Assad, Hafez al

Syrian Ba'athist politician, president 1971–2000. He became prime minister after a bloodless military coup in 1970. The following year he became the first president to be elected by popular vote. Having suppressed dissent, he was re-elected in 1978, 1985, 1991, and 1999. He was a Shia (Alawite) Muslim.

He ruthlessly suppressed domestic opposition, and was Iran's only major Arab ally in its war against Iraq. He steadfastly pursued military parity with Israel, and made himself a key player in any settlement of the Lebanese civil war or Middle East conflict generally. His support for United Nations action against Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait in 1990 raised his international standing. In 1995, following intense US diplomatic pressure, he was close to reaching a mutual peace agreement with Israel. However, the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in November 1995 and the return of a Likud-led government in Israel seriously threatened the peace process. Upon his death in June 2000 he was succeeded by his son, Bashar.