How did the Assad family seize power in Syria? The answer lies in a man named Hafez al-Assad (basically, imagine an alternate version of Bashar al-Assad with confidence and a modicum of masculinity).

Hafez rises from a poor country boy from the Alawite heartland, the bottom rung of the Syrian socioeconomic power, to becoming the most powerful man in the country over the first forty years of his life.

The consequences of Hafez al-Assad's military and political career would lead directly to the events of 2011.

Sources cited:

Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East by Patrick Seale

We Crossed A Bridge and It Trembled by Dr. Wendy Pearlman

The Home That Was Our Country by Alia Malek

Assad or We Burn the Country by Sam Dagher

Music licensing:

Genocide by Silent Carrion

Creative Commons - attribution-noncommercial-noderivatives 4.0 international (cc by-nc-nd 4.0)

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Silent_Carrion/Suprematism_EP_III_Sol/Silent_Carrion_-_Suprematism_EP_III_Sol_-_01_Genocide

Episode 8 - The Assad Family and Regime (Part 1, 1930 to 1970) 01:22:38 Share

What Happened to Syria?

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Episode 8 - The Assad Family and Regime (Part 1, 1930 to 1970)