#hafez al-assad

[deadpresidents]

I thought this was a blog about us presidents, no one comes here to read your thoughts on the mess in syria.

Well, first and foremost, this isn't a request line. I started this blog to write about whatever I want to write about and I've been doing that for 15+ years. It's not changing anytime soon. I don't care what you came here to read. It's not for you. If anybody finds anything interesting, it's an added bonus.

The collapse of a regime that has existed longer than I've been alive and has had an iron grip on one of the oldest continuous civilizations in the world is historic. And it's interesting to me, and I'll write about whatever interests me whenever I am interested by it. These moments should be fascinating to anybody who has an interest in history. You never know where the story is going to go from here, and that alone is interesting, as well. Just because it isn't "your" history doesn't mean it isn't historic.

When Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father in 2000, there was actually a significant amount of optimism around him. He was a London-educated ophthalmologist who was never intended to be Syria's leader but was thrust into the role after the death of his brother in a car accident. It was thought that he might be a reformer who would lead differently than the tyrannical rule of his father. There was hope that some real changes might take place in parts of the Arab world in 1999 and 2000 when King Hussein of Jordan, King Hassan II of Morocco, and Hafez al-Assad of Syria -- longtime rulers in their respective countries -- all died and were replaced by sons in their mid-30s (King Abdullah II in Jordan, King Mohammed VI in Morocco, and Bashar in Syria). Jordan and Morocco weren't in the same situation as Syria, especially considering the decades of close connections King Hussein and King Hassan II had with the United States, but there was still genuine hope about Bashar al-Assad in 2000.

Twenty-four years later, we know the path of history that Assad took, but these moments are hugely important -- not just for Syrians or Arabs or the Middle East in general, but for the entire world. What happens in Syria matters here. Don't forget that there are American soldiers on the ground in Syria. I'm from Sacramento and live in Los Angeles -- those two cities are almost twice as far apart as Damascus is from Jerusalem. Damascus is closer to Beirut than Sacramento is to San Francisco. Russia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Israel -- these countries are all intricately connected with Syria in various ways and have been for decades. If you aren't interested in what's going on in Syria today, that's your prerogative. If you don't think what's going on in Syria today makes a difference here, you are disturbingly ignorant.

[kirstythejetblackgoldfish]

The video is a speech Hafez made at the Non-Aligned Movement conference in Cuba in 1979

The speech was about Sadat and Palestine etc.

Seeing a Syrian tweeting in support of both Gaddafis makes me very happy 🤩🇸🇾🟩🧐

[tomorrowusa]

There is no love for the al-Assad family which had brutally ruled Syria since 1971. Like North Korea, Syria turned into a hereditary autocracy.

Since the civil war began in 2011, a minimum of 580,000 Syrians have been killed. About 6,600,000 have fled the country and a similar number have been displaced internally. Putin's Russia has been propping up the régime for the past decade.

Hafez the father was not much better than Bashar the son. In 1982, Hafez massacred as many as 40,000 people in the city of Hama and largely destroyed it according to The Syrian Network for Human Rights.

Although Hafez has been dead since 2000, crowds struck back at him by torching his tomb.

[channeledhistory]

[mounadiloun]

La Syrie, et après?

La chute du régime syrien provisoirement conclue par le départ du président Bachar al-Assad vers une destination pour l’instant inconnue (Moscou semble-t-il), a étonné par sa rapidité. La faiblesse du régime n’est pas une nouveauté puisqu’il n’a dû sa survie dans la guerre intérieure qu’a connu le pays de 2011 à 2017 que grâce à la fidélité de l’essentiel de son armée et à l’intervention de ses…

[some-israeli-guy]

Partial translation:

Camera man: tell us where you're going

Driver: I want to drive to Qardahah to shit on Hafez al-Assad's grave and come back!

Camera man: take a shit for us too!

[menalovers]

Finally a statement from Assad. As copied and pasted from the news:

"Moscow - December 16, 2024

As terrorism spread across Syria and ultimately reached Damascus on the evening of Saturday, 7th of December 2024, questions arose about the president's fate and whereabouts.

This occurred amidst a flood of misinformation and narratives far removed from the truth, aimed at recasting international terrorism as a liberation revolution for Syria.

At such a critical juncture in the nation's history, where truth must take precedence, it is essential to address these distortions. Unfortunately, the prevailing circumstances at the time, including a total communication blackout for security reasons, delayed the release of this statement. This does not replace a detailed account of the events that unfolded, which will be provided when the opportunity allows.

First, my departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles, as some have claimed. On the contrary, I remained in Damascus, carrying out my duties until the early hours of Sunday 8th of December 2024. As terrorist forces infiltrated Damascus, I moved to Lattakia in coordination with our Russian allies to oversee combat operations.

Upon arrival at the Hmeimim airbase that morning, it became clear that our forces had completely withdrawn from all battle lines and that the last army positions had fallen. As the field situation in the area continued to deteriorate, the Russian military base itself came under intensified attack by drone strikes. With no viable means of leaving the base, Moscow requested that the base's command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday 8th of December.

This took place a day after the fall of Damascus, following the collapse of the last military positions and the resulting paralysis of all remaining state institutions. At no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge, nor was such a proposal made by any individual or party. The only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught.

I reaffirm that the person who, from the very first day of the war, refused to barter the salvation of his nation for personal gain, or to compromise his people in exchange for numerous offers and enticements is the same person who stood alongside the officers and soldiers of the army on the front lines, just meters from terrorists in the most dangerous and intense battlefields. He is the same person who, during the darkest years of the war, did not leave but remained with his family alongside his people, confronting terrorism under bombardment and the recurring threats of terrorist incursions into the capital over fourteen years of war.

Furthermore, the person who has never abandoned the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon, nor betrayed his allies who stood by him, cannot possibly be the same person who would forsake his own people or betray the army and nation to which he belongs.

I have never sought positions for personal gain but have always considered myself as a custodian of a national project, supported by the faith of the Syrian people, who believed in its vision. I have carried an unwavering conviction in their will and ability to protect the state, defend its institutions, and uphold their choices to the very last moment.

When the state falls into the hands of terrorism and the ability to make a meaningful contribution is lost, any position becomes void of purpose, rendering its occupation meaningless.

This does not, in any way, diminish my profound sense of belonging to Syria and her people - a bond that remains unshaken by any position or circumstance. It is a belonging filled with hope that Syria will once again be free and independent."

[anti-imperialist-squad]

[silezukuk]

[σαν σύντομο διήγημα]

Τελειώνοντας ο Νοέμβριος, καθώς οι στασιαστές στα βορειοδυτικά της Συρίας ξεκινούσαν την επίθεση που αποσκοπούσε στην απώθηση των δυνάμεων του κ. Αλ Άσαντ, ο Πρόεδρος βρισκόταν μια ήπειρο μακριά σε μια ευφρόσυνη οικογενειακή συνάντηση. �� μεγαλύτερος γιος του, Χαφέζ Αλ Άσαντ υποστήριζε τη διδακτορική του διατριβή στο [Λομονόσοφ, το] Κρατικό Πανεπιστήμιο στη Μόσχα.

Συγκεντρωμένοι στο σπηλαιώδες, ξυλοντυμένο, αμφιθέατρο πάνω σε λόφο που αγναντεύει τη ρωσική πρωτεύουσα, ήταν η σύζυγός του κ. Αλ Άσαντ, Άσμα Αλ Άσαντ, καθώς και ο παππούς με τη γιαγιά του.

Η 98 σελίδων διδακτορική διατριβή –«Ζητήματα Αριθμητικής Πολυώνυμων  σε Αλγεβρικά Αριθμητικά Σώματα» (Arithmetic Questions of Polynomials in Algebraic Number Fields)– μάλλον δεν θα ενδιέφερε το ευρύ κοινό. Διέθετε ωστόσο μια ξεχωριστή αφιέρωση: «Στους μάρτυρες του Συριακού Στρατου, χωρίς την ανιδιοτελή θυσία των οποίων κανείς από εμάς δεν θα υπήρχε.»

Ο Μπασάρ Αλ Άσαντ βρισκόταν κι αυτός στη Μόσχα αλλά δεν παρακολούθησε την υποστήριξη [της διατριβής].

Από τους New York Times  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/21/world/middleeast/assad-regime-syria-final-days.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare // Εικόνα: Χαφέζ Αλ Άσαντ, γιός του Προέδρου Μπασάρ Αλ Άσαντ / https://tinyurl.com/ycxsydvw

————

[hicginewsagency]

Syrian Rebels Destroy Hafez al-Assad's Tomb in Qardaha.

Copyright Hussein Malla/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved. In a significant development marking the collapse of the Assad regime, Syrian rebel fighters have destroyed the tomb of Hafez al-Assad, the late president and father of former president Bashar al-Assad. The mausoleum, located in Qardaha, the Assad family’s hometown in the north-western Latakia region, was set ablaze as armed…

[greatprinceofabraham]

.@BadlandsMedia_ #BreakingHistory

@ehret_matthew @GhostofBPH

@ColonelTowner

Recorded days before the #coup in #Syria, this presentation of the 1980s #US plan to Balkanize the #MiddleEast centers on #HafezalAssad's #panArab resistance in #Syria.

#PNACplan

https://rumble.com/v5vumhk-breaking-history-ep.-74-1200-pm-et-.html

[deadpresidents]

50+ years of rule by the Assad family in Syria is officially over.

[kirstythejetblackgoldfish]

Damascus, Syria, 1979

[ricisidro]

The Assad family ruled Syria with an iron fist for 53 years.

It began in 1971, when Hafez Al-Assad became president under the Ba'ath Party, and ended when Bashar Al-Assad was ousted on December 8, 2024.

Bashar, an opthalmologist, became president upon the death of his father Hafez in 2000.

The presidency was intended for his older brother, Bassel, who died in a car accident in 1994.

[afloweroutofstone]

I recently learned that in March 2011, the same month as the large-scale protests against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad which eventually turned into the Syrian Civil War, Assad paid US public relations agents to get his wife a puff piece in Vogue about how she's a genius girlboss with great fashion sense and a heart of gold

Asma al-Assad is glamorous, young, and very chic—the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies. Her style is not the couture-and-bling dazzle of Middle Eastern power but a deliberate lack of adornment. She’s a rare combination: a thin, long-limbed beauty with a trained analytic mind who dresses with cunning understatement. Paris Match calls her “the element of light in a country full of shadow zones.” She is the first lady of Syria.

Syria is known as the safest country in the Middle East, possibly because, as the State Department’s Web site says, “the Syrian government conducts intense physical and electronic surveillance of both Syrian citizens and foreign visitors.” It’s a secular country where women earn as much as men and the Muslim veil is forbidden in universities, a place without bombings, unrest, or kidnappings, but its shadow zones are deep and dark. Asma’s husband, Bashar al-Assad, was elected president in 2000, after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, with a startling 97 percent of the vote. In Syria, power is hereditary. The country’s alliances are murky. How close are they to Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah? There are souvenir Hezbollah ashtrays in the souk, and you can spot the Hamas leadership racing through the bar of the Four Seasons. Its number-one enmity is clear: Israel. But that might not always be the case. The United States has just posted its first ambassador there since 2005, Robert Ford...

The 35-year-old first lady’s central mission is to change the mind-set of six million Syrians under eighteen, encourage them to engage in what she calls “active citizenship.” “It’s about everyone taking shared responsibility in moving this country forward, about empowerment in a civil society. We all have a stake in this country; it will be what we make it.”

In 2005 she founded Massar, built around a series of discovery centers where children and young adults from five to 21 engage in creative, informal approaches to civic responsibility. Massar’s mobile Green Team has touched 200,000 kids across Syria since 2005. The organization is privately funded through donations. The Syria Trust for Development, formed in 2007, oversees Massar as well as her first NGO, the rural micro-credit association FIRDOS, and SHABAB, which exists to give young people business skills they need for the future.

[at-the-end-of-days]

France’s government has fallen, Germany’s has fallen, Romania’s having election issues… 2024 isn’t done yet. I just hope that whatever power replaces this one is just to the people.

Assad's evil regime has finally collapsed completely!