Who is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad?

In addition, he is commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and Regional Secretary of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party’s branch in Syria. His father, Hafez al-Assad, was also President of Syria from 1971 to 2000.

How did Hafez al-Assad prepare Bashar al-Assad for taking over?

Soon after the death of Bassel, Hafez al-Assad decided to make Bashar the new heir apparent. Over the next six and a half years, until his death in 2000, Hafez prepared Bashar for taking over power. Preparations for a smooth transition were made on three levels.

Will the US-led strikes on Syria’s Assad end his presidency?

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has survived seven years of a devastating war and intense international pressure to step aside. While Saturday’s US-led air strikes on Syrian government facilities will be a blow to his attempts to unify Syria under his rule, there’s been little suggestion that they are aimed at ending his presidency.

What caused the downfall of President Assad?

Rhetorical bait and switch enabled Assad to neglect political reform while cultivating support among wealthy elite. In January 2011, citizens across Egypt and Tunisia began demonstrating against their governments. Their calls for change swelled into a collective outrage that, in Tunisia, quickly pushed the president into exile.

Who are Bashar and Hafez al Assad’s Brothers?

At the front are Hafez and his wife, Anisa. At the back row, from left to right: Maher, Bashar, Bassel, Majd, and Bushra. Unlike his brothers Bassel and Maher, and second sister, also named Bushra, Bashar was quiet, reserved and lacked interest in politics or the military.

What does Baasar Hafez al-Assad stand for?

Bashar Hafez al-Assad (Arabic: بشار حافظ الأسد‎‎ Baššār Ḥāfiẓ al-ʾAsad, pronunciation Levantine pronunciation: [baʃˈʃaːr ˈħaːfezˤ elˈʔasad]; born 11 September 1965) is the President of Syria, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces, General Secretary of the ruling Ba’ath Party and Regional Secretary of the party’s branch in Syria.

What happened to the Assad family in 2015?

In 2015, several members of the Assad family died in Latakia under unclear circumstances. On 14 March, an influential cousin of Assad and founder of the shabiha, Mohammed Toufic al-Assad, was assassinated with five bullets to the head in a dispute over influence in Qardaha—the ancestral home of the Assad family.

Who is Bashar Assad’s father Hafez Assad?

Assad’s father, Hafez, was born to an impoverished rural family of Alawite background and rose through the Ba’ath Party ranks to take control of the Syrian branch of the Party in the 1970 Corrective Revolution, culminating in his rise to the Syrian presidency.

Are Syria’s Alawites seeking to distance themselves from Assad?

Syria’s Alawite community is widely written about in the foreign media as Bashar al-Assad’s core support base and is said to dominate the government’s security apparatus, yet in April 2016 a BBC report claimed that Alawite leaders released a document seeking to distance themselves from Assad.

Who is the current president of Syria now?

Bashar al-Assad. Bashar Hafez al-Assad (Arabic: بشار حافظ الأسد‎ Baššār Ḥāfiẓ al-ʾAsad, Levantine pronunciation: [baʃˈʃaːr ˈħaːfezˤ elˈʔasad]; English pronunciation ; born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who has been the President of Syria since 17 July 2000.

What is President Assad’s economic priority?

In interviews with international media, Assad invoked the economy as Syria’s first priority. Real reform could be found in the wake of financial stability, he implied; what mattered most was to catch Syria up to an increasingly globalised world of trade and international tourism.