Basil al-Assad

Bassel al-Assad باسل الأسد
Bassel al-Assad, c. 1992
Birth name	Bassel al-Assad
Nickname(s)	The Golden Knight
Born	23 March 1962 Damascus, Syria
Died	21 January 1994(1994-01-21) (aged 31) Damascus, Syria
Allegiance	Syria
Service/branch	Syrian Arab Army
Years of service	1983–1994
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Unit	2nd Special Forces Regiment, 14th Airborne Division Republican Guard
Commands held	42nd Special Forces Regiment 12th Armoured Battalion, Syrian Arab Republican Guard.
Awards	Hero of the Republic Order of Salahaddin

Bassel al-Assad (Arabic: باسل الأسد Bāssel al Assad; 23 March 1962 – 21 January 1994) was a Syrian engineer, colonel and politician who was the eldest son of President of Syria Hafez al-Assad and the older brother of (later) President Bashar al-Assad. It was widely expected that he would succeed his father as President of Syria until he died in a car accident in 1994.

Bassel al-Assad was born on 23 March 1962. He was trained as a civil engineer, and he held a PhD in military sciences.

We saw father at home but he was so busy that three days could go by without us exchanging a word with him. We never had breakfast or dinner together, and I don't remember ever having lunch together as a family, or maybe we only did once or twice when state affairs were involved. As a family, we used to spend a day or two in Lattakia in the summer, but then too he used to work in the office and we didn't get to see much of him.

Trained in parachuting, he was commissioned in the Special Forces and later switched to the armoured corps after training in the Soviet Military Academies. He rapidly progressed through the ranks, becoming a major and then commander of a brigade in the Republican Guard.

After his father recovered from a serious illness in 1984, Bassel began to accompany him and he emerged on the national scene in 1987, when he won several equestrian medals at a regional tournament. The Ba'ath Party press in Syria eulogised him as the "Golden Knight" because of his prowess on horseback. He also had a reputation for his interest in fast cars, and his friends described him as charismatic and commanding. Assad was soon appointed Head of Presidential Security. In addition, he launched the Syrian Computer Society in 1989, which was later headed by Bashar.