41 Facts About Hafez al-Assad

Hafez al-Assad was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000.

Hafez al-Assad was previously the 55th prime minister from 1970 to 1971 as well as the regional secretary of the regional command of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and secretary general of the National Command of the Ba'ath Party from 1970 to 2000.

Hafez al-Assad was a key participant in the 1963 Syrian coup d'etat, which brought the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party to power in the country, a power that lasted until the fall of the regime in 2024, then led by his son Bashar.

Hafez al-Assad's regime was accused of numerous human rights violations, including opening prison death camps.

Hafez al-Assad was born on 6 October 1930, in Qardaha, a town in the north-west of Syria.

Hafez al-Assad was born into a poor Alawite family belonging to the Kalbiyya tribe of Alawites.

Hafez al-Assad became the first in his family to attend high school, but in Latakia, Assad faced anti-Alawite bias from Sunnis.

Hafez al-Assad was an excellent student, winning several prizes at about age 14.

Hafez al-Assad was opposed by the Muslim Brotherhood, which allied itself with wealthy and conservative Sunni Muslim families.

Hafez al-Assad made many Sunni friends, some of whom later became his political allies.

Hafez al-Assad wanted to fly, and entered the flying school in Aleppo in 1950.

Hafez al-Assad married Anisa Makhlouf in 1957, a distant relative of the powerful Makhlouf family.

Hafez al-Assad was among the Syrian pilots who flew to Cairo to show Syria's commitment to Egypt.

Hafez al-Assad spent ten months in the Soviet Union, during which he fathered a daughter with his wife.

Hafez al-Assad's group was the only one that encountered resistance.

Hafez al-Assad demonstrated his skill as a patient planner during this period.

Hafez al-Assad's government was radically socialist, and sought to remake society from top to bottom.

Hafez al-Assad felt that the Palestinian guerrilla fighters had been given too much autonomy and had raided Israel constantly, which in turn sparked the war.

Hafez al-Assad first tried to establish national unity, which he felt had been lost under the leadership of Aflaq and Jadid.

Hafez al-Assad cut prices for basic foodstuffs 15 percent, which won him support from ordinary citizens.

Hafez al-Assad tried to modernize Syria's agricultural and industrial sectors; one of his main achievements was the completion of the Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates River in 1974.

The Defense Detachment commanded by Rifaat Hafez al-Assad played a leading role in the smuggling, importing $400,000 worth of goods a day.

The leading figures in the Alawite-dominated security system had family connections; Rifaat Hafez al-Assad controlled the Struggle Companies, and Assad's brother-in-law Adnan Makhlouf was his second-in-command as Commander of the Presidential Guard.

Until his 1985 ouster, Rifaat Hafez al-Assad was considered the face of corruption by the Syrian people.

Hafez al-Assad lacked his brother's stature and charisma, and was vulnerable to charges of corruption.

Rifaat Hafez al-Assad lacked military support; officers and soldiers resented the Defense Companies' monopoly of Damascus' security, their separate intelligence services and prisons and their higher pay.

Hafez al-Assad did not abandon the hope of succeeding his brother, opting to take control of the country through his post as Commander of Defense Companies.

Shortly after the poster war, all of Rifaat Hafez al-Assad's proteges were removed from positions of power.

Hafez al-Assad acquired this post by surrendering his position as Commander of Defense Companies to a Hafez supporter.

Rifaat Hafez al-Assad was succeeded as Defense Companies head by his son-in-law.

Hafez al-Assad believed, and continued to believe until long into his rule, that the only way to get Israel to negotiate with the Arabs was through war.

Hafez al-Assad believed that if the United Arab Republic had not collapsed, the Arabs would already have liberated Palestine.

Hafez al-Assad did not want a rightist victory either, instead of seeking a middle-ground solution which would safeguard Lebanon and the region.

Hafez al-Assad gave a larger role to Bassel al-Assad, who was rumored to be his father's planned successor; this kindled jealousy within the government.

Hafez al-Assad was quickly promoted to Brigadier Commander, and served for a time in the Republican Guard.

Hafez al-Assad studied most military subjects, "including a tank battalion commander, command and staff".

Bashar Hafez al-Assad was promoted to lieutenant colonel in July 1997, and to colonel in January 1999.

Bushra, long believed to have been Assad's favorite child and, had it not been for her gender, preferred candidate for succession, had a negative view towards Bashar's ability to succeed Hafez al-Assad and was allegedly mounting her own attempt at amassing power to succeed him.

Hafez al-Assad's spokesperson ignored the speculation, and Assad's official routine in 1999 was basically unchanged from the previous decade.

On 10 June 2000, at the age of 69, Hafez al-Assad died of a heart attack while on the telephone with Lebanese prime minister Salim al-Huss.

Hafez al-Assad's remains were reportedly transferred to an unknown location.