, Shawkat built a close relationship with her brother Bashar, who had recently been recalled from London after his brother Bassel's death to be groomed as his father's successor. Bushra reportedly nurtured this relationship. On the other hand, he is said to have had a fractious relationship with Bushra's and Bashar's younger brother 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 ...
, who is alleged to have shot him in the stomach in 1999.
Political career
By the time 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 ...
became 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 ...
in June 2000 after the death of his father, 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 1 ...
, Shawkat was widely considered one of the most powerful people in Syria. In 2001, Shawkat was named Deputy Director of Military Intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
, one of the main branches of the Syrian intelligence apparatus. His portfolio included liaising with militant Palestinian groups, such as Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
and Islamic Jihad, and he was a key architect of Syria's dominance of Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
. After the 11 September 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
, Shawkat was a primary contact with intelligence agencies in the United States and Europe and coordinated a US intelligence operation in Syria, which was shut down after relations between the two countries irremediably deteriorated.[
]
Implication in Rafik Hariri assassination
In February 2005, Shawkat was promoted to Director of Military Intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
, replacing Hassan Khalil
Hassan Khalil ( ar, حسن خليل) is the former Head of Military Intelligence Directorate (Syria), serving from 2000 to 2005. Khalil was previously deputy director from 1993 to 2000.
Prior to the Syrian civil war Hassan Khalil was a key figu ...
. Shortly before his promotion, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri
Rafik is the given name of:
*Rafik Al-Hariri (1944–2005), business tycoon, former Prime Minister of Lebanon
*Rafik Bouderbal (born 1987), French-born Algerian player currently playing for ES Sétif in the Algerian Championnat National
*Rafik Deg ...
was assassinated by a car bomb in Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
on 14 February 2005. The size and sophistication of the device used in the blast was considered to have involved a state intelligence agency, and United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
investigators implicated Shawkat in the plot.[ In 2006, Shawkat was named a Specially Designated National (SDN) by the US, allowing his assets to be frozen in the US.][ He was also implicated in the assassination of ]Imad Mughniyah
Imad Fayez Mughniyeh ( ar, عماد فايز مغنية; 7 December 1962 – 12 February 2008), alias al-Hajj Radwan (), was the founding member of Lebanon's Islamic Jihad Organization and number two in Hezbollah's leadership. Information about ...
in Damascus on 12 February 2008. In July 2009, he was dismissed as head of military intelligence, 'thus ridding the regime of the key suspect in the international investigation into Hariri's assassination' given the rank of general and named as deputy chief of staff of the armed forces.
He held this post until September 2011, when he was appointed deputy defense minister
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
, ostensibly under General Dawoud Rajiha
Dawoud Abdallah Rajiha ( ar, داود راجحة; 1947 – 18 July 2012), forename sometimes transliterated Dawood or Daoud, surname sometimes transliterated Rajha, was the Syrian minister of defense from 2011 to July 2012 when he was assas ...
. After the appointment of General Dawoud Rajiha
Dawoud Abdallah Rajiha ( ar, داود راجحة; 1947 – 18 July 2012), forename sometimes transliterated Dawood or Daoud, surname sometimes transliterated Rajha, was the Syrian minister of defense from 2011 to July 2012 when he was assas ...
to head the ministry of defense, Shawkat became an important figure in the ministry of defense, though the army was under the ''de facto'' control of 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 ...
, the president's brother. However, Shawkat had more than one conflict with Maher al-Assad.[
]
Syrian uprising
Together with President Bashar al-Assad and his brother 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 ...
, Shawkat was a principal architect of the crackdown that followed in response to the Syrian uprising that began in March 2011.[ He was a member of a military crisis unit created by President al-Assad, which included ]Defense Minister
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
Dawoud Rajiha
Dawoud Abdallah Rajiha ( ar, داود راجحة; 1947 – 18 July 2012), forename sometimes transliterated Dawood or Daoud, surname sometimes transliterated Rajha, was the Syrian minister of defense from 2011 to July 2012 when he was assas ...
, intelligence chief Hisham Bekhityar, special security advisor Ali Mamlouk
Ali Mamlouk ( ar, علي مملوك) (born 19 February 1946) is a special security adviser to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and is one of his trusted men. Mamlouk is also head of the National Security Bureau of the Ba'ath Party.
Early life
...
, head of military intelligence Abdel-Fatah Qudsiyeh
Abdel-Fatah Qudsiyeh ( ar, عبد الفتاح قدسية; born 1953) is since 2012 the deputy director of the Syrian National Security Bureau and a close adviser to President Bashar al-Assad.
Early life
Qudsiyeh was born in Hama in 1953.
Car ...
, and Mohammad Nassif Kheyrbek, a veteran operator from the era of Assad's father.
In May 2012, the Free Syrian Army
The Free Syrian Army (FSA) ( ar, الجيش السوري الحر, al-jaysh as-Sūrī al-ḥur) is a loose faction in the Syrian Civil War founded on 29 July 2011 by officers of the Syrian Armed Forces with the goal of bringing down the governm ...
's (FSA) Damascus council claimed that one of their operatives from its Al Sahabeh battalion had poisoned the eight members of Bashar Assad's military crisis unit, including Assef Shawkat, who was inaccurately reported to have died.
Death and funeral
On 18 July 2012, Shawkat attended a meeting of the Central Crisis Management Cell (CCMC) at the headquarters of Syria's national security council in the Rawda Square
Al-Rawda Square ( ar, ساحة الروضة / ALA-LC: ''sāḥat ar-Rawḍah'') is a square in north-west Damascus. The square is the location of the National Security Building, where the Defence Minister as well as President
President most c ...
of Damascus.[ There he was killed in a bomb attack along with ]Dawoud Rajiha
Dawoud Abdallah Rajiha ( ar, داود راجحة; 1947 – 18 July 2012), forename sometimes transliterated Dawood or Daoud, surname sometimes transliterated Rajha, was the Syrian minister of defense from 2011 to July 2012 when he was assas ...
, the defense minister
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
, and Hassan Turkmani, the former defense minister and a military adviser to Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
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 beca ...
.[ ]As'ad AbuKhalil
As'ad AbuKhalil ( ar, أسعد أبو خليل) (born 16 March 1960) is a Lebanese-American professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus.
AbuKhalil is the author of ''Historical Dictionary of Lebanon'' (1998), ''Bin ...
, a California State University professor, argues that Shawkat was the key man in the group assassinated.
Syrian state television reported that an honorific state funeral ceremony was held for him, Turkmani, and Rajha at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Damascus on 20 July 2012. Bashar al-Assad and his brother 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 ...
did not attend the ceremony.[ Bashar al-Assad was represented by Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa in the ceremony.] Shawkat was buried in the Tartus region following a funeral attended by his wife Bushra al-Assad and his mother-in-law, Anissa al-Assad, the widow of 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 1 ...
.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani
Jalal Talabani ( ku, مام جەلال تاڵەبانی, translit=Celal Talebanî; ar, جلال طالباني ; 1933 – 3 October 2017) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2006 to 2014, as well as ...
sent his condolences to Bushra al-Assad upon death of Assef Shawkat.
See also
*Al-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 suc ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shawkat, Assef
1950 births
2012 deaths
Damascus University alumni
People from Tartus Governorate
Syrian generals
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region politicians
Assad family
Assassinated Syrian politicians
Assassinated military personnel
Deaths by explosive device
Terrorism deaths in Syria
Military personnel killed in the Syrian civil war
2012 murders in Syria