Back آل الأسد Arabic عيلة الاسد ARZ خێزانی ئەسەد CKB Rodina al-Asadových Czech Teulu Assad Welsh Al-Assad (Familie) German Familia Ásad Spanish خانواده اسد Persian Famille Assad French משפחת אל-אסד HE
| Assad family عَائِلَةُ ٱلْأَسَدِ ʿāʾilat al-ʾAsad | |
|---|---|
 The Assad family, c. 1993.
Rear, left to right: Maher, Bashar, Bassel, Majd, and Bushra al-Assad. Front, left to right: Anisa Makhlouf and Hafez al-Assad. | |
| Country |  Syria,  Russia |
| Place of origin | Qardaha, Latakia Governorate |
| Members | Hafez al-Assad Bashar al-Assad Bassel al-Assad Maher al-Assad Rifaat al-Assad |
| Connected families | Makhlouf, Shalish |
| Traditions | Alawites |
The Assad family ruled Syria from 1971, when Hafez al-Assad became president under the Ba'ath Party following the 1970 coup, until Bashar al-Assad was ousted on December 8, 2024.[1] Bashar succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, after Hafez's death in 2000.
The Assads are originally from Qardaha, Latakia Governorate. They belong to the Kalbiyya tribe.[2] In 1927, Ali Sulayman changed his last name from al-Wahsh, Arabic for 'the savage', to al-Assad, 'the lion', possibly in connection with his social standing as a local mediator and his political activities. All members of the extended Assad family stem from Ali Sulayman and his second wife, Naissa, who came from a village in the Syrian Coastal Mountains.[3]
During his early reign in the 1970s, Hafez al-Assad created patronage networks of Ba'ath party elites loyal to his family. Members of the Assad family established control over vast swathes of the Syrian economy, and corruption became endemic in the public and private sectors.[4] After Hafez's death, family connections continued to be important in Syrian politics. Several close family members of Hafez also held vital positions in the government since his rise to power, an arrangement which existed until the fall of the Assad regime.[5][6] The Syrian bureaucracy and business community were also dominated by members of the Assad family and individuals affiliated with them.[7][8]
Hafez al-Assad built his regime into a bureaucracy that was marked by a cult of personality. Images, portraits, quotes and praises of Assad are displayed everywhere from schools to public markets and government offices. Hafez was referred to as the "Immortal Leader" and the al-Muqaddas ("Sanctified One") in official Assadist ideology. Hafez re-organised Syrian society in militaristic lines and persistently invoked conspiratorial rhetoric on the dangers of foreign-backed plots abetted by fifth columnists and promoted the armed forces as a central aspect of public life. After Hafez al-Assad's death, his son and successor Bashar al-Assad inherited the existing personality cult, with the party hailing him as the "Young Leader" and "Hope of the People". Drawing influence from the veneration of the Kim dynasty in North Korea's hereditary leadership model, official propaganda in Syria ascribed divine features to the Assad family and reveres the Assad patriarchs as the founding fathers of modern Syria.[9][10][11]
Opposition to the Assad family's rule coalesced into the Syrian Civil War, which began on 15 March 2011. On 8 December 2024, Bashar al-Assad was reported to have fled Damascus, signalling the end of the Assad family's rule in Syria.[12][13] After the fall of Damascus, Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed al-Jalali denied any knowledge of Assad's whereabouts.[14]
- ^ "Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has left Damascus to an unknown destination, say two senior army officers". Reuters. 8 December 2024. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
- ^ McConville, Patrick Seale with the assistance of Maureen (1990). Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-520-06976-3.
Kalbiya seale.
- ^ Martin Stäheli: Die syrische Außenpolitik unter Hafez Assad, Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-515-07867-3; p. 40
- ^ M. Sadowski, Yahya (1987). "Patronage and the Ba'th: Corruption and Control in Contemporary Syria". Arab Studies Quarterly. 9 (4): 442–461. JSTOR 41857946.
- ^ Robin Wright (22 February 2008). "Sanctions on Businessman Target Syria's Inner Sanctum". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
- ^ Bar, Shmuel (2006). "Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview" (PDF). Comparative Strategy. 25 (5): 380. doi:10.1080/01495930601105412. S2CID 154739379. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
- ^ "Changes to Syria's Business Elite Concentrates Wealth in Hands of Presidential Couple". The Syria Report. 15 November 2022. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022.
- ^ Cornish, Chloe; Khattab, Asser (25 July 2019). "Syria's Assad puts pressure on business elite". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 27 July 2019.
- ^ Halasa, Malu; Omareen, Zaher; Mahfoud, Nawara (2014). Syria Speaks: Art and Culture from the Frontline. London: Saqi Books. pp. 125, 147–156, 161. ISBN 978-0-86356-787-2.
- ^ Pipes, Daniel (1995). Syria Beyond the Peace Process. Washington, D.C.: Washington Institute for Near East Policy. pp. 6, 7, 13–17. ISBN 0-944029-64-7.
- ^ Shamaileh, Ammar (2017). Trust and Terror: Social Capital and the Use of Terrorism as a Tool of Resistance. New York: Routledge. pp. 66, 70–72, 82. ISBN 978-1-138-20173-6.
- ^ "Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has left Damascus to an unknown destination, say two senior army officers". Reuters. 8 December 2024. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
- ^ "Syrian government appears to have fallen in stunning end to 50-year rule of Assad family". AP news.
- ^ نخستوزیر سوریه: مرحله جدیدی آغاز شده/ از محل حضور اسد اطلاعی ندارم (Syrian Prime Minister: A new phase has begun/I have no information about Assad's whereabouts)