Saad Abdel-Salam al-Nayef was the Minister of Health of Syria [1] from August 25, 2012 to December 2024 when the Assad regime collapsed. [2] He was appointed to the position after his predecessor, Wael Nader Al-Halqi, was appointed prime minister on 9 August 2012. [3]
On May 16, 2013, the United States Treasury Department designated four senior Syrian officials, including al-Nayef, for "backing the government of Bashar Al-Assad in suppressing people or involvement in terrorism". [4] [5]
Bashar al-Assad is a Syrian politician, military officer, and former dictator who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until his government was overthrown in the Syrian Revolution in 2024. As president, Assad was commander-in-chief of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces and secretary-general of the Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. He is the son of Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000.
Adel al-Jubeir is a Saudi diplomat serving as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs since 2018. He also serves as a Member of the Council of Ministers of Saudi Arabia and has been the Climate Affairs Envoy since 2022. Notably, he is the second non-royal to hold the office of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, succeeding Ibrahim bin Abdullah Al Suwaiyel. Previously, al-Jubeir was the Saudi Ambassador to the United States from 2007 to 2015 and a foreign policy advisor to King Abdullah.
Farouk al-Sharaa is a Syrian politician and diplomat. He was one of the most prominent officials in the Syrian government and served as foreign minister of Syria from 1984 until 2006 when he became a vice president of Syria. His term as vice president ended on 19 July 2014. He is the first cousin once removed of current President of Syria Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
Abdul Halim Khaddam was a Syrian politician who served as interim President of Syria in 2000 as well as the Vice President of Syria and the Syrian High Commissioner to Lebanon from 1984 to 2005. He was a long known loyalist of Hafez al-Assad under the Ba'athist regime in Syria after the Corrective Movement in 1970. He resigned from his position and left the country in 2005 in protest against certain policies of Hafez's son and successor, Bashar al-Assad. He accumulated substantial wealth while in office: a Credit Suisse account in his name, opened in 1994, had nearly 90 million Swiss francs in September 2003, per Suisse secrets. This puts Khaddam and his family's net worth at $1.1 billion, making them one of the wealthiest and most influential political families in the Middle East.
The General Intelligence Presidency (GIP) is the primary intelligence agency of Saudi Arabia.
The Cabinet of Syria was first constituted in the Syrian Constitution of 1930. Following the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024, Syria is currently undergoing a political transition, with Mohammed al-Bashir leading a Syrian Transitional Government.
Muhammad bin Nayef Al Saud, colloquially known by his initials MBN or MbN, is a former Saudi Arabian politician and businessman who served as the crown prince and first deputy prime minister of Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2017 and as the minister of interior from 2012 to 2017. Prince Muhammad is a grandson of the founding monarch, King Abdulaziz, and son of the former crown prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz. Muhammad and Nayef were the first father-son duo in Saudi history to serve as crown prince. Muhammad's uncle King Salman named him as crown prince on 29 April 2015. On 21 June 2017 the king appointed his own son, Mohammed bin Salman, as crown prince and relieved Muhammad bin Nayef of all positions. He has been in detention since 6 March 2020 along with his uncle Ahmed and his half-brother Nawwaf.
The Syrian civil war is an ongoing multi-sided conflict in Syria involving various state-sponsored and non-state actors. In March 2011, popular discontent with the Ba'athist regime ruled by Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale protests and pro-democracy rallies across Syria, as part of the wider Arab Spring protests in the region. After months of crackdown by the government's security apparatus, various armed rebel groups such as the Free Syrian Army began forming across the country, marking the beginning of the Syrian insurgency. By mid-2012, the Syrian Revolution escalated into a full-blown civil war.
Wael Nader Al-Halqi is a Syrian politician who was Prime Minister of Syria from 2012 to 2016. Previously he was Minister of Health from 2011 to 2012. He was appointed as Prime Minister on 9 August 2012.
Riyad Farid Hijab is a Syrian politician. He was Prime Minister of Syria from June to August 2012, serving under President Bashar al-Assad. From 2011 to 2012, he was Minister of Agriculture.
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.
This is a broad timeline of the course of major events of the Syrian civil war. It only includes major territorial changes and attacks and does not include every event.
Ali Mamlouk is a Syrian intelligence officer and special security and military advisor to President Bashar al-Assad. He is reportedly one of Assad's most trusted associates. From 2012 to 2019, Mamlouk served as the head of the National Security Bureau of the Ba'ath Party. On 9 July 2019, Mamlouk was appointed as the Syrian Deputy Vice President for Security Affairs.
Foreign involvement in the Syrian civil war refers to political, military and operational support to parties involved in the ongoing conflict in Syria that began in March 2011, as well as active foreign involvement. Most parties involved in the war in Syria receive various types of support from foreign countries and entities based outside Syria. The ongoing conflict in Syria is widely described as a series of overlapping proxy wars between the regional and world powers, primarily between the United States and Russia as well as between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Rafiq Shahadah is a retired Syrian Army major general. He was head of the Military Intelligence Directorate and the chief of staff of the Syrian Army's operations in Eastern Syria.
Najm Hamad Al Ahmad is a Syrian jurist and justice minister from 2012 until 2017.
Adnan Abdo Al Sukhni is a Syrian politician who has been serving as industry minister since August 2012.
Saudi Arabia–Syria relations refer to bilateral and economic relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria. Diplomatic ties between these two countries of the Middle East have long been strained by the major events in the region. Saudi Arabia has an embassy in Damascus, and Syria has an embassy in Riyadh. Both countries are members of the Arab League and share close cultural ties.
Events from the year 2013 in Syria.
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 the 94th since Syria gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1918 and was the seventh during the presidency of President Bashar al-Assad.