Name Nureddin al-Atassi Education Damascus University | Religion Sunni Islam | |
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Presidential term February 25, 1966 – November 18, 1970 Similar People Hafez al‑Assad, Amin al‑Hafiz, Salah Jadid, Salah al‑Din al‑Bitar, Khalid al‑Azm | ||
Noureddin Mustafa Ali al-Atassi (11 January 1929 – 3 December 1992) (Arabic: نور الدين بن محمد علي الأتاسي Nūr ad-Dīn Muṣṭafā al-'Atasī) was President of Syria from February 1966 to November 1970.
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Early life and education
Atassi was born in Homs in 1929 to the famous Al Atassi family.
Career
Atassi was a medical doctor by training, and in that capacity aided the Algerian forces against the French in the Algerian War of Independence. Though a long-time ideologue of the powerful Baath Party Atassi became its General Secretary as well as President of the Republic in 1966. He was considered to be largely a ceremonial figurehead, with real power vested in the Deputy General Secretary, Salah Jadid. In 1970, he was deposed along with Salah Jadid in a coup by Hafez al-Assad, his defense minister.
Arrest and death
Atassi was put under house arrest without trial. Then he was transferred to the Mezze military prison in Damascus where he lived from 1970 to 1992. After 22-year imprisonment, he was released and flown to Paris to receive medical treatment in France on 22 November 1992, and died at a hospital in December 1992.