{{Short description|Syrian politician (1941–2012)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = Major General | name = Hisham Ikhtiyar | honorific_suffix = | native_name = {{Script/Arabic|هشام اختيار}} | native_name_lang = ar | image = | caption = | birth_date = 1941 | birth_place = Damascus, Syria | death_date = 20 July {{death year and age|2012|1941}} | death_place = Damascus, Syria | office = Director of the National Security Bureau of<br>the Regional Command | 1blankname = Regional Secretary | 1namedata = Bashar al-Assad | term_start = 9 June 2005 | term_end = 18 July 2012 | predecessor = Mohammed Saeed Bekheitan | successor = Ali Mamlouk | office1 = Director of the General Intelligence Directorate | term_start1 = December 2001 | term_end1 = 9 June 2005 | president1 = Bashar al-Assad | predecessor1 = Ali Hammoud | successor1 = Ali Mamlouk | office2 = Member of the Regional Command of the Syrian Regional Branch | term_start2 = 9 June 2005 | term_end2 = 18 July 2012 | party = Ba'ath Party | allegiance = {{flag|Ba'athist Syria}} | branch = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces (1980–2024).svg}} Syrian Arab Armed Forces | rank = 30px Major General | service_years = | servicenumber = | unit = | commands = General Security Directorate (2001–2005) <br/> National Security Bureau (2005–2012) }}
Major General '''Hisham Ikhtiyar''' ({{langx|ar|هشام اختيار}}); 1941 – 20 July 2012) (family name also transliterated as '''Ikhtiar''', '''Bakhtiar''', '''Bekhityar''', '''Bekhtyar''' and other variants) was a Syrian military official, and a national security adviser to president Bashar al-Assad.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060226134308/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GF22Ak02.html A hint of glasnost for Syria] at the Asia Times, by Sami Moubayed, 22 June 2005</ref>
==Early life== Hisham Ikhtiyar was born to a Sunni family in Damascus in 1941.<ref name=ojeu/><ref name=gambill>{{cite journal|last=Gambill|first=Gary|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=20 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>
==Career== Ikhtiyar was director of the General Intelligence Directorate from 2001 to 2005.<ref name="Fahim">{{cite news|last=Fahim|first=Kareem|title=Profiles of Syrian Officials Targeted in Damascus Blast|newspaper=The New York Times|date=19 July 2012|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/world/middleeast/profiles-of-syrian-officials-targeted-in-damascus-blast.html|access-date=8 March 2013}}</ref><ref name=had2005>{{cite journal|last=Haddad|first=Bassam|title=Left to its Domestic Devices: How the Syrian Regime Boxed Itself In|journal=Area: Mediterranean & Arab World|date=2005|volume=43|url=http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/documentos/218/Haddad218.pdf|access-date=12 March 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029195155/http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/documentos/218/Haddad218.pdf|archive-date=29 October 2013}}</ref> He was one of the Syrian officers who monitored and repressed the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}
Then he was appointed head of Syria’s general intelligence directorate.<ref name=gcenter>{{cite web|title=Against all neighbors|url=http://www.gloria-center.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Chapter-4-Against-All-Neighbors.pdf|publisher=Gloria Center|access-date=15 January 2013|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423110448/http://www.gloria-center.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Chapter-4-Against-All-Neighbors.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In addition, he was an advisor to Syrian president Bashar Assad.<ref name=gcenter/> He was appointed director of the Ba'ath Party regional command's National Security Bureau (NSB) in 2005.<ref name=bbcpro12>{{cite news|title=Hisham Ikhtiar, director of the National Security Bureau (NSB)|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18889030|access-date=20 June 2012|newspaper=BBC|date=2012}}</ref><ref name=hrwdec11>{{cite web|title=By All Means Necessary!|url=https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/syria1211webwcover_0.pdf|publisher=Human Rights Watch|access-date=21 July 2012|date=December 2011}}</ref><ref name=Rabil2006>{{cite book|author=Robert G. Rabil|title=Syria, The United States, and the War on Terror in the Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M18Jj0bMMl0C&pg=PA193|access-date=8 March 2013|year=2006|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-99015-2|pages=191}}</ref>
==Controversy== Ikhtiyar was regarded as a part of Assad's inner circle.<ref name=bbcincirc>{{cite news|title=Bashar al-Assad's inner circle|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13216195|access-date=20 July 2012|newspaper=BBC|date=20 July 2012}}</ref> In 2006, the United States Treasury Department announced that American citizens and organizations were forbidden from engaging in any transactions with Ikhtiyar, for "significantly contributing to the Syrian Government's support for designated terrorist organizations",<ref>[http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/hp60.htm Treasury Designates Two Syrian Officials] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528072158/http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/hp60.htm |date=2010-05-28 }} at the United States Treasury Department, 15 August 2006</ref> and in 2007, Ikhtiyar's name was added to a list of Syrians barred from entering American territory.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN29362401 Bush bans US entry by Syrians with Lebanon links] at Reuters, 25 June 2007</ref>
Major General Ikhtiar was reportedly charged with quelling the initial pro-democracy protests in Deraa. The brutal crackdown launched by the security services in the southern city helped trigger the subsequent nationwide unrest. In May 2011, the US treasury department and the European Union imposed sanctions on the National Security Bureau, saying it had directed Syrian security forces to use extreme force against demonstrators.<ref name=ojeu>{{cite web|title=List of persons and entities referred to in articles 3 and 4|url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:164:0020:0021:EN:PDF|publisher=Official Journal of the European Union|access-date=20 July 2012|date=24 June 2011}}</ref>
==Rumoured death== On 19 May 2012, the Free Syrian Army's (FSA) Damascus council announced that one of their operatives from the FSA's Al Sahabeh battalion had successfully poisoned all eight members of Bashar Assad's Crisis Cell, a group of top military officials who run the Syrian army's daily operations. The Free Syrian Army's Damascus council said they believed at least six out of the eight members, including Hasan Turkmani, Assef Shawkat, Mohammad al-Shaar, Daoud Rajha, Hisham Ikhtiyar and Mohammed Saeed Bekheitan, to have been killed.
Mohammad al-Shaar, then interior minister, and Hasan Turkmani, then assistant vice president, denied their own deaths to State TV, calling it "categorically baseless".<ref name=tgmay>{{cite news|title=Six senior figures in Assad regime killed, rebel army says|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/middle-east-live/2012/may/20/syria-damascus-clashes-assassinations#block-12|access-date=19 July 2012|newspaper=The Guardian|date=May 2012}}</ref><ref name=aarabiya20may>{{cite news|title=High-ranking Syrian officials deny reports of their own assassinations|url=http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/05/20/215270.html|access-date=19 July 2012|newspaper=Al Arabiya|date=20 May 2012}}</ref>
==Death== Ikhtiyar was wounded in the 18 July 2012 Damascus bombing of the Syrian Central Crisis Management Cell.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/364294/20120718/assef-shawkat-assad-brother-law-daoud-rajiha.htm|title=Syria Civil War: Assad Brother-in-Law Assef Shawkat Killed in Damascus Suicide Bombing|work=International Business Times|date=18 July 2012|access-date=18 July 2012|author=Gianluca Mezzofiore|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120720081430/http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/364294/20120718/assef-shawkat-assad-brother-law-daoud-rajiha.htm|archive-date=20 July 2012}}</ref> On 20 July 2012, Syrian state television announced that he had died from his injuries.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18920733|title=Syria blast: Security chief Ikhtiar dies from wounds|publisher=BBC News|date=20 July 2012|access-date=20 July 2012}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Ba'ath Party}} {{Heads of Syrian GID}} {{Heads of National Security Bureau of the Regional Command of the Syrian Regional Branch}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikhtiyar, Hisham}} Category:1941 births Category:2012 deaths Category:Politicians from Damascus Category:Syrian Sunni Muslims Category:Members of the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region Category:Syrian generals Category:Military personnel killed in the Syrian civil war Category:Syrian military personnel of the Syrian civil war Category:Assassinated Syrian politicians Category:Deaths by explosive device Category:Terrorism deaths in Syria Category:Assassinated Syrian military personnel Category:2012 murders in Syria Category:Syrian individuals subject to U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions Category:Asian politicians assassinated in the 2010s Category:Politicians assassinated in 2012