Hafez, Amin al-, 1911-, Syrian army officer and politician. He served (1963-65) as chief of state in Syria's Ba'athist government but had to flee to Lebanon (1965) after radical Ba'athist military officers, led by Nurreddin Attassi and Hafez al-Assad, toppled his government in a coup. Amin al-Hafez moved his exile to Iraq in 1968 and was sentenced to death in absentia in 1971.

Assad, Hafez al-, 1930-2000, president of Syria (1971-2000). He graduated (1955) from the Syrian Military Academy and advanced through the army ranks to become a general. He served (1966-70) as Syria's minister of defense and commander in chief of the air force. Using that position, Assad was able to become the most powerful figure in Syria, and in 1971 he became the country's president after leading a coup in late 1970. An autocratic ruler at the head of a police state, he was strongly anti-Zionist and a major supporter of Palestinian guerrilla organizations. In 1976 he sent Syrian troops as a peacekeeping force to Lebanon, where they became a force in Lebanese politics. In the 1990s, Assad sought to cultivate both the support of more militant Arab leaders and peaceful relations with the West in an attempt to regain the Golan Heights and increase Syrian influence in the Middle East.

(born Oct. 6, 1930, Qardāhsubdota, Syria—died June 10, 2000, Damascus) President of Syria (1971–2000). He joined the Baaynth Party in 1946 and in 1955 became an air force pilot. He became air force commander (1963) after helping the Baaynthists gain power. After participating in a military coup in 1966, he became minister of defense. He led a coup in 1970 to replace his political mentor, Ssubdotalāhsubdot al-Jadīd, as Syria's leader. He joined Egypt in a surprise attack on Israel (1973) but nearly 20 years later (1991) participated in peace negotiations with Israel in an effort to regain the Golan Heights, taken by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967. A longtime foe of Iraqi leader Ssubdotaddām Hsubdotussein, he supported the Western alliance against Iraq in the Persian Gulf War (1990–91). He was succeeded by his son Bashshār.

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