Fahd Jassem al-Freij explained

Fahd Jassem al-Freij
Native Name Lang:ar
Office1:Member of the Central Command of the Ba'ath Party
Term Start1:22 April 2017
Term End1:4 May 2024
Office2:16th Minister of Defense
Primeminister2:Riyad Farid Hijab
Wael Nader al-Halqi
Imad Khamis
Term Start2:18 July 2012
Term End2:1 January 2018
Predecessor2:Dawoud Rajiha
Successor2:Ali Abdullah Ayyoub
Office3:Chief of the General Staff of the Army and the Armed Forces
President3:Bashar al-Assad
Term Start3:8 August 2011
Term End3:18 July 2012
1Blankname3:Defense Minister
1Namedata3:Dawoud Rajiha
Predecessor3:Dawoud Rajiha
Successor3:Ali Abdullah Ayyoub
Serviceyears:1971–2018
Rank: Colonel General
Unit:Armoured Corps
Commands:Special Forces Operations Staff
Birth Date:1950 1, df=y
Birth Place:Rahjan, Syria
Party:Ba'ath Party

Fahd Jassem al-Freij (Arabic: فهد جاسم الفريج;[1] born 17 January 1950) is the former Minister of Defense of Syria, took office on 18 July 2012 and left office on 1 January 2018.[2]

Early life and education

Freij was born in Rahjan in a Sunni Arab tribe on 17 January 1950. He joined the Syrian Arab Army in 1968, and graduated as an armoured corps lieutenant from the Homs Military Academy in 1971.

Freij attended different courses and a higher military education:

Career

On 8 August 2011, Freij was appointed Chief of Staff of the Syrian Arab Army during the Syrian civil war. In December 2011, defected Syrian Army officers reported that prior to his appointment of Chief of Staff, al-Freij commanded the Syrian Army Special Forces in the regions of Daraa, Idlib and Hama during the Syrian uprising.

However, on 18 July 2012, after Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha was assassinated in the 2012 Damascus bombing, Freij was appointed by Bashar al-Assad to succeed Rajiha.[1] He was also named as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the Armed Forces.[3]

On 1 January 2018, Lieutenant General Ali Abdullah Ayyoub was the successor of al-Freij as Minister of Defense.

War crime charges

In October 2023, French prosecutors at the Judicial Court of Paris charged Fahd Jassem Al-Freij and his successor Ali Ayyoub for their culpability in a barrel bomb in southwestern Syrian city of Daraa that killed French-Syrian national Salah Abou Nabout at his home in 2017.[4]

Notes and References

  1. News: President al-Assad Appoints Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the Armed Forces and Minister of Defense . . 18 July 2012 . 18 July 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120723145400/http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2012/07/18/432218.htm . 23 July 2012.
  2. News: Syria's Assad names new defense and other ministers: state TV. 1 January 2018. Reuters. 2018-03-06.
  3. News: Bombing in Syria reportedly kills two top officials. 18 July 2012. Los Angeles Times. 18 July 2012.
  4. News: Foroudi . Layli . Gebeily . Maya . Berg . Stephanie van den . 2023-10-20 . French prosecutors seek arrest of two Syrian ex-ministers over 2017 bomb . en . Reuters . 2023-11-15.