Presidency of Hafez al-Assad

Hafez al-Assad
Presidency of Hafez al-Assad
12 March 1971 – 10 June 2000
Hafez al-Assad
PartyBa'ath Party
SeatPresidential Palace, Damascus (from 1985)


Seal of the president

Hafez al-Assad served as the President of Syria from 12 March 1971 until his death on 10 June 2000. He had been Prime Minister of Syria, leading a government for two years. He was succeeded by his son, Bashar al-Assad.

Assad consolidated his power by imposition of mass surveillance on the society and ran a military dictatorship characterised by human rights violations, arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial killings and elimination of leftist and conservative opposition. Various journalists and political scientists have described his regime as totalitarian.[1][2][3] Major events during his tenure include the 1976 Syrian intervention in the Lebanese Civil War launched against the Palestinian and leftist militias, resulting in the Syrian occupation of Lebanon until 2005.[4][3] Domestically, his early years in power witnessed Sunni uprisings against his rule, which were violently put down during the 1982 Hama massacre, an incident estimated to have killed between 20,000-40,000 civilians.[2][3]

  1. ^ Keegan, John (1979). "Syria". World Armies. New York, USA: Facts on File Inc. p. 684. ISBN 0-87196-407-4.
  2. ^ a b C. Häberlen, Joachim (2023). Citizens and Refugees: Stories from Afghanistan and Syria to Germany. 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158: Routledge. pp. 42–43. ISBN 978-1-032-21513-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  3. ^ a b c C. Tucker, Spencer (2014). "Assad, Hafez al- (1930-2000)". Persian Gulf War Encyclopedia: A Political, Social, and Military History. Santa Barbara, California, USA: ABC-CLIO. pp. 40–41. ISBN 978-1-61069-415-5.
  4. ^ Keegan, John (1979). "Syria". World Armies. New York, USA: Facts on File Inc. pp. 685–686. ISBN 0-87196-407-4.

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