Who was Hafez al-Assad, how did he become president of Syria, who was his wife and how many children did he have?

HAFEZ al-Assad ruled with an iron fist for almost 30 years and is the father of Syria's current tyrant who is presiding over a bloody civil war.

Here is what we know about the man who established a dictatorship that lasts to this day.

Who was Hafez al-Assad?

Hafez al-Assad was a politician and dictator of Syria from 1970 until his death in 2000.

He was born in 1930 in Qardaha Syria to a noble family

Originally a military man, attaining the post of head of the air force, he gained notoriety during the 1967 Six Day War against Israel and the so called War of Attrition between 1967 to 1970. 

He was also the father of the current Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad who took over from him when he died in 2000.

How did he become president of Syria?

Hafez al-Assad first entered the corridors of power in 1963 following a coup d’etat which brought the Syrian branch of the Ba’ath Party into administration.

A second power struggle swept the party elite away in favour of a radical element and al-Assad become defence minister.  

During a third coup in 1970 he took power and made himself the dictator of the country, establishing secret services to route out opposition which he interned without a trial.  

Who was his wife?

Aniseh Makhlouf was born in 1930 into a prominent Alawite family in the sect's heartlands of Latakia on the Mediterranean coast.

She married her childhood sweetheart in 1957 when he was a lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force.

Although rarely seen in public, she was seen as Syria's first lady long after his death in 2000.

When pro-democracy protesters took to the streets in 2011, she was reported to have pushed for the government crackdown that led to thousands of protesters being murdered which then spawned the civil war.

Syria denied claims she had fled to the United Arab Emirates in 2013. She was said to have lived there with her daughter, Bushra, 55, after her son-in-law Assef Shawkat, the deputy defence minister, was assassinated.

She died in Damascus on February 2016 of natural causes at the age of 86.

How many children did Hafez al-Assad have?

The couple had five children: Bushra, Basil, Bashar, Majed and Maher, three of whom survive.

Born on September 11, 1965, Bashar al-Assad is the second son and currently the leader.

This is despite a vicious civil war that has last more than seven years and killed more than 500,000, according to some estimates.

Thanks to Russian backing, he may emerge victorious.

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