{{Short description|Syrian Arab nationalist politician (1925–2011)}} {{expand Arabic|topic=bio|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Shibli al-Ayssami | native_name = {{Script/Arabic|شبلي العيسمي}} | honorific_suffix = | image = Shibli al-Aysami.jpg | image_size = 240px | caption = al-Aysami in the early 1970s | order = | office2 = [[Vice President of Syria]] | term_start2 = 28 December 1965 | term_end2 = 23 February 1966 | president2 = [[Amin al-Hafiz]] | predecessor2 = [[Nureddin al-Atassi]] | successor2 = [[Mahmoud al-Ayyubi]] | office3 = [[Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Regional Secretary of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region]] | term_start3 = 5 February 1964 | term_end3 = 4 October 1964 | predecessor3 = | successor3 = | office1 = Deputy Secretary General of the National Command of the [[Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction)|Iraq-based Ba'ath Party]] | term_start1 = 1974 | term_end1 = 1979 | predecessor1 = | successor1 = | office4 = [[Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (Syria)|Minister of Agrarian Reform]] | term_start4 = 9 March 1963 | term_end4 = 11 November 1963 | predecessor4 = [[Amin al-Nafouri]] | successor4 = [[Adil Tarabin]] | birth_name = Shiblī Yousef Hamad al-Aysamī' | birth_date = {{birth date|1925|02|05|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Imtan]], [[As-Suwayda Governorate|al-Suwayda]], [[Syria]] | death_date = [[presumption of death|presumably]] {{death date and age|2011|06|04|1925|02|05|df=y}} or after | spouse = | party = [[Ba'ath Party|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party]]<br> [[Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction)|Iraqi Branch of the Ba'ath Party]] | relations = | relatives = [[Tareck El Aissami]] <br> (great-nephew) | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = [[Politician]] | signature = | website = | footnotes = | native_name_lang = ar }}
'''Shiblī Yousef Hamad al-Aysamī''' ({{langx|ar|شبلي العيسمي}}), alternatively also ''Shibli-L-Aʾysami'', ''al-Ayasami'', ''al-Ayssami'' or ''al-ʿAisamī'', (5 February 1925 – June 4, 2011) was a [[Syria]]n politician and Arab nationalist figure. He was born to a [[Druze in Syria|Druze]] family in [[As-Suwayda|al-Suwayda]], Syria. He was kidnapped by unknown persons in [[Aley]], [[Lebanon]] and is presumed to be dead.
==Political career==
===Syria=== He was born to a [[Druze in Syria|Syrian Druze]] family. In 1947, together with [[Michel Aflaq]], he became a founding member of the [[Ba'ath Party|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party]] and from 1963 to 1964 he held different ministerial posts in the Syrian government. In 1964 he was elected as General Secretary of the [[Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Syrian Regional Command of the Ba'ath Party]] and in 1965 he became [[Vice President of Syria]] under [[Amin al-Hafiz]].
===Iraq=== [[File:Duri, Hussein, Aysami and Ramadhan during Aflaq funeral.jpg|thumb|left|al-Aysami in a suit beside [[Saddam Hussein]] in July 1989.]] Following the [[1966 Syrian coup d'état]] which resulted in President [[Amin al-Hafiz|al-Hafiz]] being overthrown and the creation of the Syrian-Iraqi rift, al-Aysami, then Vice President of Syria, fled to Iraq. In 1974 the [[Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction)|Iraqi Branch of the Ba'ath Party]] installed a rival [[National Command of the Ba'ath Party]] with Michel Aflaq as General Secretary and al-Aysami as his deputy (until 1979).
In 1982, al-Hafiz and al-Aysami, together with Islamist, nationalist and leftist opposition groups founded the Iraqi-backed [[National Alliance for the Liberation of Syria]], but in 1992 al-Aysami retired from political life. He remained in Iraq until the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]] and fled to [[Egypt]], then the [[United States]] and [[Lebanon]] thereafter.<ref name="thenationalnews">{{cite web |last=Constantine |first=Zoi |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mena/kidnapping-of-dissident-raises-fears-of-syrian-regime-s-reach-in-lebanon-1.453281 |title=Kidnapping of dissident raises fears of Syrian regime's reach in Lebanon |publisher=The National News |date=25 January 2012 }}</ref>
==Kidnapping== [[File:Where is Shibli al-Ayssami.jpg|thumb|Berlin, February 2014: Ba'athist student in front of the Lebanese embassy reminding people of al-Aysami's disappearance]] On 18 May 2011, Al-Aysami, a legal permanent resident of the United States, departed the country and arrived in Lebanon the following day. On 24 May, he went for a walk near his daughter's residence in [[Aley]], where witnesses later reported that he was forced into one of several black [[SUV]]s seen in the area. An extensive search was conducted by family members, local residents, and Lebanese authorities, including hospital checks and the use of [[sniffer dogs]], but his whereabouts remain unknown.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/shibili-yousef-alayssami |title=Shibli Yousef al-Ayssami |publisher=FBI }}</ref>
His family suspected he was kidnapped and transferred to Syria, accusing the government of [[Bashar al-Assad]] of responsibility.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-syria-abductions/syrian-dissidents-dont-feel-safe-in-lebanon-idUSTRE7B10QX20111202|date=December 2, 2011|title=Syrian dissidents don't feel safe in Lebanon|website=Reuters|first=Erika|last=Solomon}}</ref> Syrian authorities denied involvement and instead accused Lebanese Druze leader [[Walid Jumblatt]]. [[Human Rights Watch]] and Lebanese officials criticised the slow pace and lack of progress in the investigation, citing systemic failures to pursue crimes believed to be politically motivated.<ref name="thenationalnews"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.alaraby.com/news/شبلي-العيسمي-قصة-معارض-سوري-طالته-أذرع-النظام-فاختفى-أثره |title=شبلي العيسمي.. قصة معارض سوري طالته أذرع النظام فاختفى أثره محدث 07 أيلول 2023 |publisher=alaraby.com |language=ar |date=22 February 2023 }}</ref>
According to the Lebanese Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (LIFE), al-Aysami died around 4 June 2011, while in detention at a [[Air Force Intelligence Directorate|Syrian Air Force Intelligence]] prison in the [[Mezzeh]] district of Damascus.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.almadenahnews.com/article/143085-الكشف-عن-وفاة-شبلي-العيسمي-نائب-الرئيس-السوري-السابق-بسجن-المخابرات-السورية |title=الكشف عن وفاة شبلي العيسمي نائب الرئيس السوري السابق بسجن المخابرات السورية |publisher=almadenahnews.com |language=ar |date=4 April 2012 }}</ref>
==Personal life== He was the great-uncle of [[Tareck El Aissami]], later [[Vice President of Venezuela]].<ref name="WARofALL">{{cite book|last1=Perdue|first1=Jon B.|title=The War of All the People: The Nexus of Latin American Radicalism and Middle Eastern Terrorism|date=2012|publisher=[[Potomac Books]]|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=978-1597977043|pages=160–162|edition=1st|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TcNy985Q-LQC&q=El+Aissami+9/11&pg=PA161|access-date=15 February 2017}}</ref><ref name="DLAdetails">{{cite news|title=Revelan detalles del polémico perfil de Tareck El Aissami|url=http://www.diariolasamericas.com/america-latina/revelan-detalles-del-polemico-perfil-tareck-el-aissami-n4114684|access-date=15 February 2017|work=[[Diario Las Américas]]|date=11 February 2017|language=es}}</ref><ref name="SPT2003">{{cite news|last1=Gunson|first1=Phil|last2=Adams|first2=David|title=Venezuela Shifts Control of Border|work=[[St.Petersburg Times]]|date=28 November 2003|ref=1A}}</ref>
==See also== *[[List of kidnappings]] *[[List of people who disappeared mysteriously: post-1970]]
==Bibliography== [[File:Shibli-L-A'Ysami 2 books.jpg|thumb|Shibli al-Aysami's books about concepts and history of the Ba'ath Party were translated into several languages, for example into German: ''Einheit, Freiheit, Sozialismus'' (Unity, Freedom, Socialism) and ''Die Gründungsperiode in den vierziger Jahren'' (The founding period in the 1940s)]] * ''Muhafazat al-Suwayad'' (1962) * ''La révolution arabe'' (1971) * ''Arab Unity through experience'' (Beirut, 1971) * ''Unity, Freedom, Socialism'' (Madrid, 1976) * ''Arabische Sozialistische Ba'th Partei: Die Gründungsperiode in den vierziger Jahren'' (Varese, 1977)
==Further reading== * [[Itamar Rabinovič]]: ''Syria Under the Baʻth, 1963-66 - The Army Party Symbiosis''. Tel Aviv/Jerusalem 1972
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{commons category-inline}} *[https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/reportsfeatures/where_is_shibli_al-ayssami ''Where is Shibli al-Ayssami?''] *[http://www.yalibnan.com/2011/11/09/shibli-al-ayssami-is-in-syria-son-says/ ''Shibli al-Ayssami is in Syria, son says''] {{SyriaEducationMinisters}} {{Ba'ath Party}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aysami, Shibli al-}} [[Category:1925 births]] [[Category:2010s missing person cases]] [[Category:2011 deaths]] [[Category:Syrian Druze people]] [[Category:Kidnapped politicians]] [[Category:Kidnapped Syrian people]] [[Category:Members of the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region]] [[Category:Members of the National Command of the Ba'ath Party]] [[Category:Missing Syrian people]] [[Category:Missing person cases in Lebanon]] [[Category:Syrian anti-communists]] [[Category:Syrian Arab nationalists]] [[Category:Syrian expatriates in Iraq]] [[Category:Vice presidents of Syria]] [[Category:People declared dead in absentia]] [[Category:Agriculture ministers of Syria]]