basel al-assad

President Hafez al-Assad with his eldest son Basel al-Assad in the early 1990s
Basel al-Assad died shortly after this photo was taken, due to a car accident on the road to Damascus Airport, on January 21, 1994

President Hafez al-Assad recieving condolences for the death of his son Basel from Syrian tenor Sabah Fakhri in 1994
Standing in the middle is Assistant Baath Party Secretary-General Suleiman Qaddah

President Hafez al-Assad with his family in the early 1970s
From left to right: Bashar, Maher, Mrs Anisa Makhlouf (the new First Lady of Syria), Majd, Bushra, and Basel.

President Hafez al-Assad, in a rare photograph while playing with his children in the early 1970s
From left to right: Maher, Majd, Basel, Bushra, and Bashar. Standing with him is Mrs Anisa Makhlouf, the new First Lady of Syria.

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.

President Hafez al-Assad in a family portrait during the late 1980s
Standing, from left to right: Maher, Bashar, Basel, Majd, and Bushra al-Assad. Seated are First Lady Anisa Makhlouf and President Assad

President Hafez al-Assad with his eldest son Basel and younger brother Rifaat, commander of the Special Forces, in the early 1980s
This is a rare photo of the Assad family. Basel, who was being groomed by his father, was killed in a car crash in 1994. Rifaat, who had his eyes set on the presidency, tried to stage a coup and failed in 1984. The Syrian President banished him to Europe, with orders never to return. He eventually did, but only briefly, in the mid-1990s.

The Al-Musawwar Magazine in August 1971
The magazine shows a photo of Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi and Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat with President Hafez al-Assad in Damascus, ahead of the creation of the Federation of Arab Republics between Syria, Libya, and Egypt. The two children in the photograph are Assad's children Basel and Bushra al-Assad.

President Hafez al-Assad and his family at their home in Damascus in the early 1970s
From left to right: Basel al-Assad, Bushra al-Assad, President Hafez al-Assad, First Lady Anisa Makhlouf, Maher al-Assad, Majd al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad

A family portrait for the Assads in Damascus in the late 1980s
Seated from left to right: Bushra al-Assad, President Hafez al-Assad, First Lady Anisa Makhlouf. Standing left to right: Majd al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad, Maher al-Assad, Basel al-Assad

An early 1995 interview with Bashar al-Assad, on the first anniversary of the passing of his brother Basel al-Assad
The interview was conducted by Waddah Abd Rabbo, a young Syrian journalist at the time who went on to establish two newspapers during the era of Bashar al-Assad; al-Iqtisadiyah and al-Watan. This interview was published in Al-Shahr, a popular monthly magazine that was edited by Abd Rabbo's father, Yasser Abd Rabbo. It was the first media appearance for Assad after the death of his brother Basel in a car accident on the road to Damascus International Airport in January 1994. At the time, Assad was studying medicine in London.

A rare photograph of President Hafez al-Assad's children in the late 1960s
From left to right: Bashar al-Assad, Majd al-Assad, Maher al-Assad, Basel al-Assad. Basel, who became an officer in the Republican Guard, died in a car crash in January 1994. Majd al-Assad, an engineer, died due to a prolonged illness in December 2009.

Basel al-Assad at his military graduation, saluting his father, President Hafez al-Assad in the late 1980s
Standing in the middle is Prime Minister Abdul Raouf al-Kassem

President Hafez al-Assad visiting a military camp near Damascus in 1978
From left to right: Chief-of-Staff of the Syrian Army General Yusuf Shakkur, Commander of the Special Forces, Rifaat al-Assad, Defense Minister Mustapha Tlass, President Hafez al-Assad, the child Manaf Tlass (son of the Defense Minister), Bassel al-Assad (eldest son of the President). In the 1980s, the two young boys went into military careers as well.