Background
Atassi was born in Homs in 1929 To The Famous Al Attasi Family.
Atassi was born in Homs in 1929 To The Famous Al Attasi Family.
Atassi was a medical doctor by training, and in that capacity aided the Algerian forces against the French in the Algerian War of Independence. Though a long-time ideologue of the powerful Baath Party Atassi became its General Secretary as well as President of the Republic in 1966. Atassi was put under house arrest without trial.
Then he was transferred to the Mezze military prison in Damascus where he lived from 1970 to 1992. After 22-year imprisonment, he was released and flown to Paris to receive medical treatment in France on 22 November 1992, and died at a hospital in December 1992.