Difference between revisions of "Bashar al-Assad"
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Under al-Assad, Syria maintains a close alliance with theocratic [[Iran]], despite his more secular form of governance. Like his father [[Hafez al-Assad]], his relation with [[Saddam Hussein]]'s [[Iraq]] was sour and tense, and after [[Operation Iraqi Freedom]] he established good relations with the new Iraqi government. | Under al-Assad, Syria maintains a close alliance with theocratic [[Iran]], despite his more secular form of governance. Like his father [[Hafez al-Assad]], his relation with [[Saddam Hussein]]'s [[Iraq]] was sour and tense, and after [[Operation Iraqi Freedom]] he established good relations with the new Iraqi government. | ||
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==Personal life== | ==Personal life== | ||
Revision as of 11:17, September 17, 2014
Bashar al-Assad is the current president of Syria. As a member of the Ba'ath Party of Syria though in his reign some limited free market reforms were implemented. In 2011, the Arab Spring led to widespread protests in his country, which turned into the Syrian Civil War, in which more than 190,000 deaths have taken place.[1]
Politics
The Christians in Syria enjoy the tolerance of the secular government. But since the Syrian Civil War they are afraid to lose it, if the jihadist opposition will come in power.
Foreign Relations
Under al-Assad, Syria maintains a close alliance with theocratic Iran, despite his more secular form of governance. Like his father Hafez al-Assad, his relation with Saddam Hussein's Iraq was sour and tense, and after Operation Iraqi Freedom he established good relations with the new Iraqi government.
Personal life
President al-Assad believes in Shia Islam in its Alawite variant (which is seen by some Muslims as a heretical sect), and Syrian Alawite elites are his base of support. He is married to Asma al-Assad, a former investment banker educated in Britain.
His elder brother, Basil, was killed in a car accident in 1994.