1.
Hafez al-Assad
–
In 1966, Assad participated in a second coup, which toppled the traditional leaders of the Baath Party, and brought a radical military faction headed by Salah Jadid to power. Assad was appointed minister by the new government. In 1970 Assad seized power by toppling Jadid, and appointed himself the leader of Syria in the period 1970–71. He sided with the Soviet Union during the Cold War in turn for support against Israel, while he had forsaken pan-Arabism—or at least the pan-Arab concept of unifying the Arab world into one Arab nation—he did seek to make Syria the defender of Arab interest against Israel. When he took power, Assad instituted one-man rule and organized state services into sectarian lines, the formerly collegial powers of Baathist decision-making were curtailed, and were transferred to the Syrian presidency. The Syrian government ceased to be a one-party system in the sense of the word. To maintain this system, a cult of personality centered on Assad. Having become the source of initiative inside the Syrian government. His first choice as successor was his brother Rifaat, who was seen as corrupt. In 1983–84, when Hafezs health was in doubt, Rifaat attempted to seize power, when Hafezs health did improve, Rifaat was exiled from Syria. His next choice of successor was his eldest son, Bassel, however Bassels 1994 death in a car accident forced Assad to turn to his third choice—his younger son Bashar al-Assad, who at that time had no practical political experience. This move was met with criticism within some quarters of the Syrian ruling class. Assad died in 2000 and was succeeded by Bashar al-Assad as President, Hafez was born on 6 October 1930 in Qardaha to an Alawite family of the Kalbiyya tribe. His parents were Nasa and Ali Sulayman al-Assad, Hafez was Alis ninth son, and the fourth from his second marriage. Sulayman married twice, had children and was known for his strength and shooting abilities. By the 1920s he was respected locally, and like others he initially opposed the French Mandate for Syria. Nevertheless, Ali Sulayman later cooperated with the French administration and was appointed to an official post. In 1936, he was one of 80 Alawite notables who signed a letter addressed to the French Prime Minister saying that Alawi people rejected attachment to Syria, for his accomplishments, he was called al-Assad by local residents and made the nickname his surname in 1927
2.
Homs
–
Homs, previously known as Emesa, is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is 501 metres above sea level and is located 162 kilometres north of Damascus, located on the Orontes River, Homs is also the central link between the interior cities and the Mediterranean coast. Its population reflects Syrias general religious diversity, composed of Sunni and Alawite, there are a number of historic mosques and churches in the city, and it is close to the Krak des Chevaliers castle, a world heritage site. Homs did not emerge into the record until the 1st century BCE at the time of the Seleucids. It later became the capital of a kingdom ruled by the Emesani dynasty who gave the city its name, originally a center of worship for the sun god El-Gabal, it later gained importance in Christianity under the Byzantines. Homs was conquered by the Muslims in the 7th century and made capital of a district that bore its current name, throughout the Islamic era, Muslim dynasties contending for control of Syria sought after Homs due to the citys strategic position in the area. Homs began to decline under the Ottomans and only in the 19th century did the city regain its importance when its cotton industry boomed. During French Mandate rule, the city became a center of insurrection and, after independence in 1946, in the ongoing Syrian civil war, Homs became an opposition stronghold and the Syrian government launched a military assault against the city in May 2011. The following Siege of Homs left much of the city completely destroyed, the war in the city ended in 2015 when rebels evacuated the city, resulting in a government victory. The origin of the modern name is that it is an Arabic form of the citys Latin name Emesus. The name Emesa seems to derive from the nomadic Arab tribe, called Emesenoi by the Greeks and the Romans, Emesa was shortened to Homs or Hims by its Arab inhabitants, many of whom settled there prior to the Muslim conquest of Syria. This name has been preserved throughout the period of Islamic rule continuing to the present day and it was known as la Chamelle by the Crusaders, although they never ruled the city. For approximately 2,000 years, Homs has served as a key market, production site. It has also provided security services to the hinterland of Syria, excavations at the Citadel of Homs indicate that the earliest settlement at the site dates back to around 2300 BCE. Biblical scholars have identified the city with Zobah mentioned in the Bible, in 1274 BCE, a battle took place between the forces of the Egyptian Empire under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River near Homs. It was possibly the largest chariot battle ever fought, involving perhaps 5, at this time, Greek philosopher Strabo spoke of a tent-dwelling tribe called the Emesani living in the area around the Orontes and south of the Apamea region. They were an Arab tribe in the area and settled in Emesa—which derived its name from them. Their chief at the time, Sampsiceramus I, gained the status as King of Emesa, but their capital was at Arethusa, a city north of Emesa, also along the Orontes River
3.
Paris
–
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
4.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
5.
Atassi family
–
Atassi, also spelled Atasi is the name of a prominent family in Homs, Syria, of a noble and ancient lineage, dating back to the 15th century AD. More recently, members of the lead the national movement against the French mandate. The power and prestige of the reached a apex at the formation of the modern Republic of Syria in 1936. Two out of the seven members of the assembly who drafted the first constitution of Syria in 1919 were prominent Atassis, Wasfi al-Atassi. Two more scions, Luay al-Atassi and Nureddin al-Atassi, were in turn installed as heads of state in the 1960s, family members included magistrates, governors, ambassadors, heads of political parties, military officers and other public officials throughout Ottoman and modern times. Many leading family members assumed prominent religious and political positions in Ottoman, French, the name al-Atassi evolved from the word العطاسي which later changed to الأطاسي then to الأتاسي or Atassi. Being Hashemites in origin, and its members were recognized as Ashraf, the ancestors of the family moved between Yemen, Hejaz and Turkey before eventually establishing their presence in Homs sometime in the 16th century CE. Their religious authority as muftis of Homs, along with land holdings in Homs, formed the basis of the familys wealth. The family appeared in Hims around the end of the 15th Century and its ancestor, Ali Bin Khalil Atassi, was buried in 1508 in a tomb in his mosque, later known as the Atassi Mosque. The Atassi House of Hims has been divided into fifteen branches, most of which use the name Atassi as the sole surname, however. Al-Sayed Suleiman and Majaj are two branches that are recognized as Atassi, although they have alternative surnames. The office of Mufti of the town of Hims, the highest religious jurisdiction in the city, was hereditary in the Atassi family for four centuries. At least eighteen Atassi scholars held this position, in addition, two Atassis are known to have been Muftis of the city of Tripoli as well. The following are members of the family who attained the position of mufti, Other members served as religious scholars in other such as judges, chief clerks. One mufti, Sayed Ibraheem Efendi al-Atassi, also served as Mufti of Tripoli in the late 18th century, Taher al-Atassi served as the supreme judge of Basra in Iraq, and Nablus and Jerusalem in Palestine in the late Ottoman period. Two scholars who held the position of mufti also held offices, Khaled al-Atassi. In 1876, Sayed Khaled Efendi Al-Atassi was elected to the first parliament of the Ottoman Empire as the deputy from Homs, in 1922, Sayed Taher Efendi was elected to membership of the Council of the Syrian Union as the representative of Homs in the state of Damascus. Other Atassis have since held legislative positions, bughyat Al-Nasi the History of the Atassi Family-Bassel Atasi
6.
Algerian War
–
An important decolonization war, it was a complex conflict characterized by guerrilla warfare, maquis fighting, and the use of torture by both sides. The conflict also became a war between loyalist Algerians supporting a French Algeria and their Algerian nationalist counterparts. A referendum took place on 8 April 1962 and the French electorate approved the Évian Accords, the planned French withdrawal led to a state crisis, to various assassination attempts on de Gaulle, and to some attempts at military coups. Upon independence, in 1962,900,000 European-Algerians fled to France, in fear of the FLNs revenge, the French government was totally unprepared for the vast number of refugees, which caused turmoil in France. On the pretext of a slight to their consul, the French invaded Algiers in 1830, in 1834, Algeria became a French military colony and was subsequently declared by the constitution of 1848 to be an integral part of France and divided into three departments. Many French and other Europeans later settled in Algeria, under the Second Empire, the Code de lindigénat was implemented by the Sénatus-consulte of July 14,1865. Its first article stipulated, The indigenous Muslim is French, however and he may be admitted to serve in the army and the navy. He may be called to functions and civil employment in Algeria and he may, on his demand, be admitted to enjoy the rights of a French citizen, in this case, he is subjected to the political and civil laws of France. However, prior to 1870, fewer than 200 demands were registered by Muslims and 152 by Jewish Algerians, the 1865 decree was then modified by the 1870 Crémieux decrees, which granted French nationality to Jews living in one of the three Algerian departments. In 1881, the Code de lIndigénat made the official by creating specific penalties for indigènes. The Law of September 20,1947, granted French citizenship to all Algerian subjects, Algeria was unique to France because, unlike all other overseas possessions acquired by France during the 19th century, only Algeria was considered and legally classified an integral part of France. Both Muslim and European Algerians took part in World War I, Algerian Muslims served as tirailleurs and spahis, and French settlers as Zouaves or Chasseurs dAfrique. Within this context, a grandson of Abd el-Kadir spearheaded the resistance against the French in the first half of the 20th century and he was a member of the directing committee of the French Communist Party. The North African Star broke from the PCF in 1928, before being dissolved in 1929 at Pariss demand, the pieds-noirs violently demonstrated against it and the North African Party opposed it, leading to the projects abandonment. This new party was dissolved in 1939, under Vichy, the French state attempted to abrogate the Crémieux decree in order to suppress the Jews French citizenship, but the measure was never implemented. On the other hand, nationalist leader Ferhat Abbas founded the Algerian Popular Union in 1938, in 1943 Abbas wrote the Algerian Peoples Manifesto. In the early morning hours of November 1,1954, FLN maquisards attacked military and he declared in the National Assembly, One does not compromise when it comes to defending the internal peace of the nation, the unity and integrity of the Republic. The Algerian departments are part of the French Republic and they have been French for a long time, and they are irrevocably French
7.
Hashim al-Atassi
–
Hashim Khalid al-Atassi was a Syrian nationalist, statesman and its President from 1936 to 1939,1949 to 1951, and 1954 to 1955. He was born in Homs in 1875 to the large, landowning and he studied public administration at the Mekteb-i Mülkiye in Istanbul, and graduated in 1895. In 1920, after the World War I defeat of the Turks, he was elected chairman of the Syrian National Congress, on 8 March 1920 that body declared independence as a constitutional monarchy, under Faisal I. He became prime minister during this period, for French occupation soon followed under the terms of the Sykes-Picot Agreement. He delegated Shahbandar to formulate alliances between Syria and Europe, in a attempt to prevent the implementation of a French Mandate. France moved quickly to reverse Syrian independence, the Bloc was a political coalition movement that sought full independence for Syria through diplomatic rather than violent resistance. It founders were a group of landowners, lawyers, civil servants, and Ottoman-trained professionals from Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Atassi was elected permanent President of the National Bloc. In 1928, he was also elected President of the Constituent Assembly, the assembly was dissolved by the French high commissioner in May 1930 because of its adherence to the 1920 proclamation, and Atassi was imprisoned by the French for several months at Arwad Island. In 1928 and 1932, he became a deputy for Homs in Parliament, in 1934, Abid negotiated a treaty with France that promised gradual independence from the mandate but kept the Syrian Mountains under French control. Atassi severely criticized the treaty, arguing that no independence was valid unless it encompassed all of Syrias territory and he called for a 60-day strike to protest Abids proposed treaty. In defeat, the French government agreed to recognize the National Bloc leaders as the representatives of the Syrian people. On 22 March 1936, he headed a senior Bloc delegation to France, Atassis treaty guaranteed emancipation over 25 years, with full incorporation of previously autonomous territories into Greater Syria. In return, Syria pledged to support France in times of war, offer the use of her air space, other political, cultural, and economic attachments were made and Atassi returned to Syria in triumph on 27 September 1936. Hailed as a hero, he was elected President of the Republic by a majority vote in November 1936. Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar returned to Syria at this time and agitated against Atassi, Atassis resignation was also influenced by the French decision to cede the Syrian province of Alexandretta to Turkey, enraging Syrian nationalists. The ex-President retired to his native Homs and spent one year in seclusion, following his resignation, several years of instability and French military rule followed. The 1940s overall were dominated by the politics and machinations of World War II, Syria was occupied by British and General Charles de Gaulles Free French Forces, which did not leave until 1946. In an attempt at appeasing the Syrians, de Gaulle promised independence and he visited Hashim al-Atassi in Homs and invited him to resume the presidency, assuring the veteran leader that France wanted to turn a new page in her relations with Syria
8.
Shukri al-Quwatli
–
Shukri al-Quwatli was the first president of post-independence Syria. He began his career as a dissident working towards the independence, when the Kingdom of Syria was established, Quwatli became a government official, though he was disillusioned with monarchism and co-founded the republican Independence Party. Quwatli was immediately sentenced to death by the French who took control over Syria in 1920, afterward, he based himself in Cairo where he served as the chief ambassador of the Syrian-Palestinian Congress, cultivating particularly strong ties with Saudi Arabia. He used these connections to help finance the Great Syrian Revolt, in 1930, the French authorities pardoned Quwatli and thereafter, he returned to Syria, where he gradually became a principal leader of the National Bloc. He was elected president of Syria in 1943 and oversaw the countrys independence three years later, Quwatli was reelected in 1948, but was toppled in a military coup in 1949. He subsequently went into exile in Egypt, returning to Syria in 1955 to participate in the presidential election, a conservative presiding over an increasingly leftist-dominated government, Quwatli officially adopted neutralism amid the Cold War. After his request for aid from the United States was denied and he also entered Syria into a defense arrangement with Egypt and Saudi Arabia to confront the influence of the Baghdad Pact. In 1957, Quwatli, who the US and the Pact countries attempted but failed to oust, sought to stem the leftist tide in Syria, but to no avail. By then, his authority had receded as the military bypassed Quwatlis jurisdiction by independently coordinating with Quwatlis erstwhile ally. Following months of unity talks, in 1958, Quwatli merged Syria with Egypt to form the United Arab Republic, in gratitude, Nasser awarded Quwatli the honorary title of First Arab Citizen. However, Quwatli grew disenchanted with the union, believing it had reduced Syria to a state subordinate to Egypt. He backed Syrias secession in 1961, but plans for him to complete his presidential term afterward did not materialize, Quwatli left Syria following the 1963 Baathist coup, and he died of a heart attack in Lebanon weeks after Syrias defeat in the 1967 Six Day War. He was buried in Damascus on 1 July, the Quwatlis were a family of merchants, who became wealthy from trading with Arabia, and moved to Damascus from Baghdad in the 18th-century. The family established itself in the district of al-Shaghour in Damascus, the familys notable status was owed to their wealth, rather than an aristocratic or religious lineage, and their traditional spheres of activity were commerce and the Ottoman civil service. Shukris grandfather, Abd al-Ghani was involved in finance, as well as his great-uncle, Ahmad and his other great-uncle, Murad, was a member of the Administrative Council for the city. His fathers wealth rested on the lands he owned, and later bequeathed to Shukri and his siblings. His older brother, Hasan, was elected President of the Damascus Chamber of Commerce, in 1928, Shukri al-Quwatli married Bahira al-Dalati, the 19-year-old daughter of nationalist Said al-Dalati, whom Quwatli met while in jail in 1916. Shukri and Bahira had five children, Hassan, Mahmud, Huda, Hana, Shukri Quwatli was born in Damascus in 1891
9.
United Arab Republic
–
The United Arab Republic, alternatively referred to, mostly in Israel in the 1960s-70s, as the United Arab Commonwealth was a short-lived political union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961, when Syria seceded from the union after the 1961 Syrian coup détat, Egypt continued to be known officially as the United Arab Republic until 1971. The president was Gamal Abdel Nasser and it was a member of the United Arab States, a loose confederation with North Yemen which in 1961 dissolved along with the Republic. Pan-Arab sentiment traditionally was very strong in Syria, and Nasser was a popular hero-figure throughout the Arab world following the Suez War of 1956, there was thus considerable popular support in Syria for union with Nassers Egypt. The Arab Socialist Baath Party was the advocate of such a union. This caused the Syrian Crisis of 1957 after which Syrians intensified their efforts to unite with Egypt, according to Abdel Latif Boghdadi, Nasser initially resisted a total union with Syria, favoring instead a federal union. However, Nasser was more afraid of a Communist takeover and agreed on a total merger, Syria had had a democratic government since the overthrow of Adib al-Shishaklis military regime in 1954, and popular pressure for Arab unity was reflected in the composition of parliament. When on 11 January 1958 al-Bizri led a Syrian delegation composed of officers to Cairo. Nassers final terms for the union were decisive and non-negotiable, a plebiscite, the dissolution of parties, while the plebiscite seemed reasonable to most Syrian elites, the latter two conditions were extremely worrisome. They believed it would destroy life in Syria. Despite these concerns, the Syrian officials knew it was too late to turn back. The members of the elite in Syria viewed the merger with Egypt as the lesser of two evils. They believed that Nassers terms were unfair, but given the pressure that their government was undergoing. Egyptian and Syrian leaders signed the protocols, although Azem did so reluctantly, Nasser became the republics president and very soon carried out a crackdown against the Syrian Communists and opponents of the union which included dismissing Bizri and Azem from their posts. Advocates of the believed that Nasser would use the Baath Party for ruling Syria. Unfortunately for the Baathists, it was never Nassers intention to share a measure of power. Nasser gave each of the provinces two vice-presidents, assigning Boghdadi and Abdel Hakim Amer to Egypt and Sabri al-Assali and Akram El-Hourani—a leader of the Baath—to Syria, the new constitution of 1958 was adopted. Though Nasser allowed former Baath Party members to hold prominent political positions, during the winter and the spring of 1959–60, Nasser slowly squeezed prominent Syrians out of positions of influence. In the Syrian Ministry of Industry, for example, seven of the top thirteen positions were filled by Egyptians, in the General Petroleum Authority, four of the top six officials were Egyptian
10.
Gamal Abdel Nasser
–
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt, serving from 1956 until his death. Nasser led the 1952 overthrow of the monarchy and introduced far-reaching land reforms the following year, Nassers popularity in Egypt and the Arab world skyrocketed after his nationalization of the Suez Canal and his political victory in the subsequent Suez Crisis. Calls for pan-Arab unity under his leadership increased, culminating with the formation of the United Arab Republic with Syria, in 1962, Nasser began a series of major socialist measures and modernization reforms in Egypt. Despite setbacks to his pan-Arabist cause, by 1963 Nassers supporters gained power in several Arab countries and he began his second presidential term in March 1965 after his political opponents were banned from running. Following Egypts defeat by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, Nasser resigned, after the conclusion of the 1970 Arab League summit, Nasser suffered a heart attack and died. His funeral in Cairo drew five million mourners and an outpouring of grief across the Arab world, Nasser remains an iconic figure in the Arab world, particularly for his strides towards social justice and Arab unity, modernization policies, and anti-imperialist efforts. His presidency also encouraged and coincided with an Egyptian cultural boom, Gamal Abdel Nasser was born on 15 January 1918 in Bakos, Alexandria, the first son of Fahima and Abdel Nasser Hussein. Nassers father was a postal worker born in Beni Mur in Upper Egypt and raised in Alexandria and his parents married in 1917, and later had two more boys, Izz al-Arab and al-Leithi. Nassers family traveled frequently due to his fathers work, in 1921, they moved to Asyut and, in 1923, to Khatatba, where Nassers father ran a post office. Nasser attended a school for the children of railway employees until 1924, when he was sent to live with his paternal uncle in Cairo. Nasser exchanged letters with his mother and visited her on holidays and he stopped receiving messages at the end of April 1926. Upon returning to Khatatba, he learned that his mother had died giving birth to his third brother, Shawki. Nasser later stated that losing her this way was a shock so deep that time failed to remedy and he adored his mother and the injury of her death deepened when his father remarried before the years end. In 1928, Nasser went to Alexandria to live with his maternal grandfather and it was in Alexandria that Nasser became involved in political activism. After witnessing clashes between protesters and police in Manshia Square, he joined the demonstration without being aware of its purpose. The protest, organized by the ultranationalist Young Egypt Society, called for the end of colonialism in Egypt in the wake of the 1923 Egyptian constitutions annulment by Prime Minister Ismail Sidqi, Nasser was arrested and detained for a night before his father bailed him out. When his father was transferred to Cairo in 1933, Nasser joined him and he took up acting in school plays for a brief period and wrote articles for the schools paper, including a piece on French philosopher Voltaire titled Voltaire, the Man of Freedom. Two protesters were killed and Nasser received a graze to the head from a policemans bullet, the incident garnered his first mention in the press, the nationalist newspaper Al Gihad reported that Nasser led the protest and was among the wounded
11.
Syria
–
Syrias capital and largest city is Damascus. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Mandeans, Shiites, Salafis, Sunni Arabs make up the largest religious group in Syria. Its capital Damascus and largest city Aleppo are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, in the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt. The post-independence period was tumultuous, and a number of military coups. In 1958, Syria entered a union with Egypt called the United Arab Republic. Syria was under Emergency Law from 1963 to 2011, effectively suspending most constitutional protections for citizens, Bashar al-Assad has been president since 2000 and was preceded by his father Hafez al-Assad, who was in office from 1970 to 2000. Mainstream modern academic opinion strongly favours the argument that the Greek word is related to the cognate Ἀσσυρία, Assyria, in the past, others believed that it was derived from Siryon, the name that the Sidonians gave to Mount Hermon. However, the discovery of the inscription in 2000 seems to support the theory that the term Syria derives from Assyria. The area designated by the word has changed over time, since approximately 10,000 BC, Syria was one of centers of Neolithic culture where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time in the world. The following Neolithic period is represented by houses of Mureybet culture. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gyps, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations. Cities of Hamoukar and Emar played an important role during the late Neolithic, archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth, perhaps preceded by only those of Mesopotamia. The earliest recorded indigenous civilisation in the region was the Kingdom of Ebla near present-day Idlib, gifts from Pharaohs, found during excavations, confirm Eblas contact with Egypt. One of the earliest written texts from Syria is an agreement between Vizier Ibrium of Ebla and an ambiguous kingdom called Abarsal c.2300 BC. The Northwest Semitic language of the Amorites is the earliest attested of the Canaanite languages, Mari reemerged during this period, and saw renewed prosperity until conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon. Ugarit also arose during this time, circa 1800 BC, close to modern Latakia, Ugaritic was a Semitic language loosely related to the Canaanite languages, and developed the Ugaritic alphabet. The Ugarites kingdom survived until its destruction at the hands of the marauding Indo-European Sea Peoples in the 12th century BC, Yamhad was described in the tablets of Mari as the mightiest state in the near east and as having more vassals than Hammurabi of Babylon. Yamhad imposed its authority over Alalakh, Qatna, the Hurrians states, the army of Yamhad campaigned as far away as Dēr on the border of Elam
12.
Amin al-Hafiz
–
Amin al-Hafiz was a Syrian politician, General and member of the Baath Party. Al-Hafiz was born in the city of Aleppo and his first main political role was in 1958, as a Brigadier and leader of a Syrian Army delegation that visited Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian president. The two states merged into one United Arab Republic in February that year, and al-Hafiz was posted to Cairo. The union crumbled after a Syrian uprising in September 1961, the 1963 Syrian coup détat led by the Military Committee introduced Hafiz to public life. In the aftermath of the coup the National Council of the Revolutionary Command became the supreme organ. The NCRC was dominated by the Syrian branch of the radical, Hafiz became President, instituted socialist reforms and oriented his country towards the Eastern Bloc. The details of Eli Cohen and his operations are impossible to verify. In any case Al-Hafiz himself rebutted and denied the allegations of his stature within the Syrian military or political sphere, allegedly, during his exile in Buenos Aires, Hafez befriended a supposed Lebanese trader named Kamal Amin Thaabet, an allegation which he flatly denied. According to Hafez, he never met Cohen in Argentina and his account was that Cohen was a socialite who befriended officers in the Syrian Army but was never a part of the military in any official capacity. Generally, the importance of the intelligence provided to the Israelis was greatly exaggerated, Thaabet was actually an Egyptian-born Israeli Mossad agent, Eli Cohen. Thaabet/Cohen arrived in Syria in early 1962, a year before Hafez’s return, as president, Hafez groomed Thaabet/Cohen to be a future defence minister and possibly even his successor, an allegation which he also flatly denied and challenged. Hafez invited Thaabet/Cohen to functions and gave him tours of secret fortifications in the Golan Heights, when Cohen was revealed as a spy in January 1965, Hafez personally interrogated him and ordered the arrest of 500 of his highly placed friends. Despite international pleas for clemency, Hafez had Cohen publicly hanged in Damascus, on 23 February 1966, he was overthrown by a radical Baathist faction headed by Chief of Staff Salah Jadid. A late warning telegram of the coup détat was sent from President Nasser to Nasim al-Safarjalani, jadids supporters were also seen as more radically left-wing. But the coup was supported and led by officers from Syrias religious minorities, especially the Alawite Muslims. Alawis have ruled Syria ever since, a year later he was relocated to Baghdad. After the fall of Saddam in the Iraq War of 2003 and he died in Aleppo on December 17,2009, reports of his age differ, but he was believed to be in his late 80s. He received a state sponsored funeral
.svg){kind=small}
