Assad, Hafez al-

1. The president of syria from 1971 to 2000. Assad was recognized as a hard-liner among Arab politicians for his hostility to Israel . At home he brutally suppressed islamic fundamentalism . He gave active support to terrorism , but he cast his lot with the United Nations against Iraq in the Persian Gulf War . He long insisted that Israel hand back to Syria the Golan Heights , which it had conquered in the Six-Day War .