Bashar al-Assad is a Syrian Dictator since 2000, he was born on September 11, 1965 in Damascus, Syria. He has been married to Asma Al Akhras since December 2000. They have three children. He is the son of Hafez al-Assad who ran as dictator. He went to school to be a medical doctor. His brother Bassel died in a car crash in 1994. So after he was called back to the Syrian army and was prepared to be a dictator for the country Syria, in 2000 he became Dictator of Syria after his father passed away. He had made a reform on the Damascus Spring which led to the shutdown of Mezzeh prison and releasing the Muslim prisoners. During the War on Terror he allied with the West and interrogated people believed to be al-Qaeda suspects. In 2005 Rafic Hariri was assassinated in the car bombing at the hotel in Lebanon. Soon afterwards he was blamed for the terrorist attack. In 2007 he was reelected to run for dictatorship. On January 26, 2011 Mass protests in Syria began and riots occurred and the Syrian Army responded with violence against the protesters which led to the 9 year Syrian war. Many of the refugees escaped Syria due to the violence occurring in the cities. Assad sent his army to retake the cities held by rebels. He is accused of the war crimes including torturing people in prisons and killing people who opposed him, He is also known for human rights violation against his people and is accused of using chemical attacks in Syria. Assad fought to retake the cities of Syria including Appello. He received military support from Russia to stop the uprisings of the Syrian rebels. He is still trying to retake Syria affected by the Syrian War.