Bahjat Suleiman

Bahjat Suleiman was born to an Alawite family in 1949 in the city of Latakia, located in western Syria. He joined the Syrian Army in 1968 and graduated from the Homs Military Academy with a BA in military sciences in 1970. Suleiman held a master's degree in command and staff from the Syrian Command and Staff College and acquired his Ph.D. in Political Economy from Romania. == Military career ==

He was a company commander, battalion, regiment, and tank brigade in the Defense Companies, the paramilitary force in Syria that was commanded by Rifaat al-Assad, and then in the Syrian Arab Army. While in the Defense Companies, he participated in the Yom Kippur War against Israel 1973 in the northern sector, and then in the 1982 Lebanon War. == Under Hafez's rule ==

Suleiman began his career as a staunch supporter of Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of current President Bashar al-Assad, however later switched loyalties to the late Hafez al-Assad. In the years leading to Hafez al-Assad's death, Bahjat Suleiman was responsible for marketing Bashar al-Assad as the "hope" for Syria. == Media ==

Bahjat Suleiman was the mastermind of the regime's media policies since Assad took power in 1971. His son Majd Suleiman owns United Group (UG), a media conglomerate seen as the media arm of the Assad regime in various Arab countries, with his business partner Muhammad Bashar Kiwan. His younger son Haidara Suleiman is the editor-in-chief of Syrian government-aligned newspaper Baladna, a leading member of the Syrian Electronic Army, and runs Bashar al-Assad's page on Facebook. Bahjat Suleiman was a leader in the Baath Party and had published many research pieces and publications on former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and his son, Basil al-Assad. He had his own blog on Facebook, which published his writings, under the name "Swords of Reason with Bahjat Suleiman" == Controversies ==

Implication in Rafic Hariri assassination Bahjat Suleiman was one of several high-ranking Syrian government and military officials named as responsible for the assassination of Rafic Hariri in a draft of the United Nations Mehlis Report that was erroneously released as a Microsoft Word document which preserved changes that had been made in the document since its creation. The official Mehlis Report made no specific mention of anyone in the Syrian government as responsible for the assassination. The Syrian ambassador to Washington, Imad Mustafa, said that the report is "full of political rumors, gossip, and hearsay." It said he had made numerous false allegations, accusing Jordan of harbouring Syrian rebels. Syria responded by declaring Jordan's chargé d'affaires in Damascus persona non grata, saying the expulsion of Suleiman was an unjustified move to expel its ambassador. == Death ==

Bahjat Suleiman died on 25 February 2021, from COVID-19. == References ==