Beşar ESAD

Beşar ESAD ( Syria Chief of State )

He was born in Syria in 1965 as the son of the commander of the Syrian Air Force, Hafez al-Assad. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Damascus University. He began practicing as an ophthalmologist at Tishreen military hospital and went to London continue his specialization as an eye doctor. He started preparations to assume the leadership of Syria, after his brother Basil’s death in a car crash in 1994. In 1999 he became a colonel in the Syrian army and was elected as the President of Syria in 2000, ten days after his father’s death. As a President he has been very successful at making changes in the ranks in Syrian institutions, central in bringing computer technology and Internet access to Syria, as well as facilitating the introduction of mobile telephones. He has full command of both English and French.