He was born on October 6, 1930 in the largely Alawi mountain town of Qardaaha in a family described by all as tight-knit and traditional Within years, this young man would enter military service and train to be a MiG pilot for the Syrian Arab Air Force. He rose through the ranks and became a Lt. General until he finally booted out the incompetent communist/Ba’athist Salaah Jadeed and his coterie of ineffectual medical doctors: Nureddeen Al-Ataasi, Yusuf Zu’ayyen and Ibraaheem Maakhus in a putsch that took Syria back on the road to development and progress. He built the Syrian Army and Air Force and trained his son, Dr. Bashaar Al-Assad, to lead this country after he knew his tenure in office would be cut short by ill health. I was in Syria when he died on June 10, 2000 and listened to his son’s inaugural speech in July. I met him personally in 1986 when I was a member of the delegation which attended the Annual Convention for Parliamentarians of Arabic Descent in Damascus. It was an honor. We will not forget you or the spirit of resistance which you embodied. You never betrayed the Arabs although they betrayed you. But you persisted and always emerged victorious. We didn’t deserve you. Ziad Amin Abu Fadel
WHAT DOES THE NEW AMNESTY LAW REALLY MEAN?
Colonel Yazan Al-Humsi
Colonel Yazan Al-Humsi, President of the First Military Court in Damascus seen here on SANA explaining the new law.
Colonel Al-Humsi described Legislative Decree 22/2014 in the following manner as related to Ba’ath Party sources:
The law applies to all crimes committed before June 9, 2014 and is enacted in conjunction with prior Amnesty laws like 70/2013. All felonies and misdemeanors, their findings and sentences are affected. It is a unique amnesty law because it encompasses partial reductions in sentence to 1/4, 1/2 or 1/3 of the periods and grants to the accused complete restoration of his rights after he has served out his sentence.
As far as the Code of Military Justice is concerned, all 172 provisions are affected except those having to do with espionage, high treason or recruitment for the enemy.
The law is designed to be both anticipatory and preventive, giving all citizens the chance to come forward and turn their weapons in within 2 months.
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