Assef Shawkat

Assef Shawkat (‎; 15 January 1950 – 18 July 2012) was the Deputy Minister of Defense of Syria from September 2011 until his death in July 2012. He was the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, having married his older sister Bushra. He and three other top Syrian government officials were killed on 18 July 2012 in Damascus during a deadly bomb attack allegedly organized by the Free Syrian Army. Shawkat was a key suspect in a terrorist attack in Beirut that killed Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in 14 February 2005. US Department of Treasury sanctioned Shawkat in 2006 for orchestrating the assassination, describing him as "a key architect" of Syrian occupation of Lebanon. Early life and education Assef Shawkat was born into an Alawite family in the village of Al-Madehleh in the Tartus region of Syria on 15 January 1950. He grew up in modest comfort and studied law and history at Damascus University before joining the Syrian army in the late 1970s. During this time, Shawkat married and had five children.