Editing Hafez al-Assad (section)

== Early life, education and early career==

=== Early life===
{{See also|Al-Assad family}}

Hafez al-Assad was born on 6 October 1930, in Qardaha, a town in the north-west of Syria. He was born into a poor [[Alawite]] family belonging to the [[Kalbiyya]] tribe of [[Alawites]].{{sfn|Bengio|1998|p=135}}{{sfn|Jessup|1998|p=41}}{{sfn|Reich|1990|p= 52}} His paternal grandfather, Sulayman al-Wahhish, gained the nickname ''al-Wahhish'' (wild beast) for his strength.{{Sfn|Seale|1990|p=3}} Hafez al-Assad's parents were Na'isa Shalish and [[Ali al-Assad]].{{sfn|Alianak|2007|pp=127–128}} His father married twice and had eleven children.{{sfn|Seale|1990|p= 5}} Hafez was his ninth son and the fourth from his second marriage.{{sfn|Alianak|2007|pp= 127–128}}

By the 1920s, Ali was respected locally and was initially opposed to the [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon]], a French-ruled [[League of Nations]] [[League of Nations mandate|mandate]] officially established in 1923.{{sfn|Zahler|2009|p= 25}} Nevertheless, Ali Sulayman later cooperated with the French administration and was appointed to an official post.{{sfn|Seale|1990|p= 20}} Local residents called him "al-Assad" (the lion) for his accomplishments{{sfn|Zahler|2009|p=25}} and, in 1927, he made the nickname his surname.{{sfn|Alianak|2007|p= 128}}

===Education and early political career===
Alawites initially opposed a united Syrian state (since they thought their status as a religious minority would endanger them).{{sfn|Zahler|2009|p=28}} After the French left Syria in 1946, many Syrians mistrusted the Alawites because of their alignment with France.{{sfn|Zahler|2009|p=28}} Assad left his Alawite village, beginning his education at age nine in Sunni-dominated{{sfn|Reich|1990|p=52}} [[Latakia]].{{sfn|Alianak|2007|p=128}} He became the first in his family to attend high school,{{sfn|Amos|2010|p=70}} but in Latakia, Assad faced anti-Alawite bias from Sunnis.{{sfn|Zahler|2009|p= 28}} He was an excellent student, winning several prizes at about age 14.{{sfn|Zahler|2009|p= 28}} Assad lived in a poor, predominantly Alawite part of Latakia;{{sfn|Zahler|2009|pp= 29–31}} to fit in, he approached political parties that welcomed Alawites.{{sfn|Zahler|2009|pp= 29–31}} These parties (which also espoused secularism) were the [[Syrian Communist Party]], the [[Syrian Social Nationalist Party]] (SSNP) and the [[Arab Ba'ath Party]]; Assad joined the Ba'ath in 1946,{{sfn|Zahler|2009|pp= 29–31}} whereas some of his friends belonged to the SSNP.{{sfn|Zahler|2009|pp= 28–29}} The Ba'ath (Renaissance) Party espoused a [[Pan-Arabism|pan-Arabist]], [[Arab socialism|socialist]] ideology.{{sfn|Zahler|2009|pp= 29–31}}

Assad proved an asset to the party, organizing Ba'ath student cells and carrying the party's message to the poor sections of Latakia and to Alawite villages.{{sfn|Alianak|2007|p= 128}} He was opposed by the [[Muslim Brotherhood]], which allied itself with wealthy and conservative Sunni Muslim families.{{sfn|Alianak|2007|p=128}} Assad's high school accommodated students from rich and poor families,{{sfn|Alianak|2007|p= 128}} and Assad was joined by poor, anti-establishment Sunni Muslim youth from the Ba'ath Party in confrontations with students from wealthy Brotherhood families.{{sfn|Alianak|2007|p= 128}} He made many Sunni friends, some of whom later became his political allies.{{sfn|Alianak|2007|p= 128}}

While still a teenager, Assad became increasingly prominent in the party{{sfn|Zahler|2009|p=31}} as an organizer and recruiter, head of his school's student-affairs committee from 1949 to 1951 and president of the Union of Syrian Students.{{sfn|Alianak|2007|p= 128}} During his political activism in school, he met many men who would later serve him when he became president.{{sfn|Zahler|2009|p= 31}}