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Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ',
Levantine Levantine may refer to:
* Anything pertaining to the Levant, the region centered around modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, including any person from the Levant
** Syria (region), corresponding to the modern countries of the Lev ...
pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a
Syrian politician who is the 19th
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 Syria, Syrian Arab Republic. They are vested with sweeping powers that may be delegated, at their sole discreti ...
, 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
Ba'athism, also stylized as Baathism, (; ar, البعثية ' , from ' , meaning "renaissance" or "resurrection"Hans Wehr''Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic'' (4th ed.), page 80) is an Arab nationalist ideology which promotes the creation a ...
and
Assadism
Ba'athism, also stylized as Baathism, (; ar, البعثية ' , from ' , meaning "renaissance" or "resurrection" Hans Wehr''Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic'' (4th ed.), page 80) is an Arab nationalist ideology which promotes the creation ...
. 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
( ar, مخابرات, also transliterated '' / ''), is the Arabic term for intelligence, as used by an intelligence agency. In most of the Middle East, the term is colloquially used in reference to secret police agents who spy on civilians. Organi ...
'' (secret services) loyal to the
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 succee ...
.
Born and raised in
Damascus, Bashar al-Assad graduated from the medical school of
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 ...
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
Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders.
An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...
. In 1994, after his elder brother
Bassel died in a car accident, Bashar was recalled to Syria to take over Bassel's role as
heir apparent
An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
. He entered the military academy, taking charge of the
Syrian occupation of Lebanon
The Syrian occupation of Lebanon ( ar, الاحتلال السوري للبنان, french: Occupation syrienne du Liban) began in 1976, during the Lebanese Civil War, and ended on 30 April 2005 after the Cedar Revolution and several demonstrat ...
in 1998. Assad's regime functions as a
personalist dictatorship, and several
political scientists
This is a list of notable political scientists. See the list of political theorists for those who study political theory. See also political science.
A
* Robert Abelson - Yale University psychologist and political scientist with special int ...
and
journalists describe it as a "
totalitarian
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...
"
police state
A police state describes a state where its government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the ...
. Although Bashar inherited the bureaucratic structure and personality cult nurtured by Hafez al-Assad, he lacked the charisma and loyalty received by his father, which led to rising discontent against his rule.
On 17 July 2000, Assad became president, succeeding his father, who
died in office on 10 June 2000. In the
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
and
2007 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 2007.
* Electoral calendar 2007
* Elections in 2007
* 2007 United Nations Security Council election
Africa
* 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress
* 2007 Algerian legislative el ...
, he received 97.29% and 97.6% support, respectively.
On 16 July 2014, Assad was sworn in for another seven-year term after another election gave him 88.7% of the vote. The election was held only in areas controlled by the Syrian government during the country's
ongoing civil war and was criticised by the
United Nations (UN). Assad was
re-elected in 2021 with over 95% of the vote in national election. Throughout his leadership, human rights groups have characterized Syria's human rights situation as poor. The Assad government describes itself as
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
, while various political scientists write that his regime exploits
sectarian tensions in the country.
Initially lauded in the Western press, Bashar al-Assad's
economic liberalisation
Economic liberalization (or economic liberalisation) is the lessening of government regulations and restrictions in an economy in exchange for greater participation by private entities. In politics, the doctrine is associated with classical liber ...
programme worsened inequalities and increased the socio-political centralisation of the loyalist Damascene elite; alienating the Syrian rural population, urban working classes and people from once-traditional Ba'ath strongholds. Since he lacked the respect commanded by his father, many members of the Old Guard resigned or were purged; replacing the inner-circle with staunch loyalists from
Alawite clans.
The
United States (U.S.), the
European Union (EU), and the majority of the
Arab League called for Assad's resignation from the presidency in 2011 after he ordered a violent crackdown on
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and econo ...
protesters, which led to the
Syrian civil war. Assad's forces launched a
chemical attack in Ghouta in 21 August 2013, resulting in the deaths of 1,100-1,500 civilians. In December 2013, the UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...
Navi Pillay
Navanethem "Navi" Pillay (born 23 September 1941) is a South African jurist who served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014. A South African of Indian Tamil origin, she was the first non-white woman judge o ...
stated that findings from
an inquiry by the UN implicated Assad in
war crimes. The
OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism The United Nations Security Council adopted United Nations Security Council resolution 2235 (2015) on 7 August 2015, in response to use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War. The resolution condemned "any use of any toxic chemical, such as ch ...
concluded in October 2017 that Assad's government was responsible for the
Khan Shaykhun chemical attack
The Khan Shaykhun chemical attack took place on 4 April 2017 on the town of Khan Shaykhun in the Idlib Governorate of Syria. The town was reported to have been struck by an airstrike by government forces followed by massive civilian chemical ...
.
In June 2014, the American
Syrian Accountability Project included Assad on a list of war crimes indictments of government officials and rebels it sent to the
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals f ...
. Assad has rejected allegations of war crimes and criticised the
American-led intervention in Syria
The American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War refers to the American-led support of Syrian rebels and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) during the course of the Syrian civil war, including Operation Inherent Resolve, the active mil ...
for
attempting regime change.
Early life, family and education
![Assad family](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Assad_family.jpg)
Bashar Hafez al-Assad was born in
Damascus on 11 September 1965, the second son and third child of
Anisa Makhlouf and
Hafez al-Assad. Al-Assad in Arabic means "the Lion". Assad's paternal grandfather,
Ali Sulayman al-Assad, had managed to change his status from peasant to minor notable and, to reflect this, in 1927 he had changed the family name from Wahsh (meaning "Savage") to Al-Assad.
Assad's father, Hafez, was born to an impoverished rural family of
Alawite background and rose through the
Ba'ath Party ranks to take control of the
Syrian branch of the Party in the
1970 Corrective Revolution, culminating in his rise to the
Syrian presidency. Hafez promoted his supporters within the Ba'ath Party, many of whom were also of Alawite background.
After the revolution, Alawite strongmen were installed while
Sunnis,
Druze, and
Ismailis were removed from the army and Ba'ath party.
The younger Assad had five siblings, three of whom are deceased. A sister named Bushra died in infancy.
[ Assad's youngest brother, Majd, was not a public figure and little is known about him other than he was ]intellectually disabled
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation, Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signifi ...
,[ and died in 2009 after a "long illness".
]
Unlike his brothers Bassel and Maher, and second sister, also named Bushra, Bashar was quiet, reserved and lacked interest in politics or the military. The Assad children reportedly rarely saw their father, and Bashar later stated that he only entered his father's office once while he was president. He was described as "soft-spoken", and according to a university friend, he was timid, avoided eye contact and spoke in a low voice.
Assad received his primary and secondary education in the Arab-French al-Hurriya School in Damascus. In 1982, he graduated from high school and then studied medicine 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 ...
.
Medical career and rise to power
In 1988, Assad graduated from medical school and began working as an army doctor at the Tishrin Military Hospital on the outskirts of Damascus.[ Four years later, he settled in London to start postgraduate training in ]ophthalmology
Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders.
An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...
at the Western Eye Hospital. He was described as a "geeky I.T. guy" during his time in London. Bashar had few political aspirations, and his father had been grooming Bashar's older brother Bassel as the future president. However, he died in a car accident in 1994 and Bashar was recalled to the Syrian Army shortly thereafter. State propaganda soon began elevating Bashar's public imagery as "the hope of the masses" to prepare him as the next patriarch in charge of Syria, to continue the rule of Assad dynasty
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 succee ...
.
Soon after the death of Bassel, Hafez al-Assad decided to make Bashar the new heir apparent
An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
. Over the next six and a half years, until his death in 2000, Hafez prepared Bashar for taking over power. General Bahjat Suleiman
Bahjat Suleiman ( ar, بهجت سليمان; 194925 February 2021), also known as Bahjat Sulayman, was a Syrian Ambassador to Jordan and head of the internal branch of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate (GID), also known as Branch 251, ...
, an officer in the Defense Companies, was entrusted with overseeing preparations for a smooth transition, which were made on three levels. First, support was built up for Bashar in the military and security apparatus. Second, Bashar's image was established with the public. And lastly, Bashar was familiarised with the mechanisms of running the country.
To establish his credentials in the military, Bashar entered the military academy at Homs in 1994 and was propelled through the ranks to become a colonel of the elite Syrian Republican Guard in January 1999.[ To establish a power base for Bashar in the military, old divisional commanders were pushed into retirement, and new, young, Alawite officers with loyalties to him took their place.
In 1998, Bashar took charge of Syria's Lebanon file, which had since the 1970s been handled by Vice President ]Abdul Halim Khaddam
Abdul Halim Khaddam ( ; ar, عبد الحليم خدام; 15 September 1932 – 31 March 2020) was a Syrian politician who was Vice President of Syria and "High Commissioner" to Lebanon from 1984 to 2005. He was long known as a loyalist of Hafez ...
, who had until then been a potential contender for president. By taking charge of Syrian affairs in Lebanon, Bashar was able to push Khaddam aside and establish his own power base in Lebanon. In the same year, after minor consultation with Lebanese politicians, Bashar installed Emile Lahoud
Emil or Emile may refer to:
Literature
*''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
* ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life
*''Emil and the Detective ...
, a loyal ally of his, as the President of Lebanon
The President of the Lebanese Republic ( ar, رئيس الجمهورية اللبنانية, rayiys aljumhuriat allubnania; french: Président de la République Libanaise) is the head of state of Lebanon. The president is elected by the parliame ...
and pushed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri
Rafic Bahaa El Deen Al Hariri ( ar, رفيق بهاء الدين الحريري; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese business tycoon and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from ...
aside, by not placing his political weight behind his nomination as prime minister. To further weaken the old Syrian order in Lebanon, Bashar replaced the long-serving de facto Syrian High Commissioner of Lebanon, Ghazi Kanaan
Ghazi Kanaan ( ar, غازي كنعان; 1942 – 12 October 2005), also known as Abu Yo'roub, was Syria's interior minister from 2004 to 2005, and long-time head of Syria's security apparatus in Lebanon. His violent death during an investigati ...
, with Rustum Ghazaleh
Rustum Ghazaleh ( ar, رستم غزالة) also transl. from Arabic as Rostom Ghazale, Rustom Ghazalah, Rustom Ghazali; (3 May 1953 – 24 April 2015) was a Syrian military and intelligence officer.
Early life
Ghazaleh was born into a Sunni Musli ...
.
Parallel to his military career, Bashar was engaged in public affairs. He was granted wide powers and became head of the bureau to receive complaints and appeals of citizens, and led a campaign against corruption. As a result of this campaign, many of Bashar's potential rivals for president were put on trial for corruption. Bashar also became the President of the Syrian Computer Society The Syrian Computer Society is an organization in Syria. It was founded by Bassel al-Assad in 1989, and was subsequently headed by his brother Bashar al-Assad, who would later become the President of Syria. It acts as Syria's domain name registra ...
and helped to introduce the internet in Syria, which aided his image as a moderniser and reformer.
Presidency
Damascus Spring and before civil war: 2000–2011
After the death of Hafez al-Assad on 10 June 2000, the Constitution of Syria
The current Constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic was adopted on 26 February 2012, replacing one that had been in force since 13 March 1973. The current constitution delineates the basic function of that state's government. Among other things, ...
was amended. The minimum age requirement for the presidency was lowered from 40 to 34, which was Bashar's age at the time. Assad was then confirmed president on 10 July 2000, with 97.29% support for his leadership. In line with his role as President of Syria, he was also appointed the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and Regional Secretary of the Ba'ath Party.
Immediately after he took office, a reform movement made cautious advances during the Damascus Spring
The Damascus Spring ( ar, ربيع دمشق, ) was a period of intense political and social debate in Syria which started after the death of President Hafiz al-Asad in June 2000 and continued to some degree until autumn 2001, when most of the act ...
, which led to the shut down of Mezzeh prison
Mezzeh prison () is a now-defunct Syrian prison overlooking the capital, Damascus. Mezzeh (also transcribed as ''al-Mazzah'', ''el-Mezze'' etc.) is the name of a neighborhood in western Damascus.
Both military and political prisoners were held a ...
and the declaration of a wide-ranging amnesty releasing hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood affiliated political prisoners. However, security crackdowns commenced again within the year. Many analysts stated that reform under Assad had been inhibited by the "old guard", members of the government loyal to his late father.
During the war on terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
, Assad allied his country with the West. Syria was a major site of extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition is a euphemism for state-sponsored forcible abduction in another jurisdiction and transfer to a third state. The phrase usually refers to a United States-led program used during the War on Terror, which had the purpos ...
by the CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
of al-Qaeda suspects, who were interrogated in Syrian prisons.
Soon after Assad assumed power, he "made Syria's link with Hezbollah—and its patrons in Tehran—the central component of his security doctrine", and in his foreign policy, Assad is an outspoken critic of the U.S., Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
In 2005, Rafic Hariri
Rafic Bahaa El Deen Al Hariri ( ar, رفيق بهاء الدين الحريري; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese business tycoon and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from ...
, the former prime minister of Lebanon, was assassinated. ''The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
'' reported that "Syria was widely blamed for Hariri's murder. In the months leading to the assassination, relations between Hariri and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad plummeted amid an atmosphere of threats and intimidation." The BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
reported in December 2005 that an interim UN report "implicated Syrian officials", while "Damascus has strongly denied involvement in the car bomb which killed Hariri in February".
On 27 May 2007, Assad was
approved for another seven-year term in a referendum on his presidency, with 97.6% of the votes supporting his continued leadership. Opposition parties were not allowed in the country and Assad was the only candidate in the referendum.
[Klatell, James (27 May 2007)]
"Syrians Vote in Presidential Referendum"
CBS News.
During the Syrian civil war
2011–2015
Protests in Syria began on 26 January 2011 following the
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and econo ...
. Protesters called for political reforms and the reinstatement of civil rights, as well as an end to the state of emergency which had been in place since 1963. One attempt at a "day of rage" was set for 4–5 February, though it ended uneventfully. Protests on 18–19 March were the largest to take place in Syria for decades, and the Syrian authority responded with violence against its protesting citizens.
The U.S. imposed limited sanctions against the Assad government in April 2011, followed by
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
's executive order as of 18 May 2011 targeting Bashar Assad specifically and six other senior officials.
On 23 May 2011, the EU foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Brussels to add Assad and nine other officials to a list affected by travel bans and asset freezes. On 24 May 2011, Canada imposed sanctions on Syrian leaders, including Assad.
On 20 June, in response to the demands of protesters and foreign pressure, Assad promised a national dialogue involving movement toward reform,
new parliamentary elections, and greater
freedoms
Political freedom (also known as political autonomy or political agency) is a central concept in history and political thought and one of the most important features of democratic societies.Hannah Arendt, "What is Freedom?", ''Between Past and F ...
. He also urged
refugees to return home from Turkey, while assuring them
amnesty
Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...
and blaming all unrest on a small number of saboteurs. Assad blamed the unrest on "conspiracies" and accused the Syrian opposition and protestors of "''
fitna''", breaking with the Syrian Ba'ath Party's strict tradition of secularism.
![Lattakia 20 june 2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Lattakia_20_june_2010.jpg)
In July 2011, U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
said Assad had "lost legitimacy" as president.
On 18 August 2011, Barack Obama issued a written statement that urged Assad to "step aside".
[President Obama: "The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way."]
The White House website, 18 August 2011.
In August, the cartoonist
Ali Farzat
Ali Farzat or Ali Ferzat ( ar, علي فرزات; born 22 June 1951) is a Syrian political cartoonist. He has published more than 15,000 caricatures in Syrian, Arab and international newspapers. He serves as the head of the Arab Cartoonists Associ ...
, a critic of Assad's government, was attacked. Relatives of the humourist told media outlets that the attackers threatened to break Farzat's bones as a warning for him to stop drawing cartoons of government officials, particularly Assad. Farzat was hospitalised with fractures in both hands and blunt force trauma to the head.
Since October 2011, Russia, as a
permanent member of the
UN Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...
, repeatedly
vetoed
A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto pow ...
Western-sponsored draft resolutions in the UN Security Council that would have left open the possibility of UN sanctions, or even military intervention, against the Assad government.
By the end of January 2012, it was reported by
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was esta ...
that over 5,000 civilians and protesters (including armed militants) had been killed by the Syrian army, security agents and militia (
Shabiha
''Shabiha'' (Levantine Arabic: ', ; also romanized ''Shabeeha'' or ''Shabbiha''; ) is a term for state sponsored militias of the Syrian government. However, in the Aleppo Governorate the term Shabiha is used frequently to refer to pro-Assad Sunn ...
), while 1,100 people had been killed by "terrorist armed forces".
On 10 January 2012, Assad gave a speech in which he maintained the uprising was engineered by foreign countries and proclaimed that "victory
asnear". He also said that the
Arab League, by suspending Syria, revealed that it was no longer Arab. However, Assad also said the country would not "close doors" to an Arab-brokered solution if "national sovereignty" was respected. He also said a referendum on a new constitution could be held in March.
![Bombed out vehicles Aleppo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Bombed_out_vehicles_Aleppo.jpg)
On 27 February 2012, Syria claimed that a proposal that a new constitution be drafted received 90% support during the
relevant referendum. The referendum introduced a fourteen-year cumulative term limit for the president of Syria. The referendum was pronounced meaningless by foreign nations including the U.S. and Turkey; the EU announced fresh sanctions against key regime figures. In July 2012, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (russian: Сергей Викторович Лавров, ; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat and politician who has served as the Foreign Minister of Russia since 2004.
Lavrov served as the Permanent Represe ...
denounced Western powers for what he said amounted to blackmail thus provoking a civil war in Syria.
On 15 July 2012, the
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
declared Syria to be in a state of civil war, as the nationwide death toll for all sides was reported to have neared 20,000.
On 6 January 2013, Assad, in his first major speech since June, said that the conflict in his country was due to "enemies" outside of Syria who would "go to Hell" and that they would "be taught a lesson". However, he said that he was still open to a political solution saying that failed attempts at a solution "does not mean we are not interested in a political solution."
After the fall of four military bases in September 2014,
which were the last government footholds in the
Raqqa Governorate
Raqqa Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة الرقة, Muḥāfaẓat ar-Raqqah) is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is situated in the north of the country and covers an area of 19,618 km2. The capital is Raqqa. The Islamic State ...
, Assad received significant criticism from his Alawite base of support.
This included remarks made by Douraid al-Assad, cousin of Bashar al-Assad, demanding the resignation of the Syrian Defence Minister,
Fahd Jassem al-Freij
Fahd Jassem al-Freij ( ar, فهد جاسم الفريج) (born 17 January 1950) is the former Minister of Defense of Syria, took office on 18 July 2012 and left office on 1 January 2018.
Early life and education
Freij was born in Rahjan in a S ...
, following the massacre by the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) of hundreds of government troops captured after the ISIL victory at
Tabqa Airbase. This was shortly followed by Alawite protests in
Homs demanding the resignation of the governor, and the dismissal of Assad's cousin
Hafez Makhlouf
Hafez Mohamad Makhlouf ( ar, حافظ مخلوف; born 2 April 1971), also known as Hafez Makhlouf, is a retired Syrian colonel and former intelligence officer who was head of the Damascus branch of the Syrian General Intelligence Director ...
from his security position leading to his subsequent exile to Belarus. Growing resentment towards Assad among Alawites was fuelled by the disproportionate number of soldiers killed in fighting hailing from Alawite areas,
a sense that the Assad regime has abandoned them, as well as the failing economic situation.
Figures close to Assad began voicing concerns regarding the likelihood of its survival, with one saying in late 2014; "I don't see the current situation as sustainable ... I think Damascus will collapse at some point."
[
]
In 2015, several members of the Assad family died in Latakia under unclear circumstances. On 14 March, an influential cousin of Assad and founder of the shabiha
''Shabiha'' (Levantine Arabic: ', ; also romanized ''Shabeeha'' or ''Shabbiha''; ) is a term for state sponsored militias of the Syrian government. However, in the Aleppo Governorate the term Shabiha is used frequently to refer to pro-Assad Sunn ...
, Mohammed Toufic al-Assad, was assassinated with five bullets to the head in a dispute over influence in Qardaha
Qardaha ( ar, القَرْدَاحَة / ALA-LC: ''Qardāḥah'') is a town in northwestern Syria, in the mountains overlooking the coastal town of Latakia. Nearby localities include Kilmakho to the west, Bustan al-Basha to the southwest, Harf a ...
—the ancestral home
An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...
of the Assad family. In April 2015, Assad ordered the arrest of his cousin Munther al-Assad in Alzirah, Latakia. It remains unclear whether the arrest was due to actual crimes.
After a string of government defeats in northern and southern Syria, analysts noted growing government instability coupled with continued waning support for the Assad government among its core Alawite base of support, and that there were increasing reports of Assad relatives, Alawites, and businessmen fleeing Damascus for Latakia and foreign countries. Intelligence chief 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
...
was placed under house arrest sometime in April and stood accused of plotting with Assad's exiled uncle 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 ...
to replace Bashar as president. Further high-profile deaths included the commanders of the Fourth Armoured Division, the Belli military airbase, the army's special forces and of the First Armoured Division, with an errant air strike during the Palmyra offensive killing two officers who were reportedly related to Assad.
Since Russian intervention 2015–present
On 4 September 2015, when prospects of Assad's survival looked bleak, Russian President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
said that Russia was providing the Assad government with sufficiently "serious" help: with both logistical and military support. Shortly after the start of direct military intervention by Russia on 30 September 2015 at the formal request of the Syrian government, Putin stated the military operation had been thoroughly prepared in advance and defined Russia's goal in Syria as "stabilising the legitimate power in Syria and creating the conditions for political compromise". Putin's intervention saved Assad regime at a time when it was on the verge of a looming collapse. It also enabled Moscow to achieve its key geo-strategic objectives such as total control of Syrian airspace, naval bases that granted permanent marital reach across the Eastern Mediterranean and easier access to intervene in Libya.
In November 2015, Assad reiterated that a diplomatic process to bring the country's civil war to an end could not begin while it was occupied by "terrorists", although it was considered by BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
to be unclear whether he meant only ISIL
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
or Western-supported rebels as well. On 22 November, Assad said that within two months of its air campaign Russia had achieved more in its fight against ISIL than the U.S.-led coalition had achieved in a year. In an interview with Česká televize
Czech Television ( cs, Česká televize, italics=no ; abbreviation: ČT) is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting seven channels. Established after the Velvet Revolution in 1992, it is the successor to Czechoslov ...
on 1 December, he said that the leaders who demanded his resignation were of no interest to him, as nobody takes them seriously because they are "shallow" and controlled by the U.S. At the end of December 2015, senior U.S. officials privately admitted that Russia had achieved its central goal of stabilising Syria and, with the expenses relatively low, could sustain the operation at this level for years to come.
In December 2015, Putin stated that Russia was supporting Assad's forces and was ready to back anti-Assad rebels as long as they were fighting ISIL.
On 22 January 2016, the ''Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...
'', citing anonymous "senior western intelligence officials", claimed that Russian general Igor Sergun, the director of GRU
The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...
, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...
, had shortly before his sudden death on 3 January 2016 been sent to Damascus with a message from Vladimir Putin asking that President Assad step aside. The ''Financial Times report was denied by Putin's spokesman.
It was reported in December 2016 that Assad's forces had retaken half of rebel-held Aleppo, ending a 6-year stalemate in the city. On 15 December, as it was reported government forces were on the brink of retaking all of Aleppo—a "turning point" in the civil war, Assad celebrated the "liberation" of the city, and stated, "History is being written by every Syrian citizen."
After the election of Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
, the priority of the U.S. concerning Assad was unlike the priority of the Obama administration, and in March 2017 U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley stated the U.S. was no longer focused on "getting Assad out", but this position changed in the wake of the 2017 Khan Shaykhun chemical attack
The Khan Shaykhun chemical attack took place on 4 April 2017 on the town of Khan Shaykhun in the Idlib Governorate of Syria. The town was reported to have been struck by an airstrike by government forces followed by massive civilian chemic ...
. Following the missile strikes on a Syrian airbase on the orders of President Trump, Assad's spokesperson described the U.S.' behaviour as "unjust and arrogant aggression" and stated that the missile strikes "do not change the deep policies" of the Syrian government. President Assad also told the Agence France-Presse that Syria's military had given up all its chemical weapons in 2013, and would not have used them if they still retained any, and stated that the chemical attack was a "100 percent fabrication" used to justify a U.S. airstrike. In June 2017, Russian President Putin said "Assad didn't use the hemical weapons and that the chemical attack was "done by people who wanted to blame him for that." UN and international chemical weapons inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an intergovernmental organisation and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force on 29 April 1997. The OPCW, with its 193 member ...
(OPCW) found the attack was the work of the Assad regime.
On 7 November 2017, the Syrian government announced that it had signed the Paris Climate Agreement
The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and ...
.
On 30 August 2020, the First Hussein Arnous government
The first government of Hussein Arnous was formed on 30 August 2020 and took the oath of office on 2 September 2020. A new Council of Ministers was formed by Hussein Arnous at the appointment of President Bashar al-Assad. This government was t ...
was formed, which included a new Council of Ministers
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...
.
On 10 August 2021, the Second Hussein Arnous government
The second government of Hussein Arnous was formed after appointment by the President of Syria on 10 August 2021 and took the oath of office on 14 August 2021, after the presidential election held in May. This replaced the caretaker ministry f ...
was formed.
Domestic policies
Economy
According to ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
, as a result of the Syrian civil war, "government-controlled Syria is truncated in size, battered and impoverished." Economic sanctions (the Syria Accountability Act) were applied long before the Syrian civil war by the U.S. and were joined by the EU at the outbreak of the civil war, causing disintegration of the Syrian economy. These sanctions were reinforced in October 2014 by the EU and U.S. Industry in parts of the country that are still held by the government is heavily state-controlled, with economic liberalisation
Economic liberalization (or economic liberalisation) is the lessening of government regulations and restrictions in an economy in exchange for greater participation by private entities. In politics, the doctrine is associated with classical liber ...
being reversed during the current conflict. The London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
has stated that as a result of the Syrian civil war, a war economy
A war economy or wartime economy is the set of contingencies undertaken by a modern state to mobilize its economy for war production. Philippe Le Billon describes a war economy as a "system of producing, mobilizing and allocating resources t ...
has developed in Syria. A 2014 European Council on Foreign Relations
The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decisi ...
report also stated that a war economy has formed:
A UN commissioned report by the Syrian Centre for Policy Research states that two-thirds of the Syrian population now lives in "extreme poverty". Unemployment stands at 50 percent. In October 2014, a $50 million mall opened in Tartus
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, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, imagesize =
, image_caption = Tartus corniche Port of Tartus • Tartus beach and boulevard Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa • Al-Assad Stadium&n ...
which provoked criticism from government supporters and was seen as part of an Assad government policy of attempting to project a sense of normalcy throughout the civil war. A government policy to give preference to families of slain soldiers for government jobs was cancelled after it caused an uproar while rising accusations of corruption caused protests. In December 2014, the EU banned sales of jet fuel to the Assad government, forcing the government to buy more expensive uninsured jet fuel shipments in the future.
Human rights
A 2007 law required internet cafés
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...
to record all the comments users post on chat forums. Websites such as Arabic Wikipedia
The Arabic Wikipedia ( ar, ويكيبيديا العربية) is the Modern Standard Arabic version of Wikipedia. It started on 9 July 2003. As of , it has articles, registered users and files and it is the largest edition of Wikipedia by ...
, YouTube, and Facebook were blocked intermittently between 2008 and February 2011.
Human Rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
and Amnesty International, have detailed how the Assad government's secret police
Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of ...
allegedly tortured, imprisoned, and killed political opponents, and those who speak out against the government. In addition, some 600 Lebanese political prisoners are thought to be held in government prisons since the Syrian occupation of Lebanon
The Syrian occupation of Lebanon ( ar, الاحتلال السوري للبنان, french: Occupation syrienne du Liban) began in 1976, during the Lebanese Civil War, and ended on 30 April 2005 after the Cedar Revolution and several demonstrat ...
, with some held for as long as over 30 years. Since 2006, the Assad government has expanded the use of travel bans against political dissidents. In an interview with ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
in 2007, Assad stated: "We don't have such hings aspolitical prisoners," though ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reported the arrest of 30 Syrian political dissidents who were organising a joint opposition front in December 2007, with 3 members of this group considered to be opposition leaders being remanded in custody.
In 2010, Syria banned face veils at universities. Following the Syrian uprising in 2011, Assad partially relaxed the veil ban.
'' Foreign Policy'' magazine released an editorial on Assad's position in the wake of the 2011 protests:
War crimes
Numerous politicians, dissidents, authors and journalists have nicknamed Assad as the "butcher" of Syria for his war-crimes, anti-Sunni sectarian mass-killings, chemical weapons attacks
A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wi ...
and ethnic cleansing campaigns. The Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
has stated that at least 10 European citizens were tortured by the Assad government while detained during the Syrian civil war, potentially leaving Assad open to prosecution by individual European countries for war crimes. Stephen Rapp, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, has argued that the crimes committed by Assad are the worst seen since those of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. In March 2015, Rapp further stated that the case against Assad is "much better" than those against Slobodan Milošević of Serbia or Charles Taylor of Liberia, both of whom were indicted by international tribunals.
In a February 2015 interview with the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, Assad described accusations that the