Jamil al-Assad (1933–2004) was a brother of former
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
n president
Hafez al-AssadHafez al-Assad was the president of Syria for three decades. Assad's rule stabilized and consolidated the power of the country's central government after decades of coups and counter-coups...
, and the uncle of present Syrian leader
Bashar al-AssadDr. Bashar al-Assad is the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Regional Secretary of the Ba'ath Party, and the son of former President Hafez al-Assad.- Overview of Presidency :...
. He served in the Parliament of Syria, called the
majlis ash-sha'b for many years, until his death.
Of the three Assad brothers, Hafez and
RifaatRifaat al-Assad is the younger brother of the former President of Syria, Hafiz al-Assad, and the uncle of the current President Bashar al-Assad, all of whom come from the minority Alawite Muslim sect...
both have a military background and have played major roles in the Syrian government. While Jamil was certainly influential, he was not very involved in the military, and generally kept a lower profile in politics.
Jamil al-Assad (1933–2004) was a brother of former
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
n president
Hafez al-AssadHafez al-Assad was the president of Syria for three decades. Assad's rule stabilized and consolidated the power of the country's central government after decades of coups and counter-coups...
, and the uncle of present Syrian leader
Bashar al-AssadDr. Bashar al-Assad is the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Regional Secretary of the Ba'ath Party, and the son of former President Hafez al-Assad.- Overview of Presidency :...
. He served in the Parliament of Syria, called the
majlis ash-sha'b for many years, until his death.
Of the three Assad brothers, Hafez and
RifaatRifaat al-Assad is the younger brother of the former President of Syria, Hafiz al-Assad, and the uncle of the current President Bashar al-Assad, all of whom come from the minority Alawite Muslim sect...
both have a military background and have played major roles in the Syrian government. While Jamil was certainly influential, he was not very involved in the military, and generally kept a lower profile in politics. However, he did hold various government offices, and grew very wealthy during the rule of his brother.
While both his brothers enforced
secularismSecularism is the concept that government or other entities should exist separately from religion and/or religious beliefs.In one sense, secularism may assert the right to be free from religious rule and teachings, and freedom from the government imposition of religion upon the people, within a...
, Jamil was said to be deeply religious. In the 1980s, he set up a
LatakiaLatakia or Latakiyah is the principal port city of Syria, as well as the capital of the Latakia Governorate. In addition to serving as a port, the city is a manufacturing center for surrounding agricultural towns and villages...
-based foundation (
al-Murtada), which helped fellow
AlawiteThe Alawis or Alawites are a prominent minority religious group in Syria who describe themselves as a sect of Shī‘ah Islam...
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
s to go on the
HajjThe Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca . It is currently the largest annual pilgrimage in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, an obligation that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
pilgrimage to
MeccaMecca , sometimes spelled Makkah is the holiest meeting site of the Islamic religion. The city is modern, cosmopolitan and whilst being closed to non-Muslims is nonetheless ethnically diverse.Islamic tradition attributes the beginning of Mecca to Ishmael's descendants...
. The foundation is also said to have tried to convert Sunni Muslim
bedouinThe Bedouin, , are a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and Negev to the Arabian Desert...
s to the Alawi faith. Whether true or not, the rumours caused friction with the majority Sunni population.
Al-Murtada is also said to have had a minor militia wing, made up by Alawi Muslims, which was armed and equipped by Rifaat's powerful internal security division, the
Defense Companies.
When Rifaat attempted in 1984 to exploit the failing health of Hafez, using the
Defense Companies to stage a failed
coup d'êtatA coup d'état , or coup for short, is the sudden unconstitutional deposition of a legitimate government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another, either civil or military...
, this cast doubt on Jamil in the eyes of Hafez. Some of his assets are reported to have been confiscated in retaliation, but there is little doubt he remained a very wealthy man.
Unlike Rifat, Jamil openly supported the succession to the presidency of Hafez' son, Bashar al-Assad. He spent much of the last years of his life in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
(where Rifaat lives in exile), but still visited Syria occasionally.
Jamil al-Assad died in December 2004 at age 71.
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