Assef Shawkat, Syrian general and politician (b. 1950)
Assef Shawkat[n1] (Arabic: آصِفُ شَوْكَتْ, romanized: ʾĀṣif Šawkat‎; 15 January 1950 – 18 July 2012) was the deputy Minister of Defense of Syria from September 2011 until his death in July 2012.

He and three other top Syrian government officials were killed on 18 July 2012 in Damascus during a deadly bomb attack allegedly organized by the Free Syrian Army.