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June 12, 2000

BEIRUT, JUNE 11 (AP) - President Hafez Assad had two vice presidents to fill in for him, but within hours of his death Saturday, the Syrian parliament pushed them aside and voted to clear

the way for the ascension of the 34-year-old son who had been groomed for power.

     

Bashar Assad has held no political office, no senior party post and no significant military position - the usual requirements for leadership in authoritarian Syria. But the late president had given

Bashar several tasks, both at home and in neighboring Lebanon, to thrust him into public roles and recognition.

     

The president died exactly one week before a Baath Party congress that was expected to give Bashar a senior party position and set him on the path to higher office. Instead, less than two hours after the public announcement of the president's death, parliament amended the

constitution to lower the age limit for the presidency from 40 to 34.

     

Technically, the Syrian constitution provides for a vice president to take over if the presidency becomes vacant. But there was little doubt Saturday that the late president's wish was being

honored and that Bashar Assad, a British-educated ophthalmologist, was headed for the presidency.

     

Upon hearing of Assad's death, a few hundred people gathered in the streets near the presidential palace, chanting "With our souls, with our blood, we will protect you, O Bashar."

     

In neighboring Lebanon, where Syria wields enormous influence, some leaders were already referring to Bashar on Saturday night as "the next president" of Syria and "the bearer of his father's

message."

     

The late president started preparing Bashar for leadership after the death of his eldest son, Basil, in a traffic accident in 1994.

     

He had sent him abroad on official visits, giving Bashar a forum for international exposure. At home, Bashar was proclaimed the leader of a campaign to fight corruption in the government - which

also gave him a platform to eliminate potential rivals within the old guard of the military and civilian establishments.

     

Bashar holds the rank of colonel in the army. Syria's armed forces and intelligence branches are at the heart of control in this nation of 15 million people.

     

In recent months, several senior army officers have been retired and powerful intelligence chiefs were sent packing. Former intelligence chief Brig. Bashir Najjar was sentenced to 12 years in

jail for corruption. Mahmoud el-Zoubi, prime minister since 1987, was fired in March and committed suicide two months later rather than face arrest in a corruption investigation.

     

Bashar was expected to receive his first formal leadership job at the party congress June 17 that would, in turn, have paved the way to name him a vice president in the government.

     

Instead, another route was quickly opened. Bashar cleared a major constitutional hurdle Saturday when parliament members, some weeping over Assad's death, overwhelmingly voted to amend an article in the constitution that requires the head of state to be at least 40 years old. The legislators voted to lower the age to 34 and then adjourned until June 25. Bashar turns 35 in August.

     

It was not known whether Assad specified that his other vice president should take over in an interim period. Masharqa has been in charge of political and Baath Party affairs and is thought to

have little influence with the military.

     

While the president was hospitalized and recovering from a heart attack in 1983, Assad's younger brother, Rifaat, attempted a coup. Despite the failed take over bid, Rifaat was named a vice president the following year, but exiled soon thereafter. Since then, he has lived in France.  

 


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