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Bahjat Suleiman
Bahjat Suleiman (; 194925 February 2021) was a Syrian diplomat and former military officer. He served as the head of the internal branch of the General Intelligence Directorate (Syria), General Intelligence Directorate (GID), also known as Syrian General Intelligence Branch 251, Branch 251, in Syria, and was Syria's Ambassador to Jordan from 2009 to 2014. He was instrumental in the accession of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the presidency and was considered to be his confidant and mentor, and in his "inner circle." Early life and education Bahjat Suleiman was born to an Alawite family in 1949 in the city of Latakia, located in western Syria. He joined the Syrian Army in 1968 and graduated from the Homs Military Academy with a BA in military sciences in 1970. Suleiman held a master's degree in command and staff from the Syrian Command and Staff College and acquired his Ph.D. in Political Economy from Romania. Military career He was a company commander, battalion, regimen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syrian
Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indigenous elements and the foreign cultures that have come to rule the land and its people over the course of thousands of years. By the seventh century, most of the inhabitants of the Levant spoke Aramaic. In the centuries after the Muslim conquest of the Levant in 634, Arabic gradually became the dominant language, but a minority of Syrians (particularly the Assyrians and Syriac-Arameans retained Aramaic (Syriac), which is still spoken in its Eastern and Western dialects. The national name "Syrian" was originally an Indo-European corruption of Assyrian and applied to Assyria in northern Mesopotamia, however by antiquity it was used to denote the inhabitants of the Levant. Following the Muslim conquest of the Levant, Arab i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wael Nader Al-Halqi
Wael Nader Al-Halqi (; born 4 February 1964) is a Syrian politician who was Prime Minister of Syria from 2012 to 2016. Previously he was Minister of Health from 2011 to 2012. He was appointed as Prime Minister on 9 August 2012. Early life and education Halqi was born in Jasim in the Daraa Governorate on 4 February 1964 into a Sunni Muslim family. He earned a degree in medicine (MD) from the University of Damascus in 1987 and a master's degree in gynaecology and obstetrics again from the University of Damascus in 1991. Career Halqi served as director of primary health care in Jasim from 1997 to 2000 and was secretary of the Daraa branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party from 2000 to 2004. He served as the director of health in Daraa, and in 2010, was appointed head of Syria's doctors. He was appointed as Prime Minister of Syria on 9 August 2012 by President Bashar al-Assad, after his predecessor Riyad Farid Hijab fled to Jordan and declared his allegiance to the Syrian opp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rifaat Al-Assad
Rifaat Ali al-Assad (; born 22 August 1937) is a Syrian former military officer and politician. He is the younger brother of the late President of Syria, Hafez al-Assad, and Jamil al-Assad, and the uncle of the former President Bashar al-Assad. He was the commanding officer of the ground operations of the 1982 Hama massacre ordered by his brother. After launching a 1984 Syrian coup attempt, failed coup attempt against Hafez al-Assad in 1984, Rifaat lived in exile in Europe for 36 years and returned to Syria in October 2021 after being found guilty in France of acquiring millions of euros diverted from the Syrian state. In September 2022, France's highest court, the Court of Cassation (France), Cour de Cassation, confirmed the ruling. In August 2023, Switzerland issued an international warrant for Rifaat's arrest after its Federal Criminal Court of Switzerland, Federal Criminal Court demanded his extradition to prosecute him for his role in supervising ground operations of the 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homs Military Academy
Homs Military Academy () is a military educational and training institution located in Homs, Syria. History Establishment Homs Military Academy was founded in 1933 by France during the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon. During the period of French administration the academy provided officer training for the ''Troupes Speciales du Levant'' - the locally recruited Syrian and Lebanese units forming part of the Army of the Levant. Continuing in existence after the end of the Mandate in 1943 and throughout various political changes, it remains the oldest and largest military service institution in Syria. At first, it was primarily an academy for infantry officers, while graduates who selected the other services went on to additional specialized training at other army-operated specialist schools. Graduates were often selected for a military academy in the Soviet Union. Homs Academy admitted entrants who did not possess high level education qualifications, as well as offering a relativ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syrian Army
The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the four uniformed services, controlling the most senior posts in the armed forces, and had the greatest manpower, approximately 80 percent of the combined services.. The Syrian Army originated in local military forces formed by the French after World War I, after France obtained a mandate over the region. It officially came into being in 1945, before Syria obtained full independence the following year and 2 years after official independance. After 1946, it played a major role in Syria's governance, mounting six military coups: two in 1949, including the March 1949 Syrian coup d'état and the August 1949 coup by Colonel Sami al-Hinnawi, and one each in 1951, 1954, 1963, 1966, and 1970. It fought four wars with Israel (1948, the Six-Day War in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alawite
Alawites () are an Arabs, Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate Ali, Ali ibn Abi Talib, the "Imamate in Shia doctrine, first Imam" in the Twelver Shi'ism, Twelver school, as a manifestation of the divine essence. It is the only ''ghulat'' sect still in existence today. The group was founded during the ninth century by Ibn Nusayr, who was a disciple of the tenth Twelver Imam, Ali al-Hadi, and of the eleventh Twelver Imam, Hasan al-Askari. For this reason, Alawites are also called ''Nusayris''. Surveys suggest Alawites represent an important portion of the Syrians, Syrian population and are a significant minority in the Hatay Province of Turkey and northern Lebanon. There is also a population living in the village of Ghajar in the Golan Heights, where there had been two other Alawite villages ('Ayn Fit, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Intelligence Directorate (Syria)
The General Intelligence Directorate (), also known as the ''General Security Directorate'' or ''Syrian GID'', was the most important civil intelligence service of former Ba'athist Syria and played an important role of suppressing the people of Syria for the governments interests. The General Intelligence Directorate conducted an oppressive surveillance of the Syrian population, directed foreign intelligence and monitored activities in Lebanon on behalf of Hezbollah until its dissolution in December 2024. History In November 1970, Hafez al-Assad ousted Salah Jadid in what he labelled a Corrective Movement. The new system has proved to be Syria's most stable and durable since independence and has toned down the previous radicalism. It was established in 1971. By 1972, the General Intelligence Directorate was significantly modelled on the GDR's Stasi. Under the government of Hafez al-Assad and Ba'ath Party, especially from 1973, agents of Syria’s GSD were a frequent visitors in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Majid Bahjat Suleiman
Majd Bahjat Suleiman (, born 28 October 1974; also known as Majid Suleiman) is a Syrian businessman and son of the former Syrian ambassador to Jordan and intelligence chief Bahjat Suleiman. He is the owner of Syria's largest media conglomerate, United Group (UG) which also operates under the trade name AWI Company and is affiliated with Al Waseet International. Background Majd Suleiman is the son of former Syrian ambassador to Jordan and head of the internal branch of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate (GID) Bahjat Suleiman, and was identified by the United States Congressional Research Service as a "Key member of the Asad Family & Other Elites". His media conglomerate, United Group, owns and publishes ''Baladna'', one of two private daily newspapers covering political topics that have succeeded in staying open after the Syrian civil war, due to close ties to the Syrian government. His younger brother Haidara Suleiman is the editor-in-chief of Syrian government-alig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ba'ath Party (Syrian-led Faction)
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (; meaning "resurrection"), also referred to as the pro-Syrian Ba'ath movement, is a Neo-Ba'athism, neo-Ba'athist political party with branches across the Arab world. From 1970 until 2000, the party was led by the Syrian president and Secretary General Hafez al-Assad. Until 26 October 2018, leadership was shared between his son Bashar al-Assad (head of the Syrian regional organization) and Abdullah al-Ahmar (head of the pan-Arab national organization). In 2018, after the reunification of the National and Regional Command, Bashar al-Assad became the Secretary General of the Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, Central Command. The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, Syrian Regional Branch of the party was the largest organisation within the Syrian-led Ba'ath Party; it ruled Syria from the 1963 Syrian coup d'état, 1963 coup to the fall of the Assad regime in 2024. The Syrian Regional Branch's activities we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ba'athist Syria
Ba'athist Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), was the Syrian state between 1963 and 2024 under the One-party state, one-party rule of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, Syrian regional branch of the Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction), Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. From 1971 until its collapse in 2024, it was ruled by the Assad family, and was therefore commonly referred to as the Assad regime. The regime emerged in 1963 as a result of 1963 Syrian coup d'état, a coup d'état led by Alawites, Alawite Ba'athism, Ba'athist military officers. Another 1966 Syrian coup d'état, coup in 1966 led to Salah Jadid becoming the country's de facto leader while Nureddin al-Atassi assumed the presidency. In 1970, Jadid and al-Atassi were overthrown by Hafez al-Assad in the Corrective Movement (Syria), Corrective Movement. The next year, Assad became president after winning 1971 Syrian presidential election, sham elections. After assuming power, Assad reorganised ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Damascus
Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Known colloquially in Syria as () and dubbed, poetically, the "City of Jasmine" ( ), Damascus is a major cultural center of the Levant and the Arab world. Situated in southwestern Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area. Nestled among the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau above sea level, Damascus experiences an arid climate because of the rain shadow effect. The Barada, Barada River flows through Damascus. Damascus is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. First settled in the 3rd millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. Afte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Syrian Republic
The First Syrian Republic, officially the Syrian Republic, was formed in 1930 as a component of the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, succeeding the State of Syria. A treaty of independence was made in 1936 to grant independence to Syria and end official French rule, but the French parliament refused to accept the treaty. From 1940 to 1941, the Syrian Republic was under the control of Vichy France, and after the Allied invasion in 1941 gradually went on the path towards independence. The proclamation of independence took place in 1944, but only in October 1945 was the Syrian Republic ''de jure'' recognized by the United Nations; it became a ''de facto'' sovereign state on 17 April 1946, with the withdrawal of French troops. It was succeeded by the Second Syrian Republic upon the adoption of a new constitution on 5 September 1950. Background On 23 December 1925, Henri de Jouvenel was appointed as French High Commissioner for Syria, and on 28 April 1926, the High Commissio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
