Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri was an Iraqi politician and army field marshal. He served as Vice Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council until the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and was regarded as the closest advisor and deputy under President Saddam Hussein. He led the Iraqi insurgent group Naqshbandi Army.
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.
Farouk al-Sharaa 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 became Vice President of Syria.
Hadi al-Amiri is an Iraqi politician who is the head and secretary general of the Badr Organization,a Shiite political party and paramilitary organization based in Iraq.
Maher al-Assad is a Syrian general and commander of the Syrian Army's elite 4th Armoured Division,which together with Syria's Military Intelligence form the core of the country's security forces. He is also a member of the Central Committee of the Ba'ath Party's Syrian Regional Branch.
Walid Mohi Edine al Muallem was a Syrian diplomat and Ba'ath Party member who served as foreign minister from 2006 to 2020 and as deputy prime minister from 2012 to 2020.
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.
Iraq–Syria relations are the bilateral/diplomatic relations between the sovereign states of Iraq and Syria. Both countries/nations are neighbours and they share the Iraq–Syria border. Relations are marked by long-shared cultural and political links,as well as former regional rivalry. The two countries took their present form after the Sykes–Picot Agreement to dismember the Ottoman Empire into British and French spheres of influence after World War I.
Bouthaina Shaaban is a Syrian politician and political and media adviser to the President of Syria,Bashar al-Assad. Shaaban served as the first Minister of Expatriates for the Syrian Arab Republic,between 2002 and 2008,and has been described as the Syrian government's face to the outside world.
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.
Rami Makhlouf is a Syrian businessman and the maternal cousin of president Bashar al-Assad. At the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011,he was considered to be one of Syria's richest and most powerful men. According to Syrian analysts,he is part of al-Assad's inner circle and no foreign company could do business in Syria at the time without his consent and partnership.
International reactions to the Syrian civil war ranged from support for the government to calls for the government to dissolve. The Arab League,United Nations and Western governments in 2011 quickly condemned the Syrian government's response to the protests which later evolved into the Syrian civil war as overly heavy-handed and violent. Many Middle Eastern governments initially expressed support for the government and its "security measures",but as the death toll mounted,especially in Hama,they switched to a more balanced approach,criticizing violence from both government and protesters. Russia and China vetoed two attempts at United Nations Security Council sanctions against the Syrian government.
Relations between the Arab Republic of Iraq and State of Palestine have historically been close,with Palestinian Liberation Organization supported by the Ba'athist Iraqi regime during the second half of the 20th century,and vice versa,Iraqi Ba'athist regime supported by PLO leadership during the Gulf War. The State of Palestine has an embassy and consulate in Baghdad and Erbil accordingly,but Iraq doesn't have an embassy in Palestine.
Syria and Iran are strategic allies. Syria is usually called Iran's "closest ally",notwithstanding the conflict between the Arab nationalism ideology of Syria's secular ruling Ba'ath Party and the Islamic Republic of Iran's pan-Islamist policy. Iran and Syria have had a strategic alliance ever since the Iran–Iraq War,when Syria sided with non-Arab Iran against neighbouring Ba'ath-ruled Iraq. The two countries shared a common animosity towards then-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and coordination against the United States and Israel.
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 served as Syria's point-man for its relationship with Iran and Lebanon's Shia militias. Nasif was among several officials that were sanctioned by the European Union for the use of violence against civilians during the Syrian civil war.
Dhu al-Himma Shalish was the first cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and head of presidential security. He was part of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle.
Ba'athism,also spelled Baathism,is an Arab nationalist ideology which promotes the creation and development of a unified Arab state through the leadership of a vanguard party over a socialist revolutionary government. The ideology is officially based on the theories of the Syrian intellectuals Michel Aflaq,Zaki al-Arsuzi,and Salah al-Din al-Bitar. Ba'athist leaders of the modern era include the former president of Iraq Saddam Hussein,former president of Syria Hafez al-Assad,and his son,the current president of Syria,Bashar al-Assad.
The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019,also known as the Caesar Act,is United States legislation that sanctions the Syrian government,including Syrian president Bashar al-Assad,for war crimes against the Syrian population. The Act was signed into law by President Trump in December 2019,and came into force on June 17,2020.
Jaysh al-Mu'ammal,also known as Liwa al-Mu'ammal or as the Popular Mobilization Forces' 99th Brigade,is a Shia Islamist Iraqi private militia that is led by Sa'ad Sawar and has fought in the Syrian Civil War and Iraqi Civil War. Founded as a splinter faction of the Sadrist Movement,Jaysh al-Mu'ammal is supported by Iran and former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Syrian foreign policy during the presidency of Bashar al-Assad is based on continuity from the Cold War-era policies of his father and predecessor,Hafiz al-Assad. Hafiz al-Assad was a strong supporter of Soviet Union and aligned Ba'athist Syria closely with the Eastern Bloc. During this period,Syria adopted a strong anti-Zionist posture in the region,based on its military doctrine of gaining "strategic parity" and forming joint Arab initiatives.
