{{Short description|Syrian Military and Intelligence Officer (1933–2023)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = [[Lieutenant General]] | name = Ali Duba | honorific_suffix = | native_name = {{Script/Arabic|علي دوبا}} | native_name_lang = ar | image = Ali Duba, director of Syrian military intelligence, in 1970s (cropped).png | image_size = 240px | caption = Ali Duba in 1970s | birth_date = {{birth date text|1933}} | birth_place = [[Qurfays]], [[Jableh District]], [[Latakia Governorate]], [[First Syrian Republic|Syria]] | death_date = {{death date and given age|df=y|2023|06|21|89}} | death_place = [[Latakia]], Syria | age = | occupation = | service_years = 1955–2000 | rank = [[File:Syrian Arab Army Lieutenant General Services Uniform.png|30px]] [[Lieutenant General]] | party = [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Ba'ath Party]] | battles = [[Six-Day War]]<br />[[Yom Kippur War]]<br />[[Lebanese civil war]]<br/>[[Islamist uprising in Syria]] | office = Director of [[Military Intelligence Directorate (Syria)|Military Intelligence Directorate]] | term_start = 1973 | term_end = 2000 | birth_name = Ali Issa Ibrahim Douba | succeeded = [[Hassan Khalil]] | predecessor = [[Hikmat al-Shihabi]] | president = [[Hafez al-Assad]] | allegiance = {{flagicon image|Flag of Syria (1930–1958, 1961–1963).svg}} [[Second Syrian Republic]] (1955–1958)<br>{{flag|United Arab Republic}}<br>(1958–1961)<br />{{flagicon image|Flag of Syria (1930–1958, 1961–1963).svg}} [[Second Syrian Republic]] (1961–1963)<br />{{flag|Ba'athist Syria}}<br>(1963–2000) | unit = [[Military Intelligence Directorate (Syria)|Military Intelligence]] }}
'''Ali Issa Ibrahim Duba''' ({{langx|ar|علي عيسى ابراهيم دوبا}}, 1933 – 21 June 2023), better known as '''Ali Douba''', was a Syrian military officer who was the head of the [[Military Intelligence Directorate (Syria)|Military Intelligence Directorate]] under [[Hafez al-Assad]] as well as his close adviser. Under Douba’s leadership, the Military Intelligence Directorate was the most important security agency in Syria, responsible for maintaining security within the army and safeguarding the regime.<ref name="Zisser">{{cite journal |last=Zisser |first=Eyal |title=The Succession Struggle in Damascus |journal=[[The Middle East Quarterly]]|volume=2 |date=September 1995 |pages=57–64|url=http://www.meforum.org/264/the-succession-struggle-in-damascus}}</ref>
==Early life== Duba was born to a small landowning family from the [[Alawite]] tribe of Matawira, in the village of [[Qurfays]] in the [[Jableh District]] south of [[Latakia]]. He joined the [[Ba'ath Party]] in the early 1950s while studying at the Holy Land Secondary School in Latakia.<ref name=Batatup338>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mbr-ZfU_uCoC&pg=PA240|title=Syria's peasantry, the descendants of its lesser rural notables, and their politics|first=Hanna|last=Batatu|edition=Illustrated|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0-691-00254-5|page=240|authorlink=Hanna Batatu}}</ref>
==Career== Duba joined the [[Syrian Army]] in 1955 and became the deputy head of internal security at the [[Damascus]] branch of the [[General Intelligence Directorate (Syria)|General Intelligence Directorate]] five years later. He served as [[military attaché]] at the Syrian embassy in Great Britain between 1964 and 1966, and in Bulgaria between 1967 and 1968.
Douba took part in suppressing the [[Muslim Brotherhood in Syria|Muslim Brotherhood]] [[1982 Hama massacre|revolt in Hama]] during February 1982.
In 1999 he was pushed aside by [[Bashar al-Assad]] over fears that he could be a rival for the presidency, and was made to retire in February 2000.<ref name="Faure">{{cite book |last=Faure |first=Claude |title=Dictionary of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Culture, History, and Politics |publisher=Macmillan Reference USA |year=2002 |isbn=0-02-865977-5 |page=109}}</ref>
He lived in [[Latakia]] until his death on 21 June 2023.<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 |accessdate=11 February 2011 |publisher=[[Council on Foreign Relations]]}}</ref> EU [[Council Regulation]] 36/2012 placed him on a list of persons whose funds were frozen.<ref>[http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:016:0001:0032:EN:PDF Council regulations]. ''Official Journal of the European Union''</ref> His last public appearance occurred in May 2021 when he cast a vote for Bashar al-Assad in the [[2021 Syrian presidential election]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-06-21 |title=Syria: Feared former intelligence chief Ali Duba dies age 89 |url=https://www.newarab.com/news/syria-feared-former-intelligence-chief-ali-duba-dies-age-89 |access-date=2023-06-23 |website=www.newarab.com |language=en}}</ref>
==Death== Duba died on 21 June 2023 in a military hospital in [[Latakia]] at the age of 89.<ref>{{Cite web |author=The New Arab Staff |date=2023-06-21 |title=Syria: Feared former intelligence chief Ali Duba dies age 89 |url=https://www.newarab.com/news/syria-feared-former-intelligence-chief-ali-duba-dies-age-89 |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=newarab.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Heads of Syrian military intelligence}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duba, Ali}} [[Category:1933 births]] [[Category:2023 deaths]] [[Category:Syrian generals]] [[Category:Syrian Alawites]] [[Category:Syrian mass murderers]] [[Category:Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region politicians]] [[Category:People from Latakia Governorate]] [[Category:People of the Islamic uprising in Syria]] [[Category:Homs Military Academy alumni]] [[Category:Syrian individuals subject to European Union sanctions]] [[Category:Perpetrators of the 1982 Hama massacre]] [[Category:Syrian war criminals]]