Assad, Hafez al- << ah SAHD, HAH fehz uhl >> (1930-2000), was president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. A military leader, he seized power from Syria’s radical government in 1970. He was elected president the next year. His name is also spelled Hafiz al-Asad.
Assad sought to make Syria a strong regional power and the leader of the Arab struggle against Israel. In 1973, Syria and Egypt fought a war against Israel in an unsuccessful attempt to regain Arab land Israel had occupied in 1967. After the war, tension continued between Syria and Israel. In 1976, Assad’s government sent troops to help end a civil war in Lebanon. In 1982, his government crushed an internal rebellion by militant Sunni Islamic opposition. In 1991, Assad’s government joined Arab-Israeli peace negotiations. That same year, Syrian troops helped allied forces defeat Iraq in the Persian Gulf War of 1991. Assad was a member of the Baath socialist party and of Syria’s minority Alawite Muslim sect.
Assad was born on Oct. 6, 1930, in Al Qardahah, Syria, near Latakia. He attended the military academy in Homs and graduated from the air force academy in Aleppo. He was commander of the Syrian Air Force and minister of defense when he seized power in 1970. Assad died on June 10, 2000. His son Bashar al-Assad succeeded him as president.
See also Arab-Israeli conflict; Persian Gulf War of 1991; Syria.
