| Ghassan Hitto | |
| Office: | Prime Minister of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces |
| President: | Moaz al-Khatib George Sabra Ahmad al-Jarba |
| Term Start: | 18 March 2013 |
| Term End: | 14 September 2013 |
| Predecessor: | Position established |
| Successor: | Ahmad Tu'mah al-Khader |
| Birth Place: | Damascus, Syria |
| Party: | Independent |
| Alma Mater: | Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis Indiana Wesleyan University |
Ghassan Hitto (Arabic: غسان هيتو; born 1963) is a Syrian politician and the first head of an interim government established by the Syrian opposition National Coalition.[1] [2] Born in Damascus into a Kurdish family, he left Syria to the U.S. in 1980, became a naturalized American citizen and worked as an information technology executive and lived in Texas until recently. In late 2012, he relocated to Turkey.[3] He was elected prime minister on 18 March 2013 by a narrow margin over former Syrian Arab Republic agricultural minister Assad Mustafa. Hitto resigned on 8 July 2013.[4]
Hitto graduated from Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis in 1989 with degrees in mathematics and computer science.[5] [6] He also received an M.B.A. at Indiana Wesleyan University in 1994.[3] [5]
Hitto is a former businessman who has lived in the United States for decades, most recently in Murphy, Texas.[2] [7] Before joining the opposition, he worked with Inovar, a Telecommunication firm, from 2001 to 2012.[5]
Hitto is married to Suzanne Hitto, an American schoolteacher; they have four children, Amer, Imran, Obaida, Lama all born in the United States.[8] He has worked in the technology sector and supported the private school Brighter Horizons Academy[9] founded in 1989 by the Islamic Services Foundation (ISF).[10] He is also a founding member of the Muslim Legal Fund of America[11] created after the 11 September 2001 attacks to give legal aid to Muslims.
Hitto received 35 of 48 votes cast for the premiership, according to the BBC.[12] Following his election, at least 12 key members of the SNC have suspended their membership partly as a result of Hitto's election on a majority vote instead of a consensus vote.[13]