Half a century of brutal family rule: who are the Assads?

Ruling Syria was a family business for the Assads that began in 1971. Here Edward Heath was Prime Minister. First Hafez – the father – and then Bashar, the son – who became the heir apparent after his older brother died in a car accident in 1994.

The Assad family survived the Cold War, multiple regional wars and a civil war. But in the end they couldn’t survive the distraction of Russia in Ukraine and Iran and Hezbollah, facing off against Israel.