Salah Jadid was a Syrian general, a leader of the left-wing of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in Syria, and the country's de facto leader from 1966 until 1970, when he was ousted by Hafez al-Assad's Corrective Movement.
Sami Moubayed is a Syrian historian and a writer who has written on the modern history of Damascus from the late Ottoman period until creation of the United Arab Republic in 1958.
Abdul Halim Khaddam was a Syrian politician who served as interim President of Syria in 2000. He also was Vice President of Syria and "High Commissioner" to Lebanon from 1984 to 2005. He was long known as a loyalist of Hafez Assad until he resigned from his position and left the country in 2005 in protest against certain policies of Hafez's son and successor, Bashar Assad. He accumulated substantial wealth while in office: a Credit Suisse account, opened in 1994, was nearly 90 million Swiss francs in September 2003, per Suisse secrets.
Imad Moustapha is the Syrian Ambassador to China and his country's former Ambassador to the United States.
Asma Fawaz al-Assad is the First Lady of Syria. Born and raised in London to Syrian parents, she is married to the 19th and current President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad.
Bassam Abdel Majeed is a Syrian military officer, politician and diplomat of Circassian origin.
Diplomatic relations between Syria and the United States are currently non-existent; they were suspended in 2012 after the onset of the Syrian Civil War. Priority issues between the two states include the Arab–Israeli conflict, the Golan Heights annexation, Iraq War, alleged state-sponsorship of terrorism, occupation of Lebanon, etc.
Abdulsalam Haykal is a Syrian technology and media entrepreneur, who lives and works in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He is the co-founder of Haykal Media, one of the Middle East’s main provider of digital knowledge and information platforms in Arabic, with several flagship products including the Arabic editions of Harvard Business Review, MIT Technology Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Popular Science, the new magazine Aliqtisadi, the English monthly Forward Magazine and Manhom. The Report: Emerging Syria 2008 listed Haykal Media with its magazines and online media as one of three main players in the media sector in Syria. Haykal is also the founder and a board member of Transtek, an enterprise software development firm.
The National Party was a Syrian political party founded in 1947, eventually dissolving in 1963, after the Syrian Ba'ath Party established one-party rule in Syria in a coup d'état. It grew out of the National Bloc, which opposed the Ottomans in Syria, and later demanded independence from the French mandate. The party saw the greatest support among the Damascene old guard and industrialists. It supported closer ties with the Arab countries and territories to Syria's south, mainly Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, and Mandatory Palestine, although it began supporting Hashemite-ruled Iraq and Jordan starting in 1949 amongst growing public support. While the dominant party in 1940s and early 1950s, it was replaced by its rival, the People's Party, thereafter. Similar to the People's Party, the National Party was also supported by landowners and landlords.
The 1963 Syrian coup d'état, referred to by the Syrian government as the 8 March Revolution, was the successful seizure of power in Syria by the military committee of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The planning and the unfolding conspiracy was inspired by the Iraqi Regional Branch's successful military coup.
Abd al-Qadir Qaddura was a Syrian politician who was a leading member of the Syria-based wing of the Ba'ath Party, in the era of President Hafez al-Assad. Qaddura served as speaker of the People's Council—the Syrian parliament—for much of the 1990s. He lost his post on the Ba'ath Party's leading board, the Regional Command, in 2005, as President Bashar al-Assad retired several main names from the Hafiz era.
Aliqtisadi is an Arabic-language business news portal that covers several countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and United Kingdom. It is published by Haykal Media, based in twofour54, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Adnan al-Malki was a Syrian Army officer and political figure in the mid-20th century. He served as the deputy-chief of staff of the army and was one of the most powerful figures in the army and in national politics until his assassination, which was blamed on a Syrian Social Nationalist Party militant in 1955. At the time of his assassination he held the rank of Colonel in the Syrian Army.
Al Iqtissadiya is a weekly Arabic newspaper published in Syria. The paper is one of the first privately owned publications in Syria. Its sister paper is Al Watan, a daily newspaper.
Mustafa Badreddine, also known as Mustafa Badr Al Din, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Mustafa Youssef Badreddine, Sami Issa, and Elias Fouad Saab, was a military leader of Hezbollah and both the cousin and brother-in-law of Imad Mughniyah. He was nicknamed Dhu al-Fiqar referring to the legendary sword of Imam Ali. His death is seen as one of the biggest blows in the Hezbollah leadership.
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.
Salim Hatum was a Syrian Army officer who played a significant role in Syrian politics in the 1960s. A member of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, he was instrumental in the 1966 Syrian coup d'état that toppled the government of Amin al-Hafiz, also a Ba'athist. That same year he launched an insurrection from his home region of Jabal al-Druze against his colleagues who formed the new government but sidelined him from any major position. He fled Syria amid a warrant for his arrest, but returned in 1967 and was subsequently jailed and executed.
Sami Droubi was a Syrian politician, career diplomat, writer, translator, university professor and philosopher. He worked as a Syrian diplomat throughout the 1960s, serving, succession, as the Syrian ambassador to Brazil, Morocco, Yugoslavia, and Egypt and the Arab League, Spain and the Holy See. He briefly served as Education Minister in 1963. He also translated numerous literary works into Arabic.
Maurice Nseiri is a Syrian Jewish craftsman skilled in the art of metalwork.
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."
