Old name of syria in bible

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

But since March , his rule over Syria has been under threat, with the country beset by violence that has killed an estimated , 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.

But who is he?

Bashar al assad syria biography of abraham lincoln Jimmy Carter. He attacked inefficient administration as an impediment to Syria's growth, and declared, "We have to fight waste and corruption. Syria considers the territory Syrian and strives to recover it from Israel. His confinement consisted of a two-anda-half by three-meter solitary cell without sunlight in which it was only possible for him to crawl due to his conditions.

This is what we know:

Medical student

• Ruling family: Born on September 11, , 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
• 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 and continued studying medicine at the University of Damascus, graduating in
• UK: He went to London in 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.

Road to the presidency

• 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 , at the age of
• 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

• 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, , 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, 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 liberalisation and vowed to carry out some political reform.

Rejectionist politics

•  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.

Lebanon 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 , 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.
  Asma al-assad Founded in , it is a monthly economic, political, and statistical survey produced by the Office Arabe de Presse et de Documentation in English and French. As the eldest son, Basil had been groomed from birth to be his father's successor. New York : Facts on File, Inc. Bashar has a degree in medicine from the University of Damascus.

• Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Beirut demanding an end to Syrian influence in Lebanon, and on April 26, , one last Syrian soldier left Lebanese territory.

Crackdown on opposition

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

• In , Syria expanded its use of travel bans against dissidents, preventing many from leaving the country.
• In , 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 , and again in , 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 , Syria’s human rights situation was one of the worst in the world, and it had “deteriorated further”.

Arab Spring

• Following the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, protests began in Syria on March 15, , demanding political reforms, a reinstatement of civil rights and an end to the state of emergency, which had been in place since
• 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, 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

• 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.

You cannot be a dictator and not in control.

by Bashar al-Assad

Civilian deaths

• In the first eight months of the protests, as the number of deaths in Syria mounted and a growing number of refugees escaped to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, Assad kept a low profile, speaking fewer than a handful of times in public.
• His speeches generally made reference to the need for a national dialogue while touching on the protests being the work of foreign agents of disruption.
• His government, he said, was being hit by a political conspiracy.

  “Conspiracies, like germs, reproduce everywhere, every moment and they cannot be eradicated,” he said in

• In December , Assad denied culpability for his government’s crackdown on protests, saying he had never given an order for security forces of whom he was commander-in-chief “to kill or be brutal”.
• “They’re not my forces,” Assad told the US’s ABC television network when asked about the crackdown.
• “They are military forces [who] belong to the government.

  I don’t own them.

  Bashar al assad syria biography of abraham Though it began limited cooperation with the United States after the September 11, , terrorist attacks, it has not supported the invasion of Iraq by the United States and multinational forces. In , the Syrian Parliament passed a law requiring all comments on chat forums to be posted publicly. He moved to London in to fulfill his medical residency at St. Basevi, Elias George.

  I’m president. I don’t own the country. No government in the world kills its people, unless it is led by a crazy person,” he said in December  

No government in the world kills its people.

by Bashar al-Assad

Refuses to resign

• By the fall of , many countries were calling for President Bashar al-Assad’s resignation and the Arab League suspended Syria, leading the Syrian government to agree to allow Arab observers into the country.
• In January , it was reported that more than 5, civilians had been killed by the Syrian militia, and that 1, people had been killed by anti-regime forces.
• That March, United Nations endorsed a peace plan that was drafted by former UN Secretary Kofi Annan, but this didn’t stop the violence.

Chemical attacks

• In June , a UN official stated that the uprisings had transitioned into a full-scale civil war, the International Committee of the Red Cross also declared the conflict a civil war.
• But the conflict continued.
  Bashar al assad syria biography of abraham maslow Like many other states in the region, the Syrian state is a republican dictatorship deriving its power, in part, from the military. The secular courts hear both civil and criminal matters and are divided into three levels: courts of first instance, courts of appeals, and the Supreme Constitutional Court. I cannot feel guilty when you do your best. In his first year as president, he promised to reform the corruption in the government, and spoke of moving Syria toward the computer technology, internet and cell phones of the 21st century.

  There were daily reports of civilians being killed by government forces, and counter-claims by the Assad regime of the deaths being staged or the result of outside agitators.

• In August , Assad came under fire from leaders around the world, for using chemical weapons against civilians.
• However, he was able to stave off foreign intervention with assistance from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who agreed to help remove Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons.
• By , the UN estimated that more than 70, people had been killed since the start of the conflict in March of

Sham elections

• Bashar al-Assad continued his campaign against rebel forces while dismissing outside calls to step down and held sham elections in June
• Voting was held only in government-controlled areas, excluding vast chunks of northern and eastern Syria that were in rebel hands.
• Assad’s campaign slogan in was “sawa”, the Arabic word for “together”.

  He didn’t make any public appearances following the announcement of his candidacy to discuss his programme. Assad secured 88 percent of the vote.

• His position strengthened the following September, when Russia agreed to provide military support to his forces.
• By February , the conflict had led to an estimated , deaths in Syria, and sparked international debate over how to handle the millions of refugees seeking to escape the brutality.

US strikes

• In April , following news of another round of chemical weapons unleashed on civilians, US President Donald Trump ordered air raids on a Syrian airbase, drawing sharp condemnation from Assad and Syria’s allies Russia and Iran.
• One year later, in April , footage of dead Syrians surfaced amid reports that Assad had again used chemical weapons.
• President Trump called Assad an “animal” and even delivered public criticism of Putin for protecting the Syrian leader.
• On April 13, , the United States ordered air attacks in Syria in collaboration with the UK and France.