{{Short description|Former Chief of the General Staff of the Syrian Army}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Ali Aslan | honorific_suffix = | native_name = {{Script/Arabic|علي أصلان}} | native_name_lang = ar | image = LTG Ali Aslan military portrait.png | caption = Aslan in 2000 | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1932}} | birth_place = Latakia, French Mandate of Syria | death_date = | age = | death_place = | spouse = Almaza Kamel Hassan (d. 2024)<ref>[https://x.com/NourYoussef111/status/1795135942086271148?t=kvXfr0UULl4cG1sOtvIcyA&s=19 باسم السيد الرئيس #بشار_الأسد والسيدة الأولى #أسماء_الأسد قدم محافظ #اللاذقية المهندس عامر هلال التعازي بوفاة السيدة ألماظة كامل حسن، زوجة العماد علي أصلان، رئيس هيئة الأركان العامة للجيش والقوات المسلحة الأسبق.]</ref> | office1 = Chief of the General Staff of the Syrian Arab Army | president1 = Hafez al-Assad<br />Bashar al-Assad | term_start1 = 1998 | term_end1 = 2002 | predecessor1 = Hikmat al-Shihabi | successor1 = Hasan Turkmani | office2 = Military Advisor to the Presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic | president2 = Bashar al-Assad | term_start2 = 2003 | term_end2 = 2023 | successor2 = Ali Mamlouk | party = Ba'ath Party | allegiance = {{flag|Second Syrian Republic}} (1954–1958)<br />{{flag|United Arab Republic}} (1958–1961)<br />{{flag|Second Syrian Republic}} (1961–1963)<br />{{flag|Ba'athist Syria}} (1963–2002) | branch = {{army|Ba'athist Syria}} | service_years = 1954–2002 | unit = 8th Infantry Brigade<br />1st Infantry Division<br />5th Mechanized Division<br />2nd Corps | battles = {{tree list}} * Six-Day War * Yom Kippur War * Lebanese Civil War ** Syrian intervention ** 1982 Lebanon War * Islamist uprising in Syria {{tree list/end}} | rank = 30px Lieutenant general }} '''Ali Aslan''' ({{langx|ar|علي أصلان}}; born 1932) is a retired Syrian military officer. He served as chief of staff of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, and was a member of the Central Committee of the Ba'ath Party and a close confidant of the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad.<ref name="Faure">{{cite book|last=Faure|first=Claude|title=Dictionary of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Culture, History, and Politics|publisher=Macmillan Reference USA|isbn=0-02-865977-5|pages=50–51|year=2002}}</ref>
Aslan was not only considered to be powerful member of the late Hafez al-Assad's inner circle, but he was also regarded by outside observers as having significantly improved Syrian military readiness while operating under severe financial constraints.<ref name="meib" />
==Early life== Aslan hails from an Alawite family which is part of the same Kalbiyya tribe as Hafez al-Assad.<ref name=Cordesman2002>{{cite book|author=Anthony H. Cordesman|title=Peace and War: The Arab-Israeli Military Balance Enters the 21st Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ol-ud-Lj5zEC&pg=PA337|year=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-96939-4|page=337}}</ref> He was born in 1932.<ref name=bar2006>{{cite journal|last=Bar |first=Shmuel |title=Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview |journal=IPS |year=2006 |url=http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf |access-date=12 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723214138/http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2011}}</ref>
==Career== Aslan commanded 5th mechanized infantry in 1973.<ref name=Batatu1999>{{cite book|author=Hanna Batatu|title=Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_Cvhg3YHIoC&pg=PA228|year=1999|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-00254-5|page=228}}</ref>
At the beginning of the 1980s Aslan was deputy chief of staff and head of operations.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jubin M. Goodarzi|title=Syria and Iran: Diplomatic Alliance and Power Politics in the Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Co6YXWrepvYC&pg=PA36|year=2006|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-127-4|page=36}}</ref>
After the death of Hafez al-Assad in 2000, a 9-member committee was formed to oversee the transition period, and Aslan was among its members.<ref name=aps19jun>{{cite news|title=Bashar Aims to Consolidate Power in the Short-Term and to Open up Gradually|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Syria%3a+Bashar+Aims+To+Consolidate+Power+In+The+Short-Term+%26+To+Open...-a073738730|access-date=26 March 2013|newspaper=APS Diplomat News Service|date=19 June 2000|archive-date=10 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190610225825/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Syria%3A+Bashar+Aims+To+Consolidate+Power+In+The+Short-Term+%26+To+Open...-a073738730|url-status=dead}}</ref> In addition, he became a member of the Baath Party's central committee in the Summer of 2000.<ref name=Maddy-Weitzman2002>{{cite book|author=Bruce Maddy-Weitzman|title=Middle East Contemporary Survey, Vol. 24, 2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r01_GDIeTuUC&pg=PA558|year=2002|publisher=The Moshe Dayan Center|isbn=978-965-224-054-5|page=558}}</ref><ref name=George2003>{{cite book|author=Alan George|title=Syria: Neither Bread Nor Freedom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA77|year=2003|publisher=Zed Books|isbn=978-1-84277-213-3|page=77}}</ref> Aslan was one of the senior officials, who contributed to secure the rule of Bashar al-Assad.<ref name=naj01aut>{{cite journal|last=Ghadbian|first=Najib|title=The New Asad: Dynamics of Continuity and Change in Syria|journal=Middle East Journal|date=Autumn 2001|volume=55|issue=4|pages=624–641|url=http://offiziere.ch/wp-content/uploads/The-New-Assad.pdf|access-date=9 March 2013|archive-date=12 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181212184217/https://offiziere.ch/wp-content/uploads/The-New-Assad.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> However, he was relieved from his post as chief of staff by Bashar al-Assad in January 2002, as part of the younger president's program of reform<ref name="Faure"/> and after reported clashes with Assef Shawkat<ref name="Council">{{Cite web |last=Pan |first=Esther |date=10 March 2006 |title=Syria's Leaders |url=http://www.cfr.org/syria/syrias-leaders/p9085 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028142012/http://www.cfr.org/syria/syrias-leaders/p9085 |archive-date=28 October 2012 |access-date=11 February 2011 |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations}}</ref> regarding personnel changes.<ref name=meib/> Aslan was replaced by his then deputy, Hassan Turkmani.<ref name=meib>{{cite journal|last=Gambill|first=Gary C.|title=The Military-Intelligence Shakeup in Syria|journal=Middle East Intelligence Bulletin|date=February 2002|volume=4|issue=2|url=http://www.meforum.org/meib/articles/0202_s1.htm|access-date=7 July 2012|archive-date=7 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507121032/https://www.meforum.org/meib/articles/0202_s1.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Aslan was later appointed military advisor to the president.<ref name="Moubayed">{{cite book |last=Moubayed |first=Sami M. |author-link=Sami Moubayed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GF51Sml5WpcC&pg=PA40 |title=Steel and Silk: Men and Women who Shaped Syria 1900-2000 |publisher=Cune Press |year=2006 |isbn=1-885942-41-9 |page=40}}</ref> In June 2005, Aslan was removed from the central committee of the Baath Party, and he retired from politics.<ref name=mou5jul>{{cite journal|last=Moubayed|first=Sami|title=Syria: Reform or Repair?|journal=Arab Reform Bulletin|date=July 2005|volume=3|issue=6|url=http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/Full_Issue3.pdf|access-date=8 March 2013}}</ref><ref name=hin2011>{{cite journal|last=Hinnebusch|first=Raymond|title=The Ba'th Party in Post-Ba'thist Syria: President, Party and the Struggle for 'Reform'|journal=Middle East Critique|year=2011|volume=20|issue=2|pages=109–125|doi=10.1080/19436149.2011.572408|s2cid=144573563}}</ref>
His nephew Qusay was married to Bashar al-Assad's cousin, Falak Jamil, but they divorced.<ref>{{Cite web |title=صاحبة "الأنثى والمحتال".. قصة فلك الأسد مع الشعر والسياسة - روزنة |url=https://www.rozana.fm/ar/news/2022/03/08/%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%86%D8%AB%D9%89-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%82%D8%B5%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%84%D9%83-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%AF-%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B9%D8%B1-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%A9 |access-date=2022-08-20 |website=www.rozana.fm |language=ar}}</ref>
==Honours== ===National honours=== *{{flag|Syria}}: **70px Order of Civil Merit (Excellent class) (2021)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-06-25 |title=قلّده الأسد وسام الاستحقاق لدوره كقائد عسكري.. من هو علي أصلان؟ |url=https://arabic.cnn.com/middle-east/article/2021/06/25/syrian-military-commander-ali-aslan-bio |access-date=2022-09-13 |website=CNN Arabic |language=ar}}</ref>
==References== <ref name="Publications2012">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eCSOT0_JAnwC&pg=PA2038 |title=Political Chronology of the Middle East |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-135-35673-6 |pages=2038}}</ref>{{reflist}} {{SyrianArmyChiefsOfStaff}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aslan, Ali}} Category:1932 births Category:Living people Category:Homs Military Academy alumni Category:Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region politicians Category:People from Latakia Category:Chiefs of staff of the Syrian Army Category:Syrian Alawites