Politics in the Syrian Arab Republic takes place in the framework of a presidential republic with nominal multi-party representation in People's Council under the Ba'athist-dominated National Progressive Front. In practice, Syria is a one-party state where independent parties are outlawed; with a powerful secret police that cracks down on dissidents. Since the 1963 seizure of power by its Military Committee, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party has governed Syria as a totalitarian police state. After a period of intra-party strife, Hafez al-Assad gained control of the party following the 1970 coup d'état and his family has dominated the country's politics ever since.
Hafez al-Assad was a Syrian statesman, military officer and revolutionary who served as the 18th president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. He had previously served as 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. Hafez al-Assad was a key participant in the 1963 Syrian coup d'état, which brought the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party to power in the country.
Bashar al-Assad is a Syrian politician who is the current and 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 nominally espouses a neo-Ba'athist ideology. His father and predecessor was General Hafiz al-Assad, whose presidency in 1971–2000 marked the transfiguration of Syria from a republican state into a de facto dynastic dictatorship, tightly controlled by an Alawite-dominated elite composed of the armed forces and the Mukhabarat, who are loyal to the al-Assad family.
The Hama massacre occurred in February 1982 when the Syrian Arab Army and the Defense Companies, under orders of president Hafez al-Assad, besieged the town of Hama for 27 days in order to quell an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood against the Ba'athist government. The campaign that had begun in 1976 by Sunni Muslim groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, was brutally crushed in an anti-Sunni massacre at Hama, carried out by the Syrian Arab Army and Alawite militias under commanding General Rifaat al-Assad.
Bassel al-Assad was a Syrian engineer, colonel, equestrian and politician who was the eldest son of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and the older brother of (later) President Bashar al-Assad. It was widely expected that he would succeed his father as President of Syria until he died in a car accident in 1994.
Rifaat Ali al-Assad is the younger brother of the late President of Syria, Hafez al-Assad, and Jamil al-Assad, and the uncle of the incumbent President Bashar al-Assad. He was the commanding officer of the ground operations of the 1982 Hama massacre ordered by Hafez al-Assad. 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.
Assef Shawkat was a Syrian military officer who was the Deputy Minister of Defense of Syria from September 2011 until his death in July 2012.
Jamil al-Assad 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.
The 1966 Syrian coup d'état refers to events between 21 and 23 February during which the government of the Syrian Arab Republic was overthrown and replaced. The ruling National Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party were removed from power by a union of the party's Military Committee and the Regional Command, under the leadership of Salah Jadid.
The al-Assad family, also known as the Assad dynasty, is a Syrian political family that has ruled Syria since Hafiz 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.
Ali Issa Ibrahim Duba, also known as Ali Douba, was the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate of Syria and a close adviser to the Syrian president Hafez al-Assad. The military intelligence under Douba was the single most important security agency in Syria, handling security within the army, but also dealing with the general safeguarding of the regime.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from May to August 2011, including the escalation of violence in many Syrian cities.
Protests began in Syria as early as 26 January 2011, and erupted on 15 March 2011 with a "Day of Rage" protest generally considered to mark the start of a nationwide uprising. The Syrian government's reaction to the protests became violent on 16 March, and deadly on 18 March, when four unarmed protesters were killed in Daraa.
The modern history of Syria begins with the termination of Ottoman control of Syria by French forces and the establishment of the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration during World War I. The short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria emerged in 1920, which was however soon committed under the French Mandate, which produced the short-lived autonomous State of Aleppo, State of Damascus, Alawite State and Jabal al-Druze (state); the autonomies were transformed into the Mandatory Syrian Republic in 1930. Syrian Republic gained independence in April 1946. The Republic took part in the Arab-Israeli War and remained in a state of political instability during the 1950s and 1960s.
Mohammed Nasif Kheirbek 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 Syria's point-man for its relationship with Iran and Lebanon's Shia militias. He was 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.
The Syrian revolution, also known as the Syrian Revolution of Dignity, was the series of mass protests and uprisings – with subsequent violent reaction by the Syrian Arab Republic – lasting from March 2011 to June 2012, as part of the wider Arab Spring in the Arab world. The revolution, which demanded the end of the decades-long rule of Assad family, began as minor demonstrations during January 2011 and transformed into nation-wide mass protests in March. The uprising was marked by large-scale protests against the Ba'athist dictatorship of president Bashar al-Assad, meeting with police and military violence, massive arrests and a brutal crackdown, resulting in thousands of deaths and tens of thousands wounded.
Ali Haydar, known as the "Father of the Syrian Special Forces", was a Syrian military officer who was the commander of the Syrian Special Forces for 26 years. He was a close confidant to President Hafez al-Assad and one of the members of Assad's inner circle. Born in the village of Hallet Ara, Haydar was a member of the Ba'ath Party from his youth. He was commissioned into the Syrian Army in 1952 after a stint studying at the Homs Military Academy. After the Ba'ath Party seized power in a 1963 coup d'état, Haydar was put in charge of Syria's special forces and supported al-Assad in his rise to the presidency. During this time he was deployed to Lebanon during their civil war. Haydar opposed the 1984 coup d'état attempt led by Rifaat al-Assad, instead remaining loyal to Hafez al-Assad. After suffering an aneurysm and leaving his post in 1988, he returned to lead the special forces again in the early 1990s. At the time a Major General, he was formally removed from his position and then imprisoned in August 1994, though he was treated well during his brief prison stay and was released without a trial or public humiliation. Haydar died in Latakia at the age of 90.
This article details the history of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Ba'ath Party.
This article discusses the background and reasons that contributed to the outbreak of the Syrian revolution. What began as large-scale peaceful protests in March 2011 as part of the 2010–11 Arab Spring protests that reverberated across the Arab World, eventually escalated into a civil war following the brutal crackdown by Assad regime's security apparatus.
Bahjat Suleiman, 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, in Syria. He was instrumental in the accession of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to the presidency and was considered to be his confidant and mentor, and in his "inner circle."
