Complex sentence: Born in Aleppo, Syria, he was a pilot in the Syrian Airforce with the rank of a colonel specialiced in navigation when he was selected as cosmonaut on September 30 1985.
Split into simpler sentences: Born in Aleppo, Syria, he was a pilot in the Syrian Airforce with the rank of a colonel. He specialized in navigation when he was selected as a cosmonaut on September 30 1985.