Maher al-Assad [SEP] father
Maher al-Assad was born on 8 December 1967, the youngest child of Anisa Makhlouf and Hafez al-Assad. He was just two years old when his father became President of Syria. Like the other children in the al-Assad family, he was raised out of the public spotlight and trained in Syria.
Maher went to the Academy of Freedom School for his secondary education and then studied business administration at Damascus University. Following university he pursued a career in the military like his older brother Bassel.
When
Syria, with a net worth of $5 billion USD, as of 2012.
Following the death of Bassel al-Assad in 1994, Makhlouf favored Maher al-Assad, her youngest son and a Syrian general, as a possible successor for her husband. Instead, Bashar al-Assad returned from London, joined the military, and succeeded his father as President of Syria in 2000.
Makhlouf is believed to have advocated for a harsh crackdown on protesters and rebels during the Arab Spring and Syrian Civil War.