abdullah al-ahmar

President Hafez al-Assad, walking out of the Umayyad Mosque in the early 1970s
From left to right: The Grand Mufti of Syria Sheikh Ahmad Kaftaro, President Assad, Prime Minister Mahmud al-Ayyubi. Behind Assad (between him and Kaftaro) is Interior Minister Adnan al-Dabbagh and behind the President and Prime Minister is Abdullah al-Ahmar, the Deputy Secretary General of the Baath Party

President Hafez al-Assad with his top officials in the late 1980s
From left to right: Prime Minister Abdul Raouf al-Kassem, Defense Minister Mustapha Tlass, President Hafez al-Assad. Behind Assad stands Abdullah al-Ahmar, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Baath Party

President Hafez al-Assad at the funeral of his son Basel in January 1994
From left to right: Defense Minister Mustapha Tlass, Assistant Regional Secretary-General of the Baath Party Suleiman Qaddah, Assistant Secretary-General of the Baath Abdullah al-Ahmar, President Assad, Bashar al-Assad, Mufti of Damascus Abdul Fattah al-Bizem, and Vice-President Zuhair Masharka.

Presidents Hafez and Bashar al-Assad during a ceremony honoring Basel al-Assad in 1994
From left to right: Abdullah al-Ahmar, the Assistant Secretary-General of the Baath Party, President Assad, Dr Bashar al-Assad and Zuhair Masharka.

Yasser Arafat paying his respects to President Hafez al-Assad in 1994 over the passing of his son Basel al-Assad
From left to right: Former Vice President Rifaat al-Assad, President Hafez al-Assad, Chairman Arafat, Assistant Secretary General of the Baath Party, Abdullah al-Ahmar

President Hafez al-Asad at Damascus University in 1973
From left to right: Khalil Saadawi, director of protocol at the Presidential Palace, Abdullah al-Ahmar, the assistant Secretary-General of the Baath Party, President Assad, his bodyguard, and Shaker al-Fahham, the President of Damascus University.

Prime Minister Abdel Raouf al-Kassem delivering a speech in Damascus in 1982
Standing in the back row (from left to right): Abdullah al-Ahmar, the Assistant Secretary General of the Baath Party, Suleiman Qaddah, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Baath Party, President Hafez al-Assad, Vice-President Zuhair Masharka, Khaled Bakdash, the veteran president of the Communist Party, and Abdul Qader Qaddura, who became speaker of Parliament in 1987. From the archives of Syrianhistory.com

President Hafez al-Assad after assuming the presidency in March 1971
Assad is wearing the Grand Umayyad Order, the highest honor of the Syrian Republic. Standing in the middle is Abdullah al-Ahmar, the deputy secretary-general of the Baath Party (center) and Prime Minister Mahmud al-Ayyubi.

President Hafez al-Assad presiding over an early meeting of the ruling National Progressive Front (NPF) in 1973
Left: Prime Minister Mahmud al-Ayyubi (standing), Assistant Secretary General of the Baath Abdullah al-Ahmar, unknown, Muharam Tayyara of the Socialist Unionist Party. President Assad is seated in the middle. To the right: Jamal al-Atasi president of the Arab Socialist Union (Nasserist), Khaled Bakdash secretary-general of the Syrian Communist Party, Ahmad al-Asaad the secretary general of the Unionist Socialist Democratic Party, Abdul Ghani Qannut the secretary general of the Arab Socialist Movement.

The first innaugaration of President Hafez al-Assad in Syria's first appointed rahter than elected Parliament in March 1971
From left to right: President Hafez al-Assad, Abdullah al-Ahmar the Assistant Secretary-General of the Baath Party, Prime Minister Abdul Rahman Khleifawi, Assistant Secretary General Jaber Bajbouj, Foreign Minister Abdul Halim Khaddam, Parliament Speaker Fihmi al-Yusufi. Seated in the third row in civilian suite is Defense Minister Mustapha Tlass, who was an appointed MP in the 1971 Parliament. Seated next to him is Naji Jamil, the director of the Syrian Air Force. Behind Tlass directly is Rifaat al-Assad, the President's younger brother, who was commander of the Special Forces and went on to become Vice-President in 1984. To the far right in the fourth row is Zuhair Masharka, who was to become Vice-President under Assad in 1984-2000. Sitting behind Abdullah al-Ahmar is Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Haidar.

President Hafez al-Assad attending a Baath Party event in 1974
From left to right: Assistant Secretary-General of the Baath Abdullah al-Ahmar, President Hafez al-Assad, Defense Minister Mustapha Tlass, Prime Minister Mahmud al-Ayyubi, Foreign Minister Abdul Halim Khaddam.