Who is Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian leader whose family ruled with an iron fist for more than 50 years?
Syria’s iron-fisted leader Bashar al-Assad is the second generation of an autocratic family dynasty that held power for more than five decades and his disappearance amid a lightning rebel advance signals an astonishing reordering of power in a strategically vital Middle Eastern nation.
Assad is known for a brutal rule over Syria, which since 2011 has been devastated by a civil war that ravaged the country and turned it into a breeding ground for extremist group ISIS, while sparking an international proxy war and refugee crisis that saw millions displaced from their homes.
War began after Assad’s regime refused to bow to mass pro-democracy protests that year during the Arab Spring, instead mounting a brutal crackdown on the peaceful movement – killing and jailing thousands in the first few months alone.
Assad’s forces have since been accused of severe human rights violations and brutal assaults against civilians throughout the 13-year war, including the use chemical weapons against their own people. The United States, Jordan, Turkey and the European Union at the war’s start all called for Assad to step down.
But the heavily Western-sanctioned and internationally isolated regime has clung to power until now thanks to the backing of powerful allies Russia and Iran, and a merciless campaign against opposition.
Testament to the horror of that regime were scenes of jubilant celebration as rebel forces took control of Syrian cities. In Homs, videos geolocated by CNN showed residents tearing apart posters of Assad and his father in scenes that recalled symbolic images from 2011.
Assad comes to power
Assad took power in an unopposed election in 2000 following the death of his father Hafez al-Assad, who rose from poverty to lead the Baath Party and seized power in 1970, becoming the country’s president the following year. The younger Assad grew up in the shadow of his father, a Soviet ally who ruled Syria for three decades and helped propel a minority Alawite population to key political, social and military posts.
Like the son who succeeded him, Hafez al-Assad tolerated little dissent with oppression widespread and periodic bouts of extreme state violence. In 1982 in the city of Hama – which rebels seized earlier this week – Hafez al-Assad had his army and intelligence services slaughter thousands of his opponents, ending an uprising led by the Muslim Brotherhood.