And she chose someone rather surprising: an army officer named Assef Shawkat. Why do I say “surprising”? Well, he was a middling officer, not a bigshot. He was from an ordinary family.

July 18, 2012 – Syria’s Deputy Defense Minister Assef Shawkat – Assad’s brother-in-law is killed, along with two other regime officials, in an explosion at a national security building in ...

In 2012, victims of a suicide bomb at Syria's National Security Bureau included Defense Minister Daoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense ...

The accord is never implemented. - 18 July: Bombing in Damascus kills four top security officials, including Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat. Two days later the FSA launches an offensive in ...