Ba ' athist heads of state such as Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein created personality cults around themselves portraying themselves as the nationalist saviours of the Arab world.

It also has ties with the leadership in Syria, specifically with President Hafez al-Assad ( until his death in 2000 ) and his son and successor Bashar al-Assad.

In a coup of 1970, Hafez al-Assad took power within the Baath Party.

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 small group of military officers, including Hafez al-Assad, soon seized control in the March 1963 Syrian coup d ' etat.

However, the parties were unable to come to an agreement due to President Bill Clinton's failure to consult with the Syrian President, Hafez al-Assad during the negotiating process, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's backtracking on the issue of the northeastern shore of Lake Tiberias and Syria's nonnegotiable demand that Israel withdraw to the positions it held on 4 June 1967.

Syrian President Hafez al-Assad would become deputy leader in a union, and this would drive Saddam to obscurity.

Saddam Hussein and Hafez al-Assad of Syria at an Arab League # Summits | Arab Summit in Baghdad in November 1978.

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.

However, due to the hostility of relations between Arafat and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad ( who had previously ousted President Salah Jadid ), the Palestinian fighters crossed the border into Lebanon to join PLO forces in that country, where they set up their new headquarters.

Although originally aligned with Fatah, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad feared a loss of influence in Lebanon and switched sides.

This time Arafat was expelled by a fellow Palestinian working under Hafez al-Assad.

* 1970-Coup in Syria, led by Hafez al-Assad

* June 25 – A Muslim Brotherhood assassination attempt against Syrian president Hafez al-Assad fails.

** Hafez al-Assad comes to power in Syria, following a military coup within the Ba ' ath party.

** Syrian Prime Minister Hafez al-Assad forms a new government but retains the post of defense minister.

* March 12 – Hafez al-Assad becomes president of Syria.

* February 3 – Syrian president Hafez al-Assad orders the army to purge the city of Harran of the Muslim Brotherhood.

* October 6 – Hafez al-Assad, President of Syria ( d. 2000 )

Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Syrian president Hafez al-Assad met King Hussein in 1973 to discuss the possibility of war.

As one of his strategies to maintain power over Syria, Hafez al-Assad developed a state-sponsored cult of personality.

At school, children were taught to sing songs of adulation about Hafez al-Assad.

Teachers would begin each lesson with the song " Our eternal leader, Hafez al-Assad ".

A power struggle quickly developed between the civilian faction led by Aflaq, al-Bitar and Munif al-Razzaz and the Military Committee led by Salah Jadid and Hafez al-Assad.

Contemporary Egyptian music traces its beginnings to the creative work of luminaries such as Abdu-l Hamuli, Almaz, Sayed Mikkawi, and Mahmud Osman, who were all patronized by Khedive Ismail and who influenced the later work of Sayed Darwish, Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim Hafez and other Egyptian music giants.

Hafez was supported by patronage from several successive local regimes: Shah Abu Ishaq, who came to power while Hafez was in his teens ; Timur at the end of his life ; and even the strict ruler Shah Mubariz ud-Din Muhammad ( Mubariz Muzaffar ).

Contemporary Egyptian music traces its beginnings to the creative work of luminaries such as Abdu-l Hamuli, Almaz and Mahmud Osman, who were all patronized by Khedive Ismail, and who influenced the later work of Sayed Darwish, Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim Hafez, Zakariyya Ahmad and other Egyptian musicians.

This group coalesced around Defense Minister Hafez al-Assad, who protested the " adventurism " of Jadid, and demanded a normalization of the internal situation by adopting a permanent constitution, liberalizing the economy, and mending ties with non-Baathist groups, as well as the external situation, by seeking an alliance with conservative Arab states such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Hafez founded the fedayeen who launched raids across Israel's southern border, that between 1951 and 1956, killed many Israelis, the majority civilians.

Despite this, Walid aligned himself with Syria, and maintained a good working relationship with Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad ( who had shared with his father a mutual distrust ).

By the end of his first year in office, he had already met with Anwar El Sadat of Egypt, King Hussein of Jordan, Hafez al-Assad of Syria, and Yitzhak Rabin of Israel.

It is said that by listening to his father's recitations Hāfez had accomplished the task of learning the Qur ' an by heart at an early age ( that is in fact the meaning of the word Hafez ).

In June 2005, former secretary general of the Lebanese Communist Party George Hawi claimed in an interview with al Jazeera, that Rifaat al-Assad, brother of Hafez al Assad and uncle of Syria's current President Bashar al-Assad, had been behind the killing of Jumblatt.

As Hafez Assad grew sick, it became clear both father and son had decided that Zuabi's days were numbered.

According to author Patrick Seale, " every party worker, every paratrooper sent to Hama knew that this time Islamic militancy had to be torn out of the city, whatever the cost ..." The military was mobilized, and president Hafez al-Assad sent Rifaat's special forces ( the Defense companies ), elite army units and Mukhabarat agents to the city.

Former President Hafez Assad and his predominantly Islamic administration had promised to return the site to the Christians as a symbol of deep Christianity in Syria, however he died before this promise was executed.

He quickly rose to stardom, appearing in over 20 Egyptian productions including Ayyamna el helwa with singer Abdel Halim Hafez, La anam in 1958, Sayedat el kasr in 1959 and the Anna Karenina adaptation Nahr el hub in 1961.

Divan of Hafez, with a Persian miniature at left and ghazal s in nastaliq at right.

So surprised and pleased was Timur with this response that he dismissed Hafez with handsome gifts.

Hafez was acclaimed throughout the Islamic world during his lifetime, with other Persian poets imitating his work, and offers of patronage from Baghdad to India.

Hussein consulted with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.

Some, like Abd el-Halim Hafez, were associated with the Egyptian nationalist movement in 1952.

The tomb of Hafez is a primary example of a Persian garden, with the typical, enclosed space, water channels and large trees that provide cooling shades.

While there, he found not only his relatives, but became acquainted with the work of a number of major poets whose work was barely known in the United States, among them Pablo Neruda, Cesar Vallejo, Antonio Machado, Gunnar Ekelof, Georg Trakl, Rumi, Hafez, Kabir, Mirabai, and Harry Martinson.

Hafez al-Assad ( above ) standing on the wing of a Fiat G. 46-4B with fellow cadets at the Syrian AF Academy outside Aleppo.

With the ascent to power of the Baath Party and Hafez Al-Asad, himself a former SAF Commander-in-chief, Syria began looking to the members of the Warsaw Pact for help and built closer ties with the USSR.

A few of these Living Masters of their times include Lao Tsu, Jesus, Pythagoras, Socrates, Kabir, the Sufi Masters and mystic poets Hafez and Rumi, the Ten Sikh Gurus beginning with Guru Nanak, Tulsi Sahib, and the Radhasoami / Radha Soami and offshoot Masters, including Shiv Dayal Singh, Baba Sawan Singh, Baba Faqir Chand and Sant Kirpal Singh.