General Assef Shawkat's last stand of power

Syrian Deputy Defence Minister General Assef Shawkat, was known as a man with unlimited political ambitions, especially as he considered himself the only one out of the Assad family who was able to succeed the late President Hafez al-Assad, who died in 2000. As the husband of Hafez al-Assad's sole daughter, Boshra - and as Assad's elder son, Bassel al-Assad died in a car accident in 1994 - Assef prepared himself to jump to Syria's top political seat when Hafez al-Assad would die. But his marriage alone to Boshra wasn’t enough to secure him the top seat in power as Bashar al-Assad was chosen to lead the country.  Despite this, political sources say Shawkat always believed that eventually his time would come – little did he know that fate had other plans for him.  The Syrian general was killed in a suicide bomb attack carried out by a bodyguard last week. Assef was never liked amongst the Assad family, even after the death of Bassel al-Assad who was publicly against his sister's marriage to Assef.  In time, the family had finally accepted Boshra's decision to marry Assef, but they never gave up their hostility towards him and never dealt him as a member of the family. Some political observers say Boshra forced the family to finally accept Shawkat after she committed a failed suicide attempt in 1995 due to her family’s objections to her marriage.  She also threatened to cut ties with her father of losing his daughter unless he accepted her husband as a member of the family. However, Assef, who has a Sunni Muslim but grew up in an Alawite family, underestimated the family members who never trusted him. He believed that Bassel's death would pave the way for him to lead the country after Hafez’s death.  He also relied on Boshra's influence on her father, as she was reported to be the closet person to him during the last 10 years of his life. Shawkats’ assumptions were wrong for many reasons; first, is he was entrusted by the powerful Mohammed Makhlouf, brother of Hafez al-Assad's widow, Mrs Anissa al-Assad. This trust was not only based on the fear of his political ambitions, but also for his humble familial origins, as the Makhloufs were considered to be of a higher class, even comparing themselves to the Assads. Meanwhile, Hafez al-Assad's youngest son, Maher, had no less hostility towards Shawkat than the rest of his family, as he was aiming to play a bigger role than Shawkat in Syria's military institution. However, current President Bashar al-Assad might not have been too hostile towards Assef, but since the death of his father, Bashar was keen to keep a distance between him and his brother-in-law for two main reasons: The first reason is that the then United States' secretary Madeleine Albright expressed her hope that Assef Shawkat will be able aid the young Bashar al-Assad. That pushed Bashar to doubt whether if Shawkat had secret ties with the Americans. The second reason was the growing hostility between Bashar's sister, Boshra and his wife Asmaa who was proud enough to challenge Boshra's influence within the Syrian presidency and to try to establish herself as the new prima donna. The silent conflict between the two ladies pushed Boshra to send her children to Paris, then to the gulf after the relations between Syria and France deteriorated in 2005 when Lebanon's late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assasinated. She then justified her decision to move her children abroad, saying that she "couldn't bring up her children in the current atmosphere witnessed in Syria." However, a total breakdown in relations never really took place between Shawkat and the rest of the Assad family or the Makhloufs. They were always keen to grant him a position that could satisfy his ambitions and enable them to monitor his movements. But in every promotion Shawkat gained, his influence within the regime faded. As time passed, Bashar's need for Shawkat’s services increased, but he always refused to include him within the decision making group.  He just needed him to do the dirty business of oppressing the opposition. But throughout his entire career under Bashar's rule, Shawkat was kept under close observation by his brother-in-law, only being appointed as the chief of intelligence after the assassination of Rafik Hariri.  During his spell as a spy chief, which lasted for only 3 years, Shawkat’s ties with the Arab and western states were helpful for Bashar in getting over the implications that followed Hariri's assassination. Few knew that Assef Shawkat was one of very few Syrian officials who early understood the significance of the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. In an unpublished press interview, he said that he was aware of the implications the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime could bring to the region and didn't even hide his sympathy with the Iraqi president was later executed, despite the well-known historic hostility between Iraq and Syria. After his dismissal from his post as a spy chief, Shawkat continued his career progress by being promoted as deputy chief-of-staff in the Syrian army then a deputy defence minister, which is just an honourary post. In 2011 Shawkat's services were again called upon by the Assad family after the break out of the Syrian uprising. First, he played large main role in calming down the situation in Zabadani, then he was involved in organising the regime's attacks against the cities of Homs, Hama and their surroundings villages.  His efficiency qualified him to be a prominent member in the "crisis cell" which was solely responsible for crushing the uprising. Syria’s unrest forced the ruling family to reunite and to forget their internal disputes, causing Shawkat to finally gain the Assad’s and the Makhloufs' satisfaction – but it seems at the highest price. --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.