Assad, himself a Shiite, soon formed a strong alliance with Iran and sought to use this new relationship to greatly weaken Israel's hold on power.

While Jadid retained the allegiance of most of the civilian Baath apparatus, Assad as defense minister gradually asserted control over the military wing of the party.

* Assad Kotaite ( Lebanon ) ( 1970 – 1976 )

* Assad Kotaite ( Lebanon ) ( 1976 – 2006 )

Two days later Syrian leader Bashar Assad announced that his troops will leave Lebanon completely " in the next few months ".

On March 5 Syrian leader Assad declared in a televised speech that Syria would withdraw its forces to the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, and then to the border between Syria and Lebanon.

Assad did not provide a timetable for a complete withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon – 14, 000 soldiers and intelligence agents.

As neither Syria nor Lebanon have access to the area, Assad argues that resolution is waiting on Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territory.

However, Hafez Assad did not permit it due to Jumblatt's clear opposition to Syria's increasing influence in Lebanon.

Thus, Assad recruited Col. Said al-Muragha ( Abu Musa ), to drive Arafat out of Lebanon.

Unfortunately for Assad, Arafat's Fatah forces crept back into Lebanon over the next two years, ensconcing themselves in the many refugee camps in Beirut and the South.

( President Assad is an Alawite.

And while Arab League head Amr Moussa declared that Syrian president Assad promised him a phased withdrawal over a two year period, the Syrian Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlallah said Mr Moussa had misunderstood the Syrian leader.

When French police arrested Abu Daoud, one of the chief organizers of the Munich massacre, and inquired about extraditing him to Germany, Germany's justice secretary Alfred Seidl recommended that Germany should not take any action, causing the French to release Abu Daoud and the Assad regime to shelter him until he died at a Damascus hospital in 2010.

Syria was ruled autocratically by Assad during 1970 – 2000, and after Hafez al-Assad's death in 2000, he was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad.

A dam built in 1973 on the Euphrates created a reservoir named Lake Assad, the largest lake in Syria.

The dam created a reservoir named Lake Assad ( Buhayrat al Assad ), a body of water about 80 kilometers long and averaging eight kilometers in width.

Because of the Alawite composition of the Syrian armed forces, its interests are closely aligned with those of President Bashar al-Assad and the Assad family.

The 4th Armoured Division became one of the Assad government's most trusted security forces.

Shortly after Arafat left the meeting, Orabi was thrown out the window of a three-story building and Syrian police loyal to Hafez al-Assad ( Assad and Orabi were " close friends ") suspected Arafat was involved in the incident.

Assad appointed a panel, which found Arafat and Abu Jihad guilty of the murder.

The incident, however, brought Assad and Arafat to unpleasant terms, which would surface later when Assad became President of Syria.

Assad retaliates by sending the army against them.

The Brazilian guitarist Sergio Assad has also experimented with folk-derived, complex virtuoso compositions that show Piazzolla's structural influence while steering clear of tango sounds ; and Osvaldo Golijov has acknowledged Piazzolla as perhaps the greatest influence on his globally oriented, eclectic compositions for classical and klezmer performers.

These included Tango Suite for the virtuoso guitar duo Sergio and Odair Assad ; Histoire du Tango, where a flutist and guitarist tell the history of tango in four chunks of music styled at thirty-year intervals ; and La Camorra, a suite in three ten minute movements, inspired by the Neapolitan crime family and exploring symphonic concepts of large-scale form, thematic development, contrasts of texture and massive accumulations of ensemble sound.

The site was excavated as a rescue operation before it would be flooded by Lake Assad, the reservoir of the Tabqa Dam which was being built at that time.

It was limited to only two seasons of fieldwork, because the site was due to be flooded by Lake Assad.

Today the tell is inaccessible, drowned beneath the waters of Lake Assad.

Norway has been aligned with the Western nations ' criticism of the Assad government and with allegations from human rights organizations of violence against protesters from the military and security forces.

Iranian President Ahmedinejad visited Damascus in February and September and President Assad visited Tehran in October.

* Audrey Assad ( born 1983 ), contemporary Christian music artist with Sparrow Records.

These were the ones Keith sought out -- the loners, the ones who killed for the joy of it, like himself.

He shunned publicity for himself and sought to avoid fame.

Ebby Thacher, Wilson's former drinking buddy and a Grouper who followed the evangelical bent and sought out other alcoholics, presented himself to Wilson telling him he had " got religion " and was sober, and that Wilson could do the same if he set aside objections to religion and formed, instead, a personal idea of God, " another power " or " higher power ".

The ambitious Ibn Habib, a member of the illustrious Fihrid family, had long sought to carve out Ifriqiya as a private dominion for himself.

Both sought refuge in Persia, whence Abdur Rahman placed himself under Russian protection at Samarkand.

During the 1950s, however, Graham began distancing himself from the older fundamentalism and, in preparation for his 1957 New York Crusade, he sought broad ecumenical sponsorship.

An opinion on the matter was sought from the most esteemed ministers of the area and Cotton Mather took credit for their response when anonymously celebrating himself years later: " drawn up at their desire, by Cotton Mather the younger, as I have been informed.

He sought to identify himself with the warlike kings Ardashir ( r. 226 – 41 ) and Shapur ( r. 241 – 72 ), the same Shapur who had sacked Roman Antioch and skinned the Emperor Valerian ( r. 253 – 260 ) to decorate his war temple.

Religious, military, and cultural propaganda fostered a cult of personality, and by nominating himself perpetual censor, he sought to control public and private morals.

By nominating himself perpetual censor, he sought to control public and private morals.

However, feeling that the lack of sympathy which prevailed at Leuven at that time was actually a form of mental persecution, he sought refuge in Basel, where under the shelter of Swiss hospitality he could express himself freely.

Then Fabius quickly sought to calm the Roman people by asserting himself as a strong Dictator at the moment of what was perceived to be the worst crisis in Roman history.

Kosiński himself addressed these claims in the introduction to the 1976 reissue of The Painted Bird, saying that " Well-intentioned writers critics, and readers sought facts to back up their claims that the novel was autobiographical.

While the latter attacked him and sought ecclesiastical censure, he recommended himself to the former by his criticism of the worldly possessions of the clergy.

Ranjit Deo's grandnephew, Gulab Singh, subsequently sought service at the court of Ranjit Singh, distinguished himself in later campaigns, especially the annexation of the Kashmir valley, and, for his services, was appointed governor of Jammu in 1820.

Despite his youth, Osman II soon sought to assert himself as a ruler, and after securing the empire's eastern border by signing a peace treaty ( treaty of Serav ) with Safavid Iran, he personally led the Ottoman invasion of Poland during the Moldavian Magnate Wars.

He attended to Nobunaga as he sought a moment of peace to carry out his last act, then Ranmaru likewise killed himself in the same way.

Realizing he was unable to subdue the Assassins, he sought to align himself with them, consequently depriving the Crusaders of aligning themselves against him.

His pride is considered a reason why he would not bow to God as all other angels did, but sought to rule heaven himself.

The staunchly Catholic King Philip II of Spain sought to model himself after King Solomon.

Philip identified the warrior-king David with his own father Charles V, and himself sought to emulate the thoughtful and logical character which he perceived in Solomon.

In a letter, published after the election, Grant sought to unequivocally distance himself from General Orders No. 11: " Grant's self-serving explanation ", notes Jonathan Sarna, " did not actually bear close scrutiny ," but Jews nonetheless generously accepted his attempt at self-extrication: " I have no prejudice against sect or race, but want each individual to be judged by his own merit.

At the election, the papal legates present observed the appearance of neutrality, and Gregory himself sought to maintain this attitude during the following years.

Towards the end of 984, Henry II sought to form alliances between himself and other important figure in the Ottonian world, chief among them being his cousin King Lothar of France.

Otto II sought continued peace between himself and the descendants of his uncle Henry I, Duke of Bavaria.