DATE=6/10/2000 TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT TITLE=ASSAD OBIT NUMBER=5-46479 BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB DATELINE=CAIRO CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: The president of Syria, one of the Arab world's longest ruling heads-of-state, Hafez al-Assad, has died in Damascus at the age of 69 following a lengthy illness. V-O-A's Middle East Correspondent Scott Bobb takes a look at the life of one of the region's most redoubtable leaders. TEXT: The death of Syria's President Hafez al-Assad ends the rule of one of the Middle East's most imposing leaders. And it further advances a region- wide transition of leadership from an older generation marked by the struggle against colonialism and for Arab identity -- to a younger generation interested the challenges of globalization and high-technology. The "Lion of Damascus", as Mr. Assad came to be known, struggled as a young man against Syria's entrenched elite. He rose through the ranks of the military and the Baath Party to take power in a bloodless coup in 1970. As president, he sought to set up a socialist state in Syria and make his country the leader of the Arab nationalist movement. He also sought to lead the struggle against Israel. By the 1970s he headed the rejectionist states that refused any contact with the Israeli government and defied diplomatic efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. /// ASSAD ACT - IN ARABIC AT 1994 NEGOTIATIONS FADE UNDER /// Yet, in the 1990s, President Assad began negotiations with Israel, which broke off for three years, but resumed in January of the year 2000. His purpose was to regain the Golan Heights, lost in the 1967 Arab- Israeli war, and to leave his successor in a better position to address the conflicts between powerful interests that had been kept at bay by his wily, sometimes ruthless, rule. Hafez al-Assad was born on October 6th, 1930, to a peasant family of the Alawite Muslim minority group in the village of Qardaha, a few kilometers from the Mediterranean port of Lattakia. At nine-years of age, he began school in Lattakia, where one of his early recollections is of having to fight the arrogant sons of the wealthy merchants who paid his teachers' salary. While in secondary school, he joined the Baath Party, which envisioned a socialist Arab nation united to counter the effects of European colonialism and centuries of occupation by foreign empires. At the age of 20, young Hafez al-Assad joined the air force. He graduated in 1955 from the military academy at Homs with the rank of lieutenant. He was posted to Cairo during Syria's brief union with Egypt and was imprisoned there for a month when the union collapsed in 1961. Upon his release, Mr. Assad returned home where he joined a group of disgruntled young officers that became increasingly involved in the turmoil of Syrian politics. Following a power struggle, Mr. Assad was appointed Minister of Defense, at the age of 35. During the next few years, he consolidated his authority over the military. When he was challenged at a party conference in 1970, he took power in a bloodless coup on November 16th. Hafez al-Assad was elected unopposed to the presidency the following year, setting a pattern that for the rest of his life saw him re-elected every five years by more than 99 percent of the vote. The seemingly orderly political process at times hid major challenges to his authority. But the crafty leader overcame these through a combination of political skill and, when necessary, ruthless repression. /// OPT /// Mr. Assad used tact to co-opt the wealthy merchants of the majority Sunni Muslim group, who historically had ruled Damascus. And he used military might to crush an uprising by Islamic conservatives in the town of Hama in 1982. His tanks and heavy artillery virtually destroyed the town during a three- week offensive that killed an estimated 20-thousand civilians. In the international arena, Mr. Assad remained committed to Arab causes, but he also demonstrated independence. Syria sided with Iran and against the Arab world in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980's. And in 1990, Mr. Assad revived Syria's predominant influence in Lebanon in exchange for quelling its 15-year civil war. /// END OPT /// During the Gulf War, Mr. Assad sided against Iraq and sent 19-thousand troops to the region as part of the Desert Storm coalition. This alliance regained the friendship of many Gulf Arab leaders and brought a renewal of ties between Syria and the U-S government after years of estrangement. In his latter years, he sought to assure his legacy by setting up his son, Bashar, to succeed him, and by seeking to recover the Golan Heights, which were lost to Israel while he was defense minister. Although he felt history would judge him primarily on the issue of the Golan, most observers believe Hafez al-Assad ultimately will be remembered as the dominant political force in Syria's post-colonial history. (SIGNED) NEB/SB/JWH/RAE/JP 10-Jun-2000 14:59 PM EDT (10-Jun-2000 1859 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
