Hafez al-Assad, Syrian general and politician, 18th President of Syria (b. 1930)
Hafez al-Assad (6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from 1971 to 2000. He was also Prime Minister of Syria from 1970 to 1971, as well as regional secretary of the regional command of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and secretary general of the National Command of the Ba'ath Party from 1970 to 2000.
Assad participated in the 1963 Syrian coup d'état which brought the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party to power, and the new leadership appointed him commander of the Syrian Air Force. In February 1966, Assad participated in a second coup, which toppled the traditional leaders of the Ba'ath Party. Assad was appointed defence minister by the new government. Four years later, Assad initiated a third coup which ousted the de facto leader Salah Jadid and appointed himself as leader of Syria.
Assad imposed change on the Ba'ath government when he took power, by imposing capitalism and further pushing the agenda of private property and by strengthening the country's foreign relations with countries which his predecessor had deemed reactionary. He sided with communism and the Soviet Union during the Cold War in return for support against Israel, and, while he had forsaken the pan-Arab concept of unifying the Arab world into one Arab nation, he sought to make Syria the defender of Palestine and Arab interests against Israel. When he came to power, Assad organised state services along sectarian lines (the Sunnis became the heads of political institutions, while the Alawites took control of the military, intelligence, and security apparatuses). The formerly collegial powers of Ba'athist decision-making were curtailed, and were transferred to the Syrian presidency. The Syrian government ceased to be a one-party system in the normal sense of the word, and was turned into a one-party dictatorship with a strong presidency. To maintain this system, a cult of personality centred on Assad and his family was created by the president and the Ba'ath party.Having become the main source of initiative inside the Syrian government, Assad began looking for a successor. His first choice was his brother Rifaat, but Rifaat attempted to seize power in 1983–84 when Hafez's health was in doubt. Rifaat was subsequently exiled when Hafez's health recovered. Hafez's next choice of successor was his eldest son, Bassel. However, Bassel died in a car accident in 1994, and Hafez turned to his third choice—his younger son Bashar, who at that time had no political experience. The move to appoint a member of his own family as his successor was met with criticism within some quarters of the Syrian ruling class, but Assad persisted with his plan and demoted officials who opposed this succession. Hafez died in 2000 and Bashar succeeded him as president.
2000Jun, 10
Hafez al-Assad
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Events on 2000
- 14Jan
Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina
A United Nations tribunal sentences five Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years in prison for the 1993 killing of more than 100 Bosnian Muslims. - 3Apr
United States antitrust law
United States v. Microsoft Corp.: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust law by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors. - 2May
Global Positioning System
President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military. - 22May
Sri Lankan Tamil people
In Sri Lanka, over 150 Tamil rebels are killed over two days of fighting for control in Jaffna. - 26Nov
United States presidential election, 2000
George W. Bush is certified the winner of Florida's electoral votes by Katherine Harris, going on to win the United States presidential election, despite losing in the national popular vote.