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WORLD NEWS Friday 13 November 2020
In ruins, Syria marks 50 years of Assad family rule

By ZEINA KARAM trayed the war as a choice
BEIRUT (AP) — On Nov. 13, between his rule and Islam-
1970, a young air force of- ic extremists, including the
ficer from the coastal hills Islamic State group. Many
of Syria launched a blood- Syrians and even European
less coup. It was the latest states became convinced
in a succession of military it was the lesser evil.
takeovers since indepen- Eventually, he effective-
dence from France in 1946, ly eliminated the military
and there was no reason to threat against him. He is all
think it would be the last. but certain to win presiden-
Yet 50 years later, Hafez tial elections due next year
Assad's family still rules Syria. in the shattered husk that is
The country is in ruins from Syria.
a decade of civil war that Still, Dagher said the war
killed a half million people, transformed Syrians in irre-
displaced half the popu- versible ways. An econom-
lation and wiped out the ic meltdown and mounting
economy. Entire regions hardship may change the
are lost from government calculus.
control. But Hafez's son, "A whole generation of
Bashar Assad, has an un- people has been awak-
questioned grip on what ened and will eventually
remains. In this June 10, 2000 file photo, Syrian mourners wave portraits of President Hafez Assad, right, and find a way to take back the
His rule, half of it spent in his two sons Bashar, center, and Basil who died in a car accident in 1994 to mourn the death of country and their future,"
war, is different from his fa- their president, in Damascus, Syria. he said.
ther's in some ways — de- Associated Press As U.S. election results rolled
pendent on allies like Iran in, showing Joe Biden the
and Russia rather than pro- His power was absolute. most notorious in the mod- the Americans. winner, memes by Syrian
jecting Arab nationalism, His Mukhabarat — or intelli- ern Middle East, left hatreds He was forced to end opposition trolls mocked
run with a crony kleptoc- gence officers — were om- that fanned the flames of Syria's long domination of how the Assads have now
racy rather than socialism. nipresent. another uprising against his Lebanon after Damascus outlasted nine American
The tools are the same: re- He turned Syria into a Mid- son years later. was blamed for the assas- presidents since Richard
pression, rejection of com- dle East powerhouse. In the "A key element of the sination of former Prime Nixon.
promise and brutal blood- Arab world, he gained re- Assad regime's survival Minister Rafik Hariri. Still, he "In my life, my fellow Syr-
shed. spect for his uncompromis- has been: No compromise tightened ties with Leba- ians had to vote four times
Like the Castro family in ing position on the Golan domestically, exploit the non's Hezbollah. for the only president on
Cuba and North Korea's Heights, the strategic high geopolitical shifts region- Like his father, Bashar Assad the ballot ... Hafez Assad.
Kim dynasty, the Assads ground lost to Israel in the ally and globally, and wait elevated family to insulate His son is still president. Af-
have attached their name 1967 war. He engaged in your enemies out," said his power — a younger, ter migration to the U.S., I
to their country the way U.S.-mediated peace talks, Sam Dagher, author of the more modern generation, voted for six different presi-
few non-monarchical rulers sometimes appearing to book "Assad or we Burn the but one seen by many Syr- dents," wrote Zaher Sahloul,
have done. soften, only to frustrate the Country: How One Family's ians as more rapacious in a Chicago-based Syrian-
It wasn't clear whether the Americans by pulling back Lust for Power Destroyed amassing wealth. American doctor who left
government intended to and asking for more terri- Syria." The Assad family's gravest Syria in 1989. "I wish that my
mark the 50-year milestone tory. CHALLENGES AND OPPOR- challenge came with the homeland will witness free
this year. While the anniver- In 1981, in Iraq's war with TUNITIES Arab Spring uprisings that elections one day."
sary has been marked with Iran, he sided with the Irani- Bashar Assad borrowed swept the region, reaching Hafez Assad's legacy might
fanfare in previous years, it ans against the entire Arab heavily from that playbook Syria in March 2011. have looked quite different
has been a more subdued world backing Saddam after his father's death His response to the initially had he not shoe-horned
celebration during the war. Hussein — starting an alli- in 2000. Unlike his father, peaceful protests was to Bashar into succeeding
"There can be no doubt ance that would help save critics say he repeatedly unleash security forces to him, Quilliam said.
that 50 years of Assad fam- his son later. He supported squandered opportunities snuff them out. Instead, "It would not have been
ily rule, which has been the U.S.-led coalition to and went too far. protests grew, turning later favorable, but Bashar's
ruthless, cruel and self-de- liberate Kuwait after Sad- First welcomed as a reform- into an armed insurgency legacy will overshadow
feating, has left the coun- dam's 1990 invasion, gain- er and modernizer, Bashar, backed by Turkey, the U.S. Assad's legacy and make
try what can only be de- ing credit with the Ameri- a British-trained eye doc- and Gulf Arab nations. His it synonymous with cruelty,
scribed as broken, failed cans. tor, opened the country military fragmented. willful destruction of a great
and almost forgotten," said "He was a ruthless but bril- and allowed political de- With his army nearing col- country and the brutaliza-
Neil Quilliam, an associate liant man who had once bates. He quickly clamped lapse, Assad opened his tion of a beautiful people,"
fellow at Chatham House's wiped out a whole village back down, faced with territory to Russia's and he said.q
Middle East and North Af- as a lesson to his oppo- challenges and a rapidly Iran's militaries and their
rica program. nents," former U.S. President changing world, beginning proxies. Cities were pulver-
"RUTHLESS BUT BRILLIANT" Bill Clinton, who met with with the Sept. 11 attacks in ized. He was accused of
After his 1970 takeover, Assad several times, wrote America. using chemical weapons
Hafez Assad consolidated in his memoirs "My Life." He opposed the 2003 U.S.- against his own people and
power. He brought into Clinton was referring to the led invasion of Iraq, worried killing or jailing opponents
key positions members of 1982 massacre in Hama, he would be next. He let en masse. Millions fled to
his Alawite sect, a minority where security forces killed foreign fighters enter Iraq Europe or beyond.
in Sunni-majority Syria, and thousands to crush a Mus- from his territory, fueling an For much of the world,
established a Soviet-style lim Brotherhood uprising. insurgency against the U.S. he became a pariah. But
single-party police state. The massacre, one of the occupation and enraging Assad masterfully por-