Assef Shawkat | |
|---|---|
آصف شوكت | |
 | |
| Deputy Minister of Defense | |
| In office September 2011 – 18 July 2012 | |
| President | Bashar al-Assad |
| Minister | Dawoud Rajiha |
| Deputy Chief of Staff of theSyrian Armed Forces | |
| In office 2009–2011 | |
| Head ofMilitary Intelligence Directorate | |
| In office 2005–2009 | |
| Preceded by | Hassan Khalil |
| Succeeded by | Abdel-Fatah Qudsiyeh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1950-01-15)15 January 1950 |
| Died | 18 July 2012(2012-07-18) (aged 62) |
| Manner of death | Assassination |
| Political party | Ba'ath Party |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 5 |
| Relatives | Hafez al-Assad (father-in-law) Bassel (brother-in-law) Bashar (brother-in-law) Majd (brother-in-law) Maher (brother-in-law) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Ba'athist Syria |
| Branch/service |  Syrian Arab Army Defense Companies |
| Years of service | 1970s–2012 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant general |
| Conflicts | |
Assef Shawkat (Arabic:آصف شوكت,romanized: ʾĀṣif Šawkat; 15 January 1950 – 18 July 2012) was a Syrian military officer and intelligence chief who was the DeputyMinister of Defense of Syria from September 2011 until his death in July 2012. He was the brother-in-law of former Syrian PresidentBashar al-Assad, having married his older sisterBushra.
He and three other top Syrian government officials were killed on 18 July 2012 inDamascus during adeadly bomb attack allegedly organized by theFree Syrian Army, a coalition of Syrian opposition rebel groups.[1] Shawkat was a key suspect in aterrorist attack inBeirut that killedLebanese Prime MinisterRafic Hariri on 14 February 2005.US Department of Treasury had sanctioned Shawkat in 2006 for orchestrating theassassination, describing him as "a key architect" of theSyrian occupation of Lebanon.[2][3]
Assef Shawkat was born into aAlawite family in the village ofAl-Madehleh, a predominantly alawite village, in theTartus Governorate ofSyria on 15 January 1950.[4][5] He grew up in modest comfort[6] and studied law and history atDamascus University before joining theSyrian Army in the early 1970s.[7] During this time, Shawkat married and had five children.[8]
After joining the army, Shawkat began working his way up through the ranks, and by 1982 he was an officer in theDefense Companies paramilitary force headed byRifaat al-Assad, the brother ofSyrian PresidentHafez al-Assad. The Defense Companies were responsible for putting down anIslamist uprising in the city ofHama in 1982.
In 1983, after Hafez al-Assad suffered an apparent heart attack, he named governing council of six men he believed were unlikely to seize power to run the country in his absence. Rifaat al-Assad was not among them. Hafez al-Assad's prolonged absence caused supporters of Rifaat al-Assad to rally around him, and in 1984 Rifaat launched a bid to take control of Damascus which nearly escalated into a civil war. The tensions only eased when Hafez al-Assad, still ill, addressed the nation and the attemptedcoup d'état collapsed. Shawkat remained loyal to Hafez al-Assad throughout this period, and he was rewarded with a promotion tocolonel.[8]
In the early 1980s, Shawkat metBushra al-Assad, who was at that time studying pharmacy atDamascus University. Bushra was the first child and only daughter ofHafez al-Assad, and she had a close relationship with her father. Bushra's father and her younger brotherBassel al-Assad were strongly opposed to Bushra's relationship with Shawkat, who was ten years her senior and a divorced father of five from a modest background. Bassel briefly had Shawkat jailed in 1993 to block their relationship.[6] However, there is another report stating that the reason for his imprisonment was related to his wrongdoing.[citation needed]
However, in January 1994, Bassel died in a car crash, and a year later, in 1995 Shawkat and Bushra al-Assad eloped. Despite failing to obtain her father's blessing prior to the marriage,Hafez al-Assad accepted Shawkat into the family, and Shawkat was soon promoted in rank toMajor-General. Assef and Bushra had five children, all named for immediate members of Bushra's family: Bushra, Anisa, Bassel, Naya and Hafez.[9]
After his marriage to Bushra al-Assad, Shawkat built a close relationship with her brotherBashar, who had recently been recalled from London after his brother Bassel's death to be groomed as his father's successor. Bushra reportedly nurtured this relationship. On the other hand, he is said to have had a fractious relationship with Bushra's and Bashar's younger brotherMaher al-Assad, who is alleged to have shot him in the stomach in 1999.[10]
By the timeBashar al-Assad becamePresident of Syria in June 2000 after the death of his father,Hafez al-Assad, Shawkat was widely considered one of the most powerful people in Syria. In 2001, Shawkat was named Deputy Director ofMilitary Intelligence, one of the main branches of the Syrian intelligence apparatus. His portfolio included liaising with militant Palestinian groups, such asHamas andIslamic Jihad, and he was a key architect of Syria's dominance ofLebanon.[11] After the11 September 2001 attacks, Shawkat was a primary contact with intelligence agencies in the United States and Europe and coordinated a US intelligence operation in Syria, which was shut down after relations between the two countries irremediably deteriorated.[10]
In February 2005, Shawkat was promoted to Director ofMilitary Intelligence, replacingHassan Khalil.[12] Shortly before his promotion, former Lebanese Prime MinisterRafik Hariri was assassinated by a car bomb inBeirut on 14 February 2005. The size and sophistication of the device used in the blast was considered to have involved a state intelligence agency, andUnited Nations investigators implicated Shawkat in the plot.[11] immed In 2006, Shawkat was named a Specially Designated National (SDN) by the US, allowing his assets to be frozen in the US.[6]
He was also implicated in the assassination ofImad Mughniyah in Damascus on 12 February 2008.[13] He was subsequentlyadministratively detained, and in July 2009, he was dismissed as head of military intelligence, 'thus ridding the regime of the key suspect in the international investigation into Hariri's assassination', given the rank of general and named as deputy chief of staff of the armed forces.[14][15]
He held this post until September 2011, when he was appointed deputydefense minister, ostensibly under GeneralDawoud Rajiha. After the appointment of GeneralDawoud Rajiha to head the ministry of defense, Shawkat became an important figure in the ministry of defense, though the army was under thede facto control ofMaher al-Assad, the president's brother.[16] However, Shawkat had more than one conflict with Maher al-Assad.[17]
Together with President Bashar al-Assad and his brotherMaher al-Assad, Shawkat was a principal architect of the crackdown that followed in response to theSyrian uprising that began in March 2011.[1] He was a member of a military crisis unit created by President al-Assad, which includedDefense MinisterDawoud Rajiha, intelligence chiefHisham Bekhityar, special security advisorAli Mamlouk, head of military intelligenceAbdel-Fatah Qudsiyeh, andMohammed Nasif Kheirbek, a veteran operator from the era of Assad's father.
In May 2012, theFree Syrian Army's (FSA) Damascus council claimed that one of their operatives from its Al Sahabeh battalion had poisoned the eight members of Bashar Assad's military crisis unit, including Assef Shawkat, who was inaccurately reported to have died.[18][19]
On 18 July 2012, Shawkat attended a meeting of theCentral Crisis Management Cell (CCMC) at the headquarters of Syria's national security council in theRawda Square of Damascus.[1] There he was killed in abomb attack along withDawoud Rajiha, thedefense minister, andHassan Turkmani, the former defense minister and a military adviser toVice PresidentFarouk al-Sharaa.[17]As'ad AbuKhalil, a California State University professor, argues that Shawkat was the key man in the group assassinated.[17]
Syrian state television reported that an honorific state funeral ceremony was held for him, Turkmani, and Rajha at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Damascus on 20 July 2012.[20] Bashar al-Assad and his brotherMaher al-Assad did not attend the ceremony.[20] Bashar al-Assad was represented by Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa in the ceremony.[21] Shawkat was buried in theTartus region following a funeral attended by his wife Bushra al-Assad and his mother-in-law, Anissa al-Assad, the widow ofHafez al-Assad.[22]
Iraqi PresidentJalal Talabani sent his condolences to Bashar al-Assad upon death of Assef Shawkat.[23]
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