Who Is Bashar al-Assad

President Assad has ruled Syria with an iron fist for nearly two decades. We take a look at his life and legacy.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad inherited power in July 2000, a month after his father, military strongman Hafez al-Assad died.

But since March 2011, his rule over Syria has been under threat, with the country beset by violence that has killed an estimated 465,000 people and embroiled regional and world powers in the never-ending horror. 

Despite Western and Arab countries backing the opposition, Assad has survived seven years of war and refuses to step aside.

Bashar Al Asaad with Frist Lady Asmaa Al Assad

Early Life And Eduction

• Ruling family: Born on September 11, 1965, Bashar al-Assad is the second son of former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, and his wife Anisa.
• His father, Hafez, rose to power through the Syrian military and the minority Alawite political party before taking control of Syria in 1970. 
• Studies: Bashar al-Assad was educated at the Arab-French al-Hurriya School in Damascus where he learned to speak English and French fluently. 
• He graduated from school in 1982 and continued studying medicine at the University of Damascus, graduating in 1988. 

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• UK: He went to London in 1992 to the Western Eye Hospital to further his studies, at this time, the ruler was leading the life of a medical student and had no ambitions to start a political career. 
  

  How Became President

  • Brother's death: At the age of 29, Assad was forced to return to Damascus from London after his older brother Basil - who was initially groomed for the presidency - died in a car crash in 1994, at the age of 33. 
  • He entered the military academy at Homs, located in North Damascus, and was quickly pushed through the ranks and became a lieutenant-colonel in five years. He was then promoted to colonel in January 1999.
  • During this time, he also served as an adviser to his father hearing appeals from citizens and led a campaign against corruption.
  • Father's death: When Hafez al-Assad died on June 10, 2000, the Syrian parliament quickly voted to lower the minimum age for presidential candidates from 40 to 34, so that Assad could be eligible for the office. 
  • Assad took office on July 11, 2000. He was also selected leader of the Ba'ath Party and commander in chief of the military.
  • He was elected president, officially with more than 97 percent of the vote, and in his inaugural speech, affirmed his commitment to economic liberalization and vowed to carry out some political reform.

Reject West Type Democracy 

•  Bashar rejected Western-style democracy as an appropriate model for Syrian politics.
• The economy was in a poor shape, and the government bureaucracy made it difficult for a private sector to emerge, however, some signs of improvement were seen particularly in the area of telecommunications.
• "The economic situation is a priority for us all to improve its performance and improve the life of our citizens. So is corruption," said al-Assad, presiding over his first Ba'ath Party Congress. 

Blame forLebanon uprising 

• In international affairs, Assad was confronted with a volatile relationship with Israel, military occupation in Lebanon, and tensions with Turkey over water rights. 
• He began a gradual withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, which was quickly hastened when Syria was accused of involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
• The accusation led to a public uprising in Lebanon, as well as international pressure to remove all troops. Syria denied any involvement.
• "We are more confident ... that Syria has nothing to do with this crime," Assad said days before the release of a UN report on an investigation into al-Hariri's assassination.
• "If the UN investigation concludes Syrians were involved, those people would be regarded as traitors who would be charged with treason and face an international court or the Syrian judicial process," CNN quoted al-Assad as saying. 
• Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Beirut demanding an end to Syrian influence in Lebanon, and on April 26, 2000, one last Syrian soldier left Lebanese territory. 

 Tackle opposition 

• Despite promises of human rights reforms, not much changed after Assad took office.

• In 2006, Syria expanded its use of travel bans against dissidents, preventing many from leaving the country. 
• In 2007, a referendum was held to confirm the presidential candidate with no opposition parties competing.
• Voters were asked whether they "approve the candidacy of Dr Bashar al-Assad for the post of president of the republic".
• Once again, he won with 97 percent of the vote.
• In 2007, and again in 2011, social media sites such as Facebook were blocked. Human rights groups have reported that political opponents of Bashar al-Assad were routinely tortured, imprisoned, disappeared, and killed. 
• According to Human Rights Watch, in 2009, Syria's human rights situation was one of the worst in the world, and it had "deteriorated further".

Arab Spring And Bashar Government 

• Following the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, protests began in Syria on March 15, 2011, demanding political reforms, a reinstatement of civil rights and an end to the state of emergency, which had been in place since 1963. 
• Assad insisted that Syria was immune to the uprisings that spread throughout the Arab world. 
• But anti-government protests calling for a "revolution", the "downfall of corruption" and the release of political prisoners, spread throughout the country, with rights groups reporting that over 2,000 had been killed by the sixth month of the protests.
• Critics said his inexperience in politics hade made it difficult for him to establish Syria's place in the new world order. "Syria has become a dictatorship without a dictator," a European diplomat in Damascus said in 2005. 
• He previously rejected comments by some observers that he did not hold full power in Syria, saying: "You cannot be a dictator and not in control. If you are a dictator you are in full control ... I have my authority by the Syrian constitution," he said in an interview to CNN.