Major General Hisham Ikhtiyar (); 1941 – 20 July 2012) (family name also transliterated as Ikhtiar, Bakhtiar, Bekhityar, Bekhtyar and other variants) was a

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n military official, and a national security adviser to president

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

Early life

Hisham Ikhtiyar was born to a Sunni family in

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. Kno ...

in 1941.

Career

Ikhtiyar was director of the General Intelligence Directorate from 2001 to 2005. He was one of the Syrian officers who monitored and repressed

the Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings sp ...

in Syria. Then he was appointed head of Syria’s general intelligence directorate. In addition, he was an advisor to Syrian president Bashar Assad. He was appointed director of the

Ba'ath Party The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party ( ' ), also known simply as Bath Party (), was a political party founded in Syria by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, and associates of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party espoused Ba'athism, which is an ideology ...

regional command's National Security Bureau (NSB) in 2005.

Controversy

Ikhtiyar was regarded as a part of Assad's inner circle. In 2006, the

United States Treasury Department The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current U.S. government departments. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and ...

announced that American citizens and organizations were forbidden from engaging in any transactions with Ikhtiyar, for "significantly contributing to the Syrian Government's support for designated terrorist organizations", and in 2007, Ikhtiyar's name was added to a list of Syrians barred from entering American territory. Major General Ikhtiar was reportedly charged with quelling the initial pro-democracy protests in

Deraa Daraa (, Levantine Arabic: ) is a city in southwestern Syria, north of the border with Jordan. It is the capital of Daraa Governorate in the Hauran region. Located south of Damascus on the Damascus–Amman highway, it serves as a way sta ...

. The brutal crackdown launched by the security services in the southern city helped trigger the subsequent nationwide unrest. In May 2011, the US treasury department and the European Union imposed sanctions on the National Security Bureau, saying it had directed Syrian security forces to use extreme force against demonstrators.

Rumoured death

On 19 May 2012, the

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA; ) is a Big tent, big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition (2011–2024), Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defe ...

's (FSA) Damascus council announced that one of their operatives from the FSA's Al Sahabeh battalion had successfully poisoned all eight members of Bashar Assad's Crisis Cell, a group of top military officials who run the Syrian army's daily operations. The Free Syrian Army's Damascus council said they believed at least six out of the eight members, including

Hasan Turkmani Hasan Ali Turkmani (; 27 January 1935 – 18 July 2012) was a Syrian military officer and politician who served as Syria's Minister of Defense from 2004 to 2009. He was among four top Syrian government officials killed in a bombing in Damas ...

Assef Shawkat Assef Shawkat (‎; 15 January 1950 – 18 July 2012) was a Syrian military officer and intelligence chief who was the Deputy Minister of Defense of Syria from September 2011 until his death in July 2012. He was the brother-in-law of former Sy ...

Mohammad al-Shaar Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar (; born 1950) is a Syrian military officer who served as Minister of the Interior from 2011 to 2018. He also served as the vice president of the National Progressive Front. Early life Shaar was born into a Sunni famil ...

, Daoud Rajha, Hisham Ikhtiyar and

Mohammed Saeed Bekheitan Mohammed Saeed Bekheitan (; 1945 – 11 March 2022) was a Syrian politician who was the Assistant Secretary of the Syrian Regional Command of the Ba'ath Party. He held the position from 2005 to 2013. He was a close associate of Syrian President ...

, to have been killed. Mohammad al-Shaar, then

interior minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

, and Hasan Turkmani, then assistant vice president, denied their own deaths to State TV, calling it "categorically baseless".

Death

Ikhtiyar was wounded in the

18 July 2012 Damascus bombing The 18 July 2012 Damascus bombing of the National Security headquarters in Rawda Square, Damascus, killed and injured a number of top military and security officials of the Syrian government. Among the dead were the Syrian defense minister a ...

of the Syrian Central Crisis Management Cell. On 20 July 2012, Syrian state television announced that he had died from his injuries.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikhtiyar, Hisham 1941 births 2012 deaths Politicians from Damascus Syrian Sunni Muslims Members of the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region Syrian generals Military personnel killed in the Syrian civil war Syrian military personnel of the Syrian civil war Assassinated Syrian politicians Deaths by explosive device Terrorism deaths in Syria Assassinated Syrian military personnel 2012 murders in Syria Syrian individuals subject to U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions Asian politicians assassinated in the 2010s Politicians assassinated in 2012