The rise of Syria’s brutal Assad dynasty rule | Joshua Landis | Real Talk

How did Hafez al-Assad rise from an army officer to establish a dynasty that brutally ruled Syria for 54 years?

From seizing power in 1970, to the Hama massacre, and Bashar inheriting power, Professor Joshua Landis joined us for an in-depth conversation on the Assad family’s rise to power.

Landis, chair and director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, has spent nearly 15 years living in the Middle East, including Syria, up until the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. He’s also the author of a forthcoming book on Syria.

Today on Real Talk, we take a look at Syria’s history under Hafez al-Assad and unpack how Bashar continued his father’s authoritarian rule after his death in 2000.

Real Talk is a Middle East Eye interview programme hosted by Mohamed Hashem.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:38 Reaction to Bashar fall
05:44 Syria’s coups since independence
09:19 Hafez al-Assad takes power
24:00 Hafez and sectarianism
37:46 Hama massacre of 1982
47:36 Rifaat al-Assad coup attempt
50:10 Firsthand experience in Hama
58:34 Bassel al-Assad’s 1994 death
01:00:17 Bashar comes to power
01:19:34 Ruling Syria like a mafia
01:21:48 Was Bashar his father’s son?
01:25:45 Rafic Hariri assassination
01:30:00 ‘Bashar was a weakling’

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