Hafez al-Assad was a Syrian politician, dictator and military officer 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, a power that lasted until the fall of the regime in 2024, then led by his son Bashar.
Bassel al-Assad was a Syrian military officer, engineer and politician. He was the eldest son of the 18th Syrian president Hafez al-Assad. He was expected to succeed his father as president until his death in a car crash in January 1994. After his death, his younger brother Bashar became heir apparent to the Syrian presidency and ultimately succeeded their father upon his death.
Qardaha 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 al-Musaytirah to the southeast and Muzayraa to the north. According to the Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics, Qardaha had a population of 8,671 in 2004. It has a predominantly Alawite population and is the traditional home of the Assad family, which ruled Syria from 1970 until 2024. It is believed that many of Assad’s loyalists have fled to Qardaha after the end of the Assad regime in December 2024.
Muzayraa is a town in northwestern Syria administratively part of the Latakia Governorate, located east of Latakia. Nearby localities include Difa and Hanadi to the west, al-Jandiriyah to the northwest, al-Haffah and Ayn al-Tineh to the north, Slinfah to the northeast, Shathah to the east and Qardaha to the south. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Muzayraa had a population was 834 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center and the fourth largest locality of the Muzayraa nahiyah ("subdistrict") which contained 27 localities with a collective population of 13,908 in 2004. Its inhabitants are predominantly Christians.
The Rif Dimashq offensive was a Syrian government forces and allies offensive in the Rif Dimashq Governorate, that was launched in mid-September 2013, as part of the Syrian Civil War.
The 2014 Idlib offensive was a series of operations conducted by the rebels against the Syrian Government in the Idlib Governorate during the Syrian Civil War. The clashes were mostly concentrated around Khan Shaykhun and on the highway towards Maarrat al-Nu'man.
The Battle of Al-Malihah took place in the Rif Dimashq Governorate during the Syrian Civil War.
The 2014 raid on Idlib city refers to a military operation in the Idlib Governorate, during the Syrian Civil War, conducted by mainly Salafi jihadists backed by Islamist rebels against the Syrian Government.
The northwestern Syria offensive , dubbed by the rebels as the Battle of Victory, took place in the Idlib and Hama governorates during the Syrian Civil War.
The Aleppo offensive was a Syrian Army large-scale strategic offensive south of Aleppo. The main objective of the operation was to secure the Azzan Mountains, while also creating a larger buffer zone around the only highway to the provincial capital controlled by the Syrian government. A related objective was to establish favourable conditions for a planned offensive to isolate rebel forces in Aleppo City and to relieve the long-standing siege of a pro-government enclave in Aleppo Governorate.
The Homs offensive from November to December 2015 was launched by Syrian government forces during the Syrian Civil War in November 2015. The objective of the operation was to recapture territory lost to ISIL, in the eastern part of the Homs Governorate, during the fall of that year.
The 2015–2016 Latakia offensive was a campaign of the Syrian Civil War that was launched by government forces in October 2015 to recapture rebel-held territory in the Latakia Governorate bordering Turkey.
The Northern Aleppo offensive refers to a military operation launched northwest of Aleppo in early February 2016 by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies. The offensive successfully broke the three-year Siege of Nubl and Al-Zahraa, effectively cutting off the main supply route of the Syrian rebels from Turkey.
Ali Mahmoud was a Syrian lieutenant general in the Syrian Army.
Assad Mausoleum, commonly known as Hafez al-Assad Mausoleum, officially known as "Immortal Leader's Mausoleum" during the Ba'athist regime, was the mausoleum of the Assad family, which ruled Syria from 1971 until 2024. It was mainly centered on the mausoleum of former President of Syria Hafez al-Assad and his eldest son Bassel al-Assad. The mausoleum was located in the village of Qardaha in Latakia Governorate, in the Syrian Coastal Mountains. The predominantly Alawite village was the traditional home of the Assad family. On 8 December 2024, the fall of Damascus led to the fall of the Assad regime. On 11 December, the mausoleum was destroyed.
A number of mass graves were uncovered after the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. The primary site was located in al-Qutayfah, approximately 37 km north of Damascus, with additional mass graves discovered throughout the southern Damascus countryside and in southern Syria. The primary al-Qutayfah site was predicted by investigators to contain the human remains of at least 100,000 people who had been systematically and extrajudicially killed.
Following the fall of the Assad regime after several offensives launched by opposition groups between late November and early December 2024, several clashes between Assad loyalists and incumbent Syrian transitional government forces have occurred primarily in hold-outs in the Alawite-majority Tartus and Latakia Governorates, as well as in western Hama and Homs Governorates.
On December 26, 2024, the Syrian Transitional Government announced that it had arrested Major General Mohammed Kanjo Hassan, former head of the military judiciary under the Assad regime and a prison guard at Sednaya prison.
Mohammed Kanjo Hassan was a Syrian major general who served as head of Syria's military field court and chief of military justice across Syria.
Announcement on Syrian television relayed by Israeli television part 1 
