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

424 S. Bar44. See Flynt Everett, Inheriting Syria, Bashar’s Trial by Fire, p.6845. Since his election, Bashar has raised the salaries of the civil service by tens of percents atleast four times (August 2000, October 2002, May, 2004; November 2004).46. The post of Minister of Defense was held by Mustafa Tlas (b. 1932) for thirty-two years(1972–2004), when he was replaced by the former Chief of Staff, Hasan Turkemani, only three yearshis junior (b. 1935); the post of chief of staff went from Ali Aslan (b. 1932), who held it between1998–2002 to Turkemani (b. 1935) between 2002–2004 and then to Ali Habib (b. 1939). The posttherefore remained in the hands of “old guard” officers over the age of 65. On the other hand, thepost of director of military intelligence went from Ali Duba (b. 1935) who held the position between1973–2000, to Hasan Khalil (b. 1937, held the postion between 2000–2005) and in 2005 devolved tothe younger generation with the appointment of Bashar’s brother-in-law, Asaf Shawkat (b. 1950). Theappointment of Shawkat fits the model of the appointments of the civilian intelligence apparatuses.The General Intelligence was headed during this period by Ali Hamoud (b. 1944, served in the positionduring 2001), Hisham Ikhtiyar (b. 1941, served between 2001–2005) and finally Ali Mamlouk (b.1954?). The head of Political Security, Fouad Kheir-Bek, who replaced Bahjat Suleiman (b. 1944, inthe position from 1999) in 2005 is also relatively young (b. 1954?). None of these, however, are fromBashar’s own generation.47. Bashar al-Asad to Der Spiegel, 29 August 2005.48. This was adeptly done while in Beirut to former Chief of Staff of the Syrian Army HikmatShihabi who in the last days of Hafez al-Asad learned from the Lebanese newspaper al-Hayyat, ofan investigation against him on charges of corruption. One version attributed this to Bahjat Suliemanand linked it to Shihabi’s close relationship with the Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafiq al-Hariri (laterassassinated). In any case, Shihabi boarded a plane to California and returned later after arrangingreconciliation with Bashar, including apparently a guarantee not to oppose him.49. Former Prime Minister Mahmoud Zu’bi was indicted for corruption and committed suicidein jail. The Head of Feneral Intelligence, Bashir Najar also was sentenced to a long sentence for“corruption.”50. Bashar Asad’s speech to the 10th Ba’th Party Conference, 6 June 2005, http://www.sana.org/News/conference/6.6.2005/Word.htm51. Bashar himself made this point in an interview with Christianne Amanpour on CNN,saying: “I have my authority by the constitution, by the Syrian constitution. But at the same time,it’s not enough to have the authority. It’s very important to make dialogue with the widest circleof people you can to take your decision. And this is the way I work,” http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/10/12/alAssad.transcript/index.html52. As Joshua Landis aptly put it: “there are no strategists or foreign policy thinkers in thisregime,” www.syriacomment.com from 29 October 2005.53. Mehlis report (published October 2005) was a result of UN’s investigation into the assassinationof Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri (February 2005). The report found thathigh ranking members of Syrian and Lebanese governments were involved in the assassination.54. An area that Hezbollah and Lebanon claim is part of Lebanon, though it was occupied fromSyria in the 1967 war, and therefore it provides the legitimacy for Hezbollah to continue its “armedstruggle” for liberation of Lebanese lands.55. http://europa.eu.int/comm/external 11 relations/syria/intro/56. Anthony Shadid, “Assad Says Accused Syrians May Face Trial Letter Is First SubstantiveResponse to U.N. Report Implicating Officials in Hariri Killing,” Washington Post Foreign Service,Wednesday, October 26, 2005: A1057. See entire text of the letter: http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/syriablog/58. Maher opposed the marriage of his sister to Asef, who comes from a lower-classAlawite family. It is rumored that during a quarrel between them Maher pulled a gun and shotAsef.59. She graduated in 1996 with a BS first-class honors degree in computer science and a diplomain French literature. In 1997, she started work at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell in London (now knownas Deutsche Bank) as an analyst in the Hedge Fund Management section of Sales and Trading. She