1. Bahjat Suleiman was a Syrian diplomat and former military officer.
13 Facts About Bahjat Suleiman
1. 2.
Bahjat Suleiman served as the head of the internal branch of the General Intelligence Directorate, known as Branch 251, in Syria, and was Syria's Ambassador to Jordan from 2009 to 2014.
3.
Bahjat Suleiman was born to an Alawite family in 1949 in the city of Latakia, located in western Syria.
4.
Bahjat Suleiman joined the Syrian Army in 1968 and graduated from the Homs Military Academy with a BA in military sciences in 1970.
5.
Bahjat Suleiman was a company commander, battalion, regiment, and tank brigade in the Defense Companies, the paramilitary force in Syria that was commanded by Rifaat al-Assad, and then in the Syrian Arab Army.
6.
Bahjat Suleiman began his career as a staunch supporter of Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of current President Bashar al-Assad, however later switched loyalties to the late Hafez al-Assad.
7.
When Hafez al-Assad died on June 10,2000, Bahjat Suleiman publicly pledged support for Bashar al-Assad.
8.
Bahjat Suleiman was the mastermind of the regime's media policies since Assad took power in 1971.
9.
Bahjat Suleiman was a leader in the Baath Party and had published many research pieces and publications on former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and his son, Basil al-Assad.
10.
Bahjat Suleiman had his own blog on Facebook, which published his writings, under the name "Swords of Reason with Bahjat Suleiman".
11.
Bahjat Suleiman was one of several high-ranking Syrian government and military officials named as responsible for the assassination of Rafic Hariri in a draft of the United Nations Mehlis Report that was erroneously released as a Microsoft Word document which preserved changes that had been made in the document since its creation.
12.
In May 2014, Bahjat Suleiman was expelled from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan over "repeated insults" against the kingdom.
13.
Syria responded by declaring Jordan's charge d'affaires in Damascus persona non grata, saying the expulsion of Bahjat Suleiman was an unjustified move to expel its ambassador.