Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview Shmuel Bar ...

Bashar’s Syria 381with his advisors, belongs to any cliques within the regime, or has had any influence onnondomestic issues (such as Lebanon or the peace process with Israel).According to some sources, Asma’s father Fawaz and her younger brother Eyad 61 alsohave influence on the president in domestic areas. There is no evidence that Asma’s otherbrother Feras (a student of medicine) is involved in political decision making.Alongside the extended al-Asad family the main family power bases in Syria are in themajor Alawite families such as Nasef Kheir Bek, Khouli, Haydar, Kana’an, Umran, andDuba. These families composed the nomenklatura in the days of Hafez al-Asad, and manyof the second generation are still to be found in the party and state organs, and particularlyin the military.Many of these families have forged marriage links with each other and even withprominent Sunni families. Prime examples of these include: In the al-Asad family, Rif‘at al-Asad is arguably the front runner in forging alliancesthrough marriage. He is married to four women: Amira, a cousin from his owntribe, Sana’ Makhlouf (from the ‘Alawite Makhlouf family that Bashar’s mothercomes from), Raja Barakat (from the wealthy Sunni Damascene Barakat family),Lina al-Khayer (from the powerful Alawite al-Khayer tribe) and the sister of thewife of King ‘Abdallah of Saudi Arabia. The second generation of Rif‘at’s familyhas cemented his ties within the Alawite community. His daughter Lamia is marriedto ‘Ala al-Fayad, the son of General Shafiq al-Fayad (from the prominent Alawiteal-Fayad clan of Rifa‘t’s own Kalabiyya tribe). His eldest son Mudar is marriedto May Haydar, the daughter of the multimillionaire Mohammad Haydar (of theAlawite Khayyatin tribe), and his daughter Tumadhir is married to Mu’ein NasefKheir Bek. The marriage of Bashar al-Asad to British-born Sunni Asma al-Akhrasdoes not seem to have been politically motivated. Bushra’s marriage to Asef Shawkatalso was not politically advantageous. Asef Shawkat was a divorced military officerwho comes from a minor Alawite tribe. The Tlas family is linked by marriage and the aristocratic Sunni al-Jabiri family ofAleppo through Tlas’ wife Lamia and Firas Tlas’ wife Rania. The Tlas family is alsolinked by marriage to the upper class Damascene Kheir family (through Manaf’swife, Tal’a). The al-Jabiri clan includes the reformist Mustafa al-Jabiri. Firas Tlasis a businessman and heads the MAS (Min Ajli Suriya, “For the Sake of Syria”)financial group and Manaf Tlas is a senior officer in the Republican Guard, close toBashar and since June 2000 a member of the Ba’th party Central Committee. Hiseldest daughter Nahed is the widow of the Paris-based Syrian multimillionaire armsdealer Akram al-Oujje and currently lives as a socialite in Paris and is associatedwith the highest political echelons in France. The Kheir Bek clan of the Alawite Kalabiyya tribe (the tribe of the Asad family) isrepresented throughout the party and the security apparatuses. 62 The family is alsoconnected by marriage to the family of former Vice President ‘Abd al-Halim Khaddamand to the Assad family through the marriage of Rif‘at’s daughter, Tumadhir toMu’ein Nasef Kheir Bek. The Makhlouf family (of the Alawite Haddadin tribe) is connected to the al-Asadfamily by Anisa Makhlouf (Bashar’s mother) and Sana’ Makhlouf (one of Rif‘atal-Asad’s four wives). The Kana’an family (the head of which was Ghazi Kana’an, the interior ministerwho “commited suicide” in the wake of the Mehlis report) also belongs to the Kalabiyyatribe. Ghazi Kana’an is a distant relation of Bashar’s mother and the Kana’an