Bashar al-Assad

Bashar al-Assad a.k.a. "The Duck"From Lion to ‘Duck’: Assad’s nickname goes viral", Alarabiya.net (ENG) via Agence France‑Presse 3.28.12. Lion of Syria" was the "president" of the Syrian Arab Republic and (not coincidentally) head of the Syrian Ba'ath Party from 2000-2024, a position which he inherited from his father, former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad. Dubya used to outsource torture to him,Walt, Vivienne, "Inside the CIA's Secret Prisons Program", TIME 10/13.16. and his knowledge of torture came from a literal Nazi, assistant to 
A little over a decade after he assumed office, the country erupted into civil war. As the war dragged on, both sides got more extreme, and religious fanatics — fresh from years of fighting in — took over the fighting.
After 13 years of civil war, Bashar al-Assad's forces were defeated at Aleppo, Homs, and Damascus, the country's three largest cities all in one week. On December 7 2024, Assad fled Damascus, finally ending his regime.
==Background==
He was trained to be an eye surgeon,Sachs, Susan, "Man in the News; The Shy Young Doctor at Syria's Helm; Bashar al-Assad", NYT 6.14.00. not a dentist as various media reports have said. When his father died and his brother got in a car accident, Bashar took over the leadership role. The Assads have ruled Syria for years now. The heads of the government and the military are stacked with family members and other Alawites.
He's a native Syrian who attended exclusive French-speaking schools. His First Lady is an investment banker born in London. Under her influence, he tried to modernize the Syrian economy with mixed results. He couldn't manage the water supply as well as his father did,"Assad Regime’s Drought Response Triggered Syrian War", Environmental News Service (2/28/14 at 1:26 pm ). and his attempts at modernization only deepened the stratification of Alawi and non-Alawi.Fisher, Max, "'The Assad suburb': How Syria ghettoized the military to keep it loyal", Vox (11/5/15 at 8:30am EST)
In a 2003 interview, Assad said "[Osama bin Laden] cannot talk on the phone or use the Internet, but he can direct communications to the four corners of the world? This is illogical." Assad also doubted the existence of al-Qaeda:
==Nazi war criminals==
Syria gave refuge to at least two high-level Nazi war criminals and SS members, Franz Stangl and (later known as Georg Fischer and Abu Hussein) . Brunner had organized the deportation of 128,500 Jews in France to extermination camps. Brunner escaped prosecution and eventually found refuge in Syria where he became a confidant of Hafez al-Assad and his family. Following Assad's coup, "Brunner then helped the new regime set up an effective system of repression, inspired by the practices of the Third Reich."Alois Brunner, the Nazi war criminal at home in Assad's Syria by Grégoire Sauvage (12/12/2024 - 17:56) France 24.
==Civil War==
===The players===
Bashar is an Alawite, i.e. member of a Shia minority, ruling a 74% Sunni majority country. This alone divides him from Jordan, pre-invasion Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and (of course) his own people. However, he is not alone, as Hezbollah in nearby Lebanon is Shia, which is why they are assisting him in his fight."Hezbollah, other Shi'ite allies helped Assad win in Aleppo", Reuters (12/14/16 at 10:55am EST).
Bashar is the son of the former President, Hafez Assad. Hafez was more capable than his son, or at least was able to suppress a Syrian before it became a full-blown civil war (he leveled the city of Hama in 1982, killing some 20,000+ of his own citizens). The event earned the family a bad rep with Islamists who support the Muslim Brotherhood.
Hafez was also, frankly, a dictator who was involved in a lot of Cold War bullshit. As a result, what is playing out in Syria is a lame proxy war with Iran and its allies vs. Saudi Arabia and its allies.Abrams, Elliot, "Assad’s War for Survival in Syria Is Now Iran’s War", Newsweek (7/10/15 at 11:02 AM). Then throw in some U.S. v. Russia dick-waving, with Russia attempting to prop up Assad (their ally) under the guise of "fighting ISIS".Boghani, Priyanka, "Syria: What’s In It For Putin?", Frontline 10/27/14. The U.S. mostly wants Assad gone but doesn't want groups like Al-Nusra or ISIS to take his place.
===2011-2016===
The protests against Assad's government began on 26 January 2011; In May, Barack Obama signed an executive order imposing sanctions upon him." Administration Takes Additional Steps to Hold the Government of Syria Accountable for Violent Repression Against the Syrian People", US Treasury Bashar saw what happened to Saddam, and when the Arab Spring heated up, he knew the time had come for the U.S. to change leaders they didn't like. Assad wasn't going to go down without a fight. When munitions and cash poured in from the Saudis, Qatar, and Turkey,"Turkey, Qatar, Saudis agreed to put pressure on Syrian rebels: Russia", MEE (Updated 10/18/16 at 10:30 om UTC). he countered by bringing in Hezbollah, Iran, and Russia."Iraq, Russia, Iran and Syria coordinate against ISIL", Al Jazeera 9.27.15. Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have allowed for international military intervention in Syria.Paul Harris, Martin Chulov, David Batty, and Damien Pearse, "Syria resolution vetoed by Russia and China at United Nations", Guardian (2/4/12 at 5:28 EST).
Obama's "red line",Kessler, Glenn, "President Obama and the ‘red line’ on Syria’s chemical weapons", WaPo 9.3.13. and Assad crossing said line, gave hope to a lot of rebels. Shiites aren't stupid: they knew Assad stood no chance against the U.S. When the said line was not enforced, many interviews showed how disheartened rebels felt by the U.S. and its lackluster support."Syrians relieved, disappointed at Obama strike delay", Reuters (9/1/13 at 12:06pm EDT). Instead, the U.S. ordered airstrikes to defend Syrian rebels trained by the U.S. military from any attackers, even if said enemies hail from forces loyal to Assad.Stewart, Phil, "First U.S.-trained Syria rebel believed killed in fighting: sources", Reuters (8/3/15 at 6:12pm EDT).
Still, there was increasing pressure coming from Western and Sunni Arab capitals to support an insurgency; the problem is it turned out to be Salafiist, and the situation became so complicated, nobody knows who to support anymore. Assad himself had been described as "Hitler in his bunker" as he didn't seem to know how badly the war was going."‘Sociopath or new Hitler?’ Interviewer questions Assad’s mental state", Al Aarabiya (ENG) 1.28.15.
===Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes===
On April 4, 2017, Assad's government was responsible for a Syrian government to blame for April sarin attack: U.N. report. Reuters. October 27, 2017. The next day, the newly-minted President Trump decided to get Bashar's attention. It was a surprisingly measured attack: the Pentagon made sure not to put any Syrian (or Russian) air defenses and pilots at risk.McKernan, "Syria air strikes: US ‘warned Russia ahead of airbase missile bombardment'", Independent (4/7/17 at 11:42 AM BST). This gives Russia an out. Putin doesn't care about Assad, anyway, he wants access to the port of Tartus.Delman, Edward, "The Link Between Putin’s Military Campaigns in Syria and Ukraine", Atlantic 10.2.15.
The following day, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said that the regime change in Syria "is going to happen."Morin, Rebecca, "Haley: Regime change in Syria 'we think is going to happen'", Politico (04/08/17 at 7:25 PM EDT). As every observer of the Middle East knows, outside intervention is invariably successful.
Many Trump supporters disliked the action of bombing the Syrian airbase as they wanted Trump to keep his close ties with Russia.The Truth About Trump's Air Strike on Syria. Paul Joseph Watson (YouTube), April 7, 2017.Angels and Demons. Ben Garrison's blog.
===Downfall (Who Must Go?)===
For a while in the 2020s, the war seemed to become much more quiet, however, in late November and early December 2024, rebel forces made significant advances in Aleppo and other parts of the southwestern regions of the nation, and on December 7th, the rebels came into Damascus and Asaad resigned and fled the next day. There are preliminary reports that Bashar Al-Assad has fled to Moscow as of December 2024 to find asylum in Putin’s Russia.Ousted Syrian leader Assad flees to Moscow after fall of Damascus, Russian state media say, 8 December 2024, Associated Press.. [Syria's Assad is in Moscow after deal on military bases: Russian state media. https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-says-syrias-assad-has-left-country-given-orders-peaceful-power-handover-2024-12-08/] 8 December 2024, Reuters.
==Something good==
Assad has denounced Islamism and condmened the Islamic world’s refusal to accept and embrace secularism, referring to the current system as “political Islam”."Syria's Assad says political Islam project has failed", Hurriyet Daily News 4.7.14.
After a 52-year-old ban, Assad allowed Syrian Kurds to teach the Kurdish language in schools."After 52-year ban, Syrian Kurds now taught Kurdish in schools", Al-Monitor Nov. 2015. He also struck a deal with the Syrian Kurds to keep them safe to prevent their extermination in the hands of Turkish military forces after American military forces withdrew from Iraq and Syria.Kurdish forces backed by US strike deal with Syria’s Assad, in major shift in 8-year war CNN
==You have a talent for causing things pain==
Saddam murdered more innocent people, but the referee hasn't ended the match yet for Assad; with hard work and determination anything is possible. During the 1970s and 80s when his father ruled, the Syrian intelligence service (known as the Mukhabarat) became notorious for torture and disappearances of the regime's opponents.Amnesty International, Syria: Torture by the Security Forces; 10/1987 Nazi fugitive Alois Brunner lived in Syria and is believed to have taught torture methods to the Mukhabarat. BBC, Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner 'died in Syria squalor' After the death of Hafez, much of the machinery of state terror remained in place and was passed onto his son. This included a network of prisons and secret detention centers where detainees have been subjected to a documented 72 methods of torture. Some of these methods include beatings, electric shocks, pulling out nails, igniting and dissolving nylon bags on the skin, eye gouging and the infamous "German chair" where a person is lashed to the back of a metal chair which is then pushed forward causing spinal damage.Syrian Network for Human Rights, Documentation of 72 Torture Methods the Syrian Regime Continues to Practice in Its Detention Centers and Military Hospitals, 10/21/2019
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) estimates that 105,000 Syrian detainees have died in regime prisons since March 2011 due to torture, executions and maltreatment.Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Detainees and forcibly-disappeared people in 12 years of Syria war, 03/16/2023 This figure includes tens of thousands of detainees who have perished in hell Sednaya prison, which has been called a "human slaughterhouse" by Amnesty International. About 13,000 prisoners are believed to have been executed in mass hangings at Sednaya and countless others have been tortured to death. New detainees are typically subjected to a 'welcome party' where they are severely beaten with pipes and electrical cables.Amnesty International, Syria: Human slaughterhouse: Mass hangings and extermination at Saydnaya Prison, Syria, 02/07/2017 
He also oppresses the indigenous minorities of Syria,Porter, Lizzie, "Former detainees recount torture, organ harvesting in Syria's prisons", MEE (8/29/16 at 7:34 PM UTC). banning them from speaking their own language,Pampiliega, Antonio, "Turkmen in joint battle for Syria democracy", Your Middle East 1.31.13. and sends loyal Alawites"Syria's Alawites, a secretive and persecuted sect", Reuters (2/2/12 at 6:10am EST). to settle those areas in order to extract their resources. There are more ways than the neo-colonial method to be "imperialist".Khalil, Yusef, "Syria and the Left", Jacobin 1.9/17.
Since then, Assad has only continued his downward spiral descent into fascism. His administration has carried out direct orders of genocidal campaigns against Kurds, pagans, Christians, Jews, African migrants, and the LGBT community.https://inthesetimes.com/article/global-far-right-meloni-milei-putin-bannon-orban
As of 2024 there are allegations that one of Bashar Al-Assads allies has killed prisoners and fed them to the lions. This allegation accuses Talal Dakkak specifically for this according to some of the Syrian Rebels. Assad's Tiger Forces member who fed prisoners to pet lion 'executed' by Syrian rebels, 11 December 2024, The Mirror.
==See also==
*Ba'ath Party
*Saddam Hussein
*Muammar al-Gaddafi
*Qasem Soleimani – Major offensives by Iranian militias always started after a 'visit' from Soleimani.
*Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
*Nepotism president
==External links==
*Human rights violations in Syria
*"A Rose in the Desert" - Vogue removed this profile of his waifu from their website. The biggest laugh to be had from it: Assad was attracted to eye surgery "because there is very little blood."
*Trump on Syria: How he evolved in 13 Tweets
*{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgiyWGyJcIc} "God Syria and Bashaar" A hilarious propaganda song praising Bashaar
* {https://youtu.be/P2X84JZINcI} (A New York Times video on the use of chemical weapons by Assad).
==References==
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