Hafez al-Assad was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. He was previously the 55th prime minister from 1970 to 1971 as well as the regional secretary of the regional command of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and secretary general of the National Command of the Ba'ath Party from 1970 to 2000. From Wikipedia
