Bashar Hafez al Assad

Increasingly conscious of its image abroad Beijing got its more robust diplomats to defend its support for Libya’s Moammar el Gadaffi last year and Syria’s Bashar al Assad this year...

However Erdogan’s close friendships with Sudan’s President Omer Hassan Ahmed el Beshir and Syria’s Bashar al Assad points to a limited enthusiasm for democrats and democracy...

Mubarak's fast-rising youngest son Gamal is tipped to join Syria's Bashar al Assad as a hereditary president; he claims that elections to the ruling National Democratic Party are conducted in a democratic manner...