Syria and the Assad Family: The History Behind Bashar al-Assad’s Rise to Power and the Civil War

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I wasn't made by the west to go to the west or any other country. I'm made in Syria. I have to live in Syria and die in Syria. The political movement, which became known as the "Arab Spring", was popular in nature and made use of the Internet, particularly social networking websites, to remove dictators such as Muammar Qadaffi of Libya.

Those dictators, who ruled their countries for decades, were unable to stem the tide of popular indignation against them, even though they tried using force and propaganda in ways reminiscent of the Cold War era.

The events of the Arab Spring have come to be overshadowed by the civil war in the Arabic-speaking nation of Syria, which has been ruled throughout the 21st century by Bashar al-Assad. Though he had not planned on ruling Syria, several events conspired to make Bashar the successor of his father, Hafez. Though the West frequently looked for signs that Bashar might be a reformer, due in part to his formerly popular Western wife, Assad remained part of a critical alliance with Iran and the sub-state groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

This formed an influential bloc that has influenced events across the Middle East, and one that Israel and the West have tried to break over the past decade.

Al-Assad family

He then served as an army doctor at a Damascus military hospital and in moved to London to continue his studies. Bashar was placed at the head of a popular anticorruption campaign that resulted in the removal of several officials but ignored the dealings of senior members of the regime. His image as a modernizer was burnished by his appointment as chairman of the Syrian Computer Society.

On July 10, running unopposed, Assad was elected to a seven-year term. His youth, education, and exposure to the West seemed to offer the possibility of a departure from what had been the status quo: In his inaugural speech, Assad affirmed his commitment to economic liberalization and vowed to carry out some political reform, but he rejected Western-style democracy as an appropriate model for Syrian politics.

Afterward Assad emphasized that economic reforms would have to precede political reforms. Relations with the United States worsened after Assad denounced the U. They were replaced by younger officials, and many of the most powerful security positions went to relatives of Assad. Economic liberalization mainly benefited a politically connected elite without helping the many Syrians who depended on the faltering public sector for employment, services, and subsidies. Although a United Nations investigation appeared to indicate some level of Syrian participation in the assassination of Hariri, the involvement of the Assad administration was not conclusively determined.

In Assad was reelected by a nearly unanimous majority to a second term as president through elections generally received by critics and opponents as a sham. Beginning in March , Assad faced a significant challenge to his rule when antigovernment protests broke out in Syria, inspired by a wave of pro-democracy uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. However, implementation of those reforms coincided with a significant escalation of violence against protesters, drawing international condemnation for Assad and his government.

As unrest spread to new areas of the country, the government deployed tanks and troops to several cities that had become centres of protest. Amid reports of massacres and indiscriminate violence by security forces, Assad maintained that his country was the victim of an international conspiracy to instigate sectarian warfare in Syria and that the government was engaged in combating networks of armed insurgents rather than peaceful civilian protesters. By September armed opposition groups had emerged and begun to stage increasingly effective attacks against Syrian forces.

Attempts at international mediation by the Arab League and the United Nations failed to achieve a cease-fire, and by mid the crisis had evolved into a full-blown civil war. Efforts by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar to fund and arm rebels became increasingly public in late and early while the Syrian government continued to receive weapons from Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. By late Hezbollah also had begun sending its own fighters into Syria to battle the rebels.

Assad faced new calls for international military action against his government after alleged chemical weapons attacks in the suburbs of Damascus killed hundreds on August 21, The Syrian opposition accused pro-Assad forces of having carried out the attacks, but Assad denied having used chemical weapons and asserted that, if such weapons had been used, rebel forces were to blame.

Russia , China, and Iran spoke out against military action, and Assad vowed to fight what he described as Western aggression. Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party Syrian branch. Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War. Human rights in Syria. Syrian occupation of Lebanon and Lebanon—Syria relations. Sectarianism and minorities in the Syrian Civil War. Retrieved 13 November Retrieved 13 March Assad the only choice in referendum". Retrieved 9 November Retrieved 17 December Retrieved 9 June Retrieved 3 September The Times of India. Retrieved 8 June Archived from the original PDF on 20 February Retrieved 4 October Retrieved 19 April Archived from the original on 12 May Retrieved 14 March Retrieved 21 December The Syrian president maintained he was fighting to preserve his country and criticized the West for intervening.

The intense bombardment of Aleppo during an army offensive that began two weeks ago has included several strikes on hospitals, residents and medical workers there have said.

Bashar al-Assad

But Assad denied any knowledge of such attacks, saying that there were only "allegations". Retrieved 19 March Retrieved 15 March Archived from the original PDF on 23 July An Intimate Profile of a Mass Murderer". How a painfully shy eye doctor turned into a murderous tyrant". Retrieved 23 September Retrieved 26 April Archived from the original on 22 December Retrieved 14 April Retrieved 3 August Archived from the original on 16 June Retrieved 19 June Retrieved 29 October Syrian regime was a 'common destination' for CIA rendition".

The New York Times. Retrieved 8 January Regime strong because of my anti-Israel stance". Retrieved 6 February In Lebanon, assassination reverberates 10 years later". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 20 April United States Department of State. Retrieved 4 March Syrian activist Suhair Atassi".

Early life

Archived from the original on 12 February Retrieved 13 February Archived from the original on 22 March United States Department of the Treasury. Retrieved 18 May Retrieved 23 November Archived from the original on 18 May Retrieved 12 March Syrian Arab News Agency. Archived from the original on 25 May The White House website, 18 August Retrieved 10 January Retrieved 12 January UN website, 4 October Retrieved 31 July Enemies of Syria 'will go to hell ' ".

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Retrieved 25 January Retrieved 16 October In Latakia and Tartus, two coastal cities near the Alawite heartland, posters of missing soldiers adorn the walls. When IS took over four government bases in the east of the country this summer, slaughtering dozens of soldiers and displaying some of their heads on spikes in Raqqa, IS's stronghold, families started to lose faith in the government. A visitor to the region reports hearing one man complain: Retrieved 3 October Retrieved 1 November Retrieved 7 April Bashar al-Assad arrests own cousin Munther 'for kidnapping links ' ".

Retrieved 15 April Retrieved 22 April Is Syria's Assad losing power?

Retrieved 3 May He cites the waning support from the nation's minority Alawite community as one of these important shifts. Retrieved 6 May There have also been increasing reports of Assad relatives, businessmen and high-ranking members of the Alawite community fleeing Damascus for the coastal city of Latakia, or other countries, after transferring large sums of money to banks in Lebanon, eastern Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

Retrieved 10 May According to information received by this author, many businessmen and financiers who flourished under the regime have successfully moved huge amounts of money and capital to neighbouring Lebanon. Some of these funds are now known to have been secretly deposited in Europe. Retrieved 12 May Mamlouk had also used a businessman from Aleppo as an intermediary to contact Rifaat al-Assad, Bashar's uncle, who has lived abroad exile since he was accused of seeking to mount a coup in Syria in the s. Retrieved 28 May Retrieved 14 January Assad says no transition while 'terrorists' remain".

Retrieved 22 November Archived from the original on 14 January Retrieved 13 January Retrieved 22 January Airstrikes an Outrageous Act". News and World Report. Syria chemical attack was provocation against Assad". Archived from the original on 2 June Syria responsible for sarin attack that killed scores".

Archived from the original on 12 June Retrieved 12 June Retrieved 2 November Retrieved 19 October Retrieved 10 November European Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 6 December Retrieved 13 December Archived from the original on 16 July Retrieved 26 October Retrieved 29 April United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Archived from the original on 19 October Archived from the original on 9 October Retrieved 22 May Why Syria joins Europe in barring the niqab".

Retrieved 4 January War Crimes Case Vs. Assad Better Than One for Milosevic". Retrieved 11 March Assad's Syria 'facts ' ". Retrieved 12 February Retrieved 15 February Retrieved 14 February Retrieved 11 June Retrieved 21 June Retrieved 1 October Retrieved 11 February Retrieved 1 March Archived from the original on 28 December Retrieved 6 November Ricks 17 December Iraqi Insurgents Directed From Syria".

Archived from the original on 28 January Retrieved 5 February Retrieved 15 May Congress How to Fight Terrorism". Middle East Media Research Institute. Archived from the original on 5 August Archived from the original on 21 May Retrieved 21 May Israel and Syria are holding indirect peace talks, with Turkey acting as a mediator Iran won't attack Israel with nukes". Retrieved 12 December The disappearance of the Jews". Retrieved 1 June The pope's pilgrimage in the steps of St Paul was widely seen as a success, even if it did not elicit an apology to the Muslim world for the medieval crusades.

Syria's president, Bashar Assad, basked in international praise for his religious tolerance. But, notably, this tolerance was not extended to Judaism. The Jews, he said, "tried to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Muhammad. Retrieved 7 May The decision to beatify Pius IX, the pope who kidnapped a Jewish child in Bologna and who put Rome's Jews back in their ghetto, was one question mark.

Archived from the original on 29 May Proceedings and Debates of the th Congress, First Session. Der Spiegel in German. Retrieved 23 June Was soll denn das?

Kein Mensch sollte gegen irgendeine Rasse eingestellt sein, gegen die Menschheit oder Teile von ihr. Wir in Syrien lehnen den Begriff Antisemitismus ab, weil dieser Begriff diskriminierend ist. Das Judentum dagegen ist eine Religion, die allen Rassen zuzuordnen ist.

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