Hafez al-Assad (Arabic: حَافِظ ٱلْأَسَد, romanized: Ḥāfiẓ al-Asad; 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) served as the 18th president of Syria from 1971 until his death of a heart attack in 2000. He was also the general of Syrian Air Force from 1955 - 1972. He was born in Qardaha and died in Damascus.[1] He had four sons and a daughter. His eldest son Bassel al-Assad died in 1994. He was succeeded as president by his second-oldest son Bashar al-Assad (born 1965).