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Template:جعبه اطلاعات شخصیت Hafez al-Assad was born on 6 October 1930 in Qardaha and died on 10 June 2000 in Damascus; he was a Syrian politician and general, one of the prominent leaders of the Syrian Ba'ath Party, former commander of the Air Force of the Syria Army, and also the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Syria (for 30 years).


Biography

He was born on 14 Mehr 1309 / 6 October 1930, in the village of Qardaha, a suburb of Latakia in western Syria, in an "Alawite" family[1]. He was the fourth child from the second marriage of a poor farmer named Ali Sulayman, who had fought briefly against the Francen colonialism[2]. Hafez completed his primary education in his birthplace and went to Latakia in 1319 SH / 1940 to continue his studies [3]. Hafez al-Assad was influenced by Arab nationalism and socialist and anti-colonial ideas from a young age and joined the Ba'ath Party at the age of sixteen[4].

He became the head of the General Conference of Syrian Students (al-Mu'tamar al-'Amm li-Talabat Suriya) in 1330 SH / 1951[5]. After finishing high school, he wanted to continue his studies in medicine[6], but economic problems prevented him, and in 1331 SH / 1952, he enrolled in the Homs Aviation College (Kulliyat Homs al-Jawwiya) [7]. He graduated three years later with the rank of lieutenant and entered the service of the Syrian Air Force[8]. Hafez al-Assad married in 1337 SH / 1958. The fruit of this marriage was one daughter and four sons[9].

Political Activities

He continued political activities concurrent with his service in the army. In 1334 SH/ 1955, he was dispatched to Egypt to undergo a six-month training course[10]. His efficiency as a fighter pilot led to his dispatch to the Soviet Union in mid-1337 SH/ 1958 to acquire skills and training on MiG-15 and MiG-17 fighter jets (Seale, p. 55; Madani, ibid.). This was while Egypt and Syria had united in Bahman 1336/ February 1958, and the United Arab Republic was formed under the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Upon his return from the Soviet Union in 1338 SH/ 1959, Hafez al-Assad realized that in the new regime, the Ba'ath Party had been marginalized, and most Ba'athist officers had been assigned to civilian jobs or dispatched to insignificant military units in Egypt.

In the same year, Hafez al-Assad was also dispatched to Egypt[11]. He and his like-minded colleagues in Egypt were dissatisfied with the dissolution of the Ba'ath Party, which was one of Gamal Abdel Nasser's conditions for achieving unity (Madani, ibid.); therefore, in 1339 SH/ 1960, along with two Alawites (Salah Jadid and Muhammad Umran) and two Ismailis (Abdul-Karim al-Jundi and Ahmad al-Mir), he founded a secret organization called the Military Committee[12]. On 6 Mehr 1340/ 28 September 1961, a group of Syrian officers who were not members of the Military Committee, led by Abdul-Karim Nahlawi, ended the unity of Egypt and Syria through a military coup and seized power in Syria[13]. Some Ba'ath Party leaders, including Salah al-Din al-Bitar and Akram Hawrani, approved Syria's separation from the United Arab Republic and the end of unity; therefore, Egyptian authorities imprisoned Hafez al-Assad and other Ba'athist military personnel. Hafez al-Assad was in prison for 44 days [14] and upon returning from Egypt, he and a group of Ba'athist officers were purged from the army, as the provisional government, under the premiership of Ma'mun al-Kuzbari, did not trust the Ba'athists sufficiently and considered them dangerous elements. Assad was transferred to the Ministry of Economy and employed in the Maritime Transport Administration in a small town[15].

During this period, he revived the Military Committee once again and expanded its activities with the help of former members. They, with the help of Gamal Abdel Nasser's supporters, attempted an unsuccessful coup in Aleppo on 13 Farvardin 1341/ 2 April 1962. Following this, Hafez al-Assad fled to southern Lebanon, but was arrested there and released after one week [16]. He once again focused his political activities on the Ba'ath Party and, with other members of the Military Committee, planned the coup of 17 Esfand 1341/ 8 March 1963, as a result of which the Ba'ath Party came to power in Syria[17]. As a result of this development, Hafez al-Assad, who was now a member of the National Council of the Revolutionary Command, returned to the Syrian Air Force with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In 1343 SH/ 1964, he attained the rank of Major General and was appointed Commander of the Syrian Air Force[18]. Additionally, he was elected to the membership of the Central Command of the Ba'ath Party[19].

From the very beginning of the Ba'ath Party's rise to power, differences emerged between its old and traditional members (such as Michel Aflaq) and the military and young members of the party (such as Hafez al-Assad and Salah Jadid). The young military members believed that Aflaq's leadership of the party was accompanied by weakness and corruption. Hafez al-Assad and Salah Jadid gradually, by mobilizing their supporters in Syria, became the main power of the party[20] On 4 Esfand 1344/ 23 February 1966, they staged a military coup, as a result of which the government of Amin al-Hafiz fell, and Amin and Michel Aflaq were expelled from the party. In the new government formed under the presidency of Salah Jadid, Hafez al-Assad became Minister of Defense while retaining the position of Air Force Commander (Adel Reza, p. 155; Maoz, p. 34). With Syria's defeat in the Six-Day War (Khordad 1346/ June 1967), the Golan Heights were lost and half of the Syrian Air Force was destroyed[21]. General Hafez al-Assad, as Minister of Defense, became the target of blame and his dismissal was proposed, but the Party Central Command did not approve it. Assad blamed this defeat on those party leaders who had weakened the Syrian Army through repeated political purges [22].

After the coup of 4 Esfand 1344/ 23 February 1966, and especially after Syria's defeat in the war of 1346 SH/ June 1967, differences between Hafez al-Assad and Salah Jadid regarding military strategy and foreign, economic, and social policies increased, leading to a split in the Ba'ath Party. Hafez al-Assad had significant influence in the Syrian Army, but Salah Jadid dominated the political structure of the Ba'ath Party[23]. During the Jordan crisis, known as Black September, Salah Jadid demanded full support from the Syrian Army for Palestinian militant groups against the Jordanian Army; but Hafez al-Assad—who feared the overthrow of King Hussein, King of Jordan, and Israeli and American intervention in his favor—refused to involve the Syrian Air Force in this battle and ordered a withdrawal[24]. Afterward, Salah Jadid at the Ba'ath Party National Congress (Mu'tamar al-Qiyada al-Qawmiya li-Hizb al-Ba'th) on 8 Aban 1349/ 30 October 1970 attempted to remove Assad from the Ministry of Defense;

Presidency

Hafez al-Assad turned the situation to his advantage with a bloodless coup on 25 Aban 1349/ 16 November 1970 [25]. As a result of this coup, known as al-Harakat al-Tashihiyah (Corrective Movement), Salah Jadid and Nur al-Din al-Atassi were removed from the premiership and presidency, as well as party positions, and imprisoned, and a new government was formed with Hafez al-Assad as Prime Minister[26]. Four months later, on 21 Esfand 1349/ 12 March 1971, Assad was elected President of Syria[27]. He was elected to the presidency by popular vote for a term of seven years and was retained in this position four consecutive times (in referendums of 1357 SH/ 1978, 1364 SH/ 1985, 1371 SH/ 1992, and 1378 SH/ 1999), obtaining nearly one hundred percent of the votes[28].

Foreign Policy

After coming to power, Hafez al-Assad implemented reforms in various fields, including foreign policy. He sought to remove Syria from isolation; for this purpose, he adopted a policy of détente in foreign relations. Initially, he tried to establish friendly relations with regional countries, and thereafter, with caution and conservatism, took steps to establish relations with Western countries[29]. Hafez al-Assad had a different perspective in dealing with Israel and mobilized all resources to fight it. He sought to compensate for the defeat of 1346 SH/1967 and regain the Golan Heights, considering negotiations otherwise unfair [30]; therefore, in the war of 1352 SH/October 1973, he allied with Egypt and shared the Syrian army in the initial victories of this war, but ultimately, with the mediation of Henry Kissinger, the US Secretary of State, signed a ceasefire agreement with Israel[31].

However, he did not participate in the Geneva Peace Conference—which was formed at Kissinger's initiative on 30 Azar and 1 Dey 1352/ 21–22 December 1973[32]. Following Anwar Sadat's visit to Israel in 1356 SH/ November 1977, Assad, in opposition to this action, along with the leaders of Libya, Algeria, South Yemen, and Yasser Arafat (Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization), formed the Steadfastness Front on 14 Azar 1356/ 5 December 1977 [33]. He always emphasized the implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338—which indicated the withdrawal of Israelis from occupied territories and the realization of peace—as the main solution to end the Arab-Israeli conflict[34].

Based on this, he welcomed George Bush's peace plan (US President) in 1369 SH/ March 1991 and joined the stream known as the Peace Process. Subsequently, Syrian representatives participated in the Madrid Conference on 8 Aban 1370/ 30 October 1991, but these negotiations did not end in peace; from Hafez al-Assad's perspective, Israel was not seeking peace [35]. Issues regarding Lebanon were one of the most important axes of Hafez al-Assad's foreign policy. With the start of the Lebanese Civil War in 1354 SH/ 1975, Hafez al-Assad saw Syria's intervention in this crisis as necessary, as he feared possibilities such as the formation of an independent Christian state or an Israeli attack on Lebanon;

Therefore, Syrian forces entered Lebanese soil on 11 Khordad 1355/ 1 June 1976. The presence of these forces continued after the end of the civil war in Lebanon until 1384 SH/ 2005 [36]. Hafez al-Assad did not have good relations with the United States in most cases. The severed relations between Syria and the US—which occurred before Hafez al-Assad came to power—improved slightly after the war of 1352 SH/1973 with Kissinger's mediation, but the signing of the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel with US mediation caused Hafez al-Assad to turn away from America and lean more towards the Soviet Union[37].

In Bahman 1356/ February 1978, Hafez al-Assad went to Moscow to form a new regional coalition against the US-Egypt coalition. Subsequent events made Syria the largest ally of the Soviet Union in the region, and Soviet military aid to Syria increased from 1356 SH/1978 onwards[38]. Hafez al-Assad's friendly relations with the Soviet Union continued until the beginning of the collapse of the communist government in 1369 SH/1990; although this relationship encountered some problems during Gorbachev's time, as Gorbachev was not willing to cooperate extensively with radical Arab countries, like Syria[39]. Hafez al-Assad condemned the Iraqi forces' invasion of Kuwait (17 Mordad 1369/ 8 August 1990) and joined the coalition forces, led by America, against Iraq. In a letter to Saddam Hussein, he asked him to withdraw his forces from Kuwait and not embroil the Iraqi nation in a destructive war[40].

Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, Hafez al-Assad was among the few Arab leaders who welcomed this revolution. Relations between Syria and the Islamic Republic of Iran developed rapidly (See Godarzi, pp. 17–18; Ehteshami and Hinnebusch, pp. 1–2). With the invasion of Iranian forces by Iraq and the start of the Imposed War, Hafez al-Assad condemned the Iraq invasion and declared his support for the Islamic Republic of Iran. He maintained this stance, despite the efforts of many Arab leaders to separate Syria from Iran, until the end of the war[41].

Although this stance of Hafez al-Assad was partly influenced by the traditional rivalry between the Ba'ath parties of Syria and Iraq and the regimes established in these two countries, it also stemmed from his correctness and pragmatism, as considering the Islamic Republic of Iran's positions towards Israel and the Palestine issue, as well as Iran's influence power in Lebanon through its Shiites, he viewed Iran as a strategic ally[42].

Domestic Policy

Hafez al-Assad did not make any fundamental changes in the power structure during his presidency, and the political system of Syria had relative stability during his time. He entrusted important military, intelligence, and security positions to Alawite military personnel. They also remained loyal to him throughout his presidential term[43].

In the economic field, Hafez al-Assad adopted a socialist approach so that Syria would undergo the transition period to socialism. To achieve this goal, he paid special attention to the industrial sector and, alongside expanding the activity of the public sector, activated the private sector as well (Perthes, p. 41; Emadi, pp. 146–147). The increase in oil prices after 1352 SH/1973 gave him the ability to pursue the development of agriculture, industry, vital infrastructure, health, and education in the 1350s SH/ 1970s[44]. According to World Bank reports, the average annual economic growth of Syria in the 1350s SH/1970s was 9%, and the Gross National Income also increased by an average of 10%[45]; however, in the 1360s SH/1980s, Hafez al-Assad's economic performance was not very desirable.

The decrease in oil prices and the resulting losses, as well as a long-term drought that faced the agricultural sector with problems (Seale, pp. 451–452), caused an economic crisis. With the beginning of the 1370s SH/1990s and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Hafez al-Assad changed his policy and moved towards a free economy. He strengthened the private sector and increased the attraction of foreign investments. Thus, he overcame the economic crisis resulting from previous years and achieved relative successes in the field of free economy[46].

Death

He suffered from heart failure during the last ten years of his life, until he passed away from this illness on 19 Khordad 1379 / 10 June 2000, while on a telephone call with Émile Lahoud, the President of Lebanon, and his son, Bashar al-Assad, was elected president in his stead[47].


Notes

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رده:شخصیت‌ها رده:سران کشور‌های اسلامی رده:سوریه

  1. ↑ Adel Hafez, p. 19; Seale, p. 5
  2. ↑ Seale, pp. 5–6
  3. ↑ Ibid., pp. 8, 11
  4. ↑ Krasitsky, pp. 54–56; Ma'oz, p. 24; Fuad Asha, p. 98
  5. ↑ Fuad Asha, p. 100
  6. ↑ Ibid., p. 101
  7. ↑ Madani, p. 296; Seale, pp. 37–39
  8. ↑ Madani, ibid.
  9. ↑ Krasitsky, p. 77
  10. ↑ Fuad Asha, p. 123
  11. ↑ Fuad Asha, p. 130; Seale, p. 59
  12. ↑ Dam, Notes, p. 175, note 69; Madani, pp. 296–297; Seale, pp. 60–62
  13. ↑ Bashur, pp. 530–531; Krasitsky, p. 80
  14. ↑ Fuad Asha, pp. 137–138; Krasitsky, p. 81
  15. ↑ See Seale, p. 69; Bashur, pp. 538–539
  16. ↑ Seale, pp. 69–71; Fuad Asha, pp. 138–139
  17. ↑ Madani, p. 297; Maoz, p. 31
  18. ↑ Adel Hafez, p. 53; Maoz, p. 32
  19. ↑ Krasitsky, pp. 91–92
  20. ↑ Seale, pp. 88, 97–101
  21. ↑ Seale, p. 142
  22. ↑ Ibid., pp. 142–143; Madani, pp. 297–298
  23. ↑ Seale, pp. 145–150; Maoz, pp. 34–36; Dam, pp. 62–68
  24. ↑ Seale, pp. 157–161; Madani, p. 298
  25. ↑ Fuad Asha, p. 189; Maoz, p. 39; Seale, pp. 162–163
  26. ↑ Madani, ibid.
  27. ↑ Krasitski, p. 129; Maoz, pp. 39–40
  28. ↑ Encyclopaedia Islamica website
  29. ↑ Jafari, p. 163
  30. ↑ Seale, p. 185; Hinnebusch, p. 147
  31. ↑ Yanio, p. 170; Jafari, pp. 399–400
  32. ↑ Quant, p. 285
  33. ↑ Seale, pp. 310–311
  34. ↑ Adel Reza, pp. 489, 494–495
  35. ↑ Ibid., pp. 487–490; Adel Hafez, p. 215
  36. ↑ Seale, p. 276; Rabinovich, pp. 181–183; Madani, pp. 321–324
  37. ↑ Jafari, pp. 398–401
  38. ↑ Qasem Jafar, pp. 44–45; Shad et al., p. 80
  39. ↑ See Shad et al., pp. 81–86
  40. ↑ Ibid., p. 77; Adel Reza, pp. 361–365
  41. ↑ See Hirschfeld, p. 110
  42. ↑ See Godarzi, pp. 18–23; Ehteshami and Hinnebusch, p. 116; Hirschfeld, pp. 111–121
  43. ↑ Dam, p. 118
  44. ↑ Seale, pp. 441–442
  45. ↑ Firo, p. 44
  46. ↑ See Emadi, pp. 178–183; Perthes, pp. 257–261
  47. ↑ Madani, pp. 298, 385–386
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